The interactive audiovisual installation Facing the River by Bence Kovács-Vajda and Júlia Kusztos will be presented to the public for the second time on Monday, 27 December, 2021, starting from 6 p.m. The project’s premiere took place on 6 December, 2021.

As Sharry Turkle from sociology or Jos de Mul from philosophy and anthropology see it: the valuation of permanence and variability has changed in our society. Not so long ago, stability was socially valued and culturally reinforced. For our parents’ generation, it was taken for granted that they would work in a single stable job and start and end their lives in the same city. The impact of the current volatile social situations on personality is difficult to judge, but it is a given to examine the aspects of it that we feel on our skin.

Facing the River is the first collaboration between the two emerging artists. It is an experimental installation based on 32 videos prepared by Kusztos and 32 sounds by Kovács-Vajda. The creators were both born in Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania and moved abroad at about the same time, first to Budapest and later to various parts of the world. These materials are imprints of their experiences lived in those countries, to name but a few: recordings from the island of Crete, sounds from the Lithuanian countryside. While this may sound wonderful at first, the freedom that comes with so many choices can be accompanied by uncertainty and doubt. They are actively concerned with how these memories interact, even within a single person, and what happens when the impact of an outer perspective reassesses their meaning or redraws their narrative. Therefore, already within the work, these materials react to each other, and with the help of a controller the viewers can also play an active role in shaping the installation. Through their interference the visitors are called to create and experience the unique and firmly subjective route of their own understanding on a subject that wishes to stay beyond the range of the merely personal.

Kovács-Vajda has worked mainly on the sound of short films and experimental art films, such as FAFF directed by Mazzag Izabella. But he has also worked on space-specific theatre and co-authored the radio play Staircase C. Now he is searching his own way through merging musical and non-musical soundscapes using field recordings from his surroundings. Kusztos began her studies as a graphic artist, and since then she has been gathering experience in a variety of techniques and media. She mainly experiments with sculptural techniques and recently her attention turned towards digital media. Her most recent video work was shown at the FUTURE PERFECT #5 group exhibition. Ádi is involved in the practical and theoretical spheres of curatorial work, but her current projects include art research, writing and workshop design. She is most interested in the world of underground organisations and non-profit galleries, and within contemporary art her focus is on Eastern European socially engaged artists.

Participation at the event is free, but is subject to compliance with the epidemiological regulations in force, i.e. presentation of a valid vaccination/recovery certificate, as well as wearing a protective mask and keeping a safe distance.

The project is part of the Art for All programme supported by Municipality’s Council of Sfântu Gheorghe.