A special exhibition is held at the Kristály Theater, a cultural and community venue established in the former mineral water bottling plant on Margaret Island. In the framework of the Budapest Spring Festival, the Cinema Mystica immersive digital art exhibition opened on 13 May. Here’s our program recommendation!
Among others, photographer Zoltán Tombor gave a speech at the exclusive opening, who maintains a friendly relationship with several of the project’s creators—Dávid Vigh, Nin Bose, Nathan Collins—to which he duly formulated his friendly greeting:
“Just as with our previous works, especially this exhibition, the power and efficiency inherent in collective artistic endeavours is much greater than that of solitary creation. Gestalt psychology applies here, as well, and illustrates that the whole is more than the sum of its parts,” he begins his thoughts.
We set out on a journey in a mystical cinema of lights, sounds and images. The mystery of our lives begins where rational interpretations cease to exist, where connections and explanations disappear. We are going on a journey into our innermost world, during which long-forgotten memories reappear, as multimedia artwork simultaneously affects almost all of our senses. Using the results of technological progress, they push the boundaries of human perception, and increase the process of inclusion, human perception.
With well-known devices (lights, sounds and images), the Cinema Mystica emerges from video art as a transformative genre. Although we see pictures, they are not installed with classical methods, but are projected on the walls. The magic lies in the volatility of dazzling creations: we can hardly tactilely touch the projected images, but we can still feel them with our senses. During the exhibition, we can almost become one with the 17 works, by being among them or walking in them.
Following Zoltán Tombor, art historian Márton Orosz shared his thoughts on the exhibition of the Global Illumination international creative art workshop. On the one hand, he deciphered the meaning of the title of the exhibition: Cinema Mystica. The word cinema contains the characteristics of the format of the exhibition, the creative toolkit, the way of thinking based on movement, the chain of images, sequencing and the movement of the viewers, while mysticism refers to the nature of the visuality displayed.
During the exhibition, we can not only admire the dazzling images, but also become a part of them. We can interact with the works in symbiosis, which allows us to experience an extraordinary, immersive experience. In this way, we can also understand the idea expressed by photographer Zoltán Tombor that we ourselves become little compared to the cosmos, but through the adventure of the exhibition we can experience becoming a huge part of it. The ninth branch of art can be welcomed in the system of light art that irreversibly liquefies time and space. In the case of light installations and digital works that stand out in the space of the former bottler, the view is not for itself, the emphasis is more on the use of optical stimuli, the community and participatory experience that the recipient can have when in contact with the works.
“The more informal the art, the more it relies on the participation of the viewers, just as the toys depend on the children playing with them,” quotes the words of Chicago gallerist Márton Orosz. The idea perfectly reflects the community-building power of space management with light and the fact that, in addition to artworks, the recipient also plays a huge role in the exhibition in question.
Light art combines presence in the moment and eternity. Due to its dual nature, it can be dangerous, a substance that arouses fear and humility in man. At the same time, it carries the possibility of life, the metaphor of hope, joy and happiness are all conveyed by light. As a weightless, intangible, immaterial quality, it is one of the most abstract cosmic symbols, and yet all the mysteries of the world can be unraveled and traced back to the concept of light.
The immersive digital art exhibition Cinema Mystica is open until 5 June at the Kristály Theater on Margaret Island.
Photos: Balázs Mohai
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