Andrej Haršány

The Endless Bio exhibition is the result of the author’s thought process the contours of which were clear for the first time at the Walking exhibition in the premises of Trnava Synagogue. It is defined by the relationship between the subject and object, i.e. efforts to define a hierarchy of material authenticity, sculptor´s interventions and the scope of his invasiveness. As the author enters existing natural material, the resulting objects sensitively coexist with each other in the area and synagogue premises. The area is defined by the specific rhythmic of a sacred building specified by architectural elements and forms, but with updated significant levels. On the other hand, there are historic and time sediments present on ephemeral level as Genius Loci of a place, and on pragmatic level, specified by visitor´s lessons on a historical perspective. That is why the author prefers the premises maintaining a close contact with statues and opening new possibilities for interpreting, as is the case of Šamorin Sanygogue. The fragments referring to the original liturgical purpose, material authenticity and general view create a unique perceptional raster of the exhibition. This provide a specific way of intentionality based on reciprocal exchange and stimulation of information and meanings between statues and architectonic area. Show the works of Andrej Haršány in the area clear in terms of space and meaning – white cub would eliminate its partial hypothetical frame.

While the idea of the Walking exhibition was determined by pragmatically minimalistic forms, the Endless Bio exhibition moves this approach to the world of organic shapes. The efforts to preserve material authenticity and consequent search for human body fragments are getting to the first place. The author himself defines this principle as an intellectual procedure, three-dimensional thought process of objective truth subjectivisation, the organic body of a tree in this case. The formal side of exhibits extracted from its natural environment and transformed into a final form by removal of the damaged tree layers. It is a process very similar to surgical treatment interventions. Thus organic material became superior to subject anatomy. On the other hand it is a content level in the version of actual situation criticism, where a modern man sees himself as a subject and object at the same time. The French philosopher J.F.Lyotard said in this context “,a man becomes the owner of nature …, where nature includes all constitutive elements of a human subject: nervous system, genetic code, cerebral cortex processor, auditive and visual sensors, communication systems …, as well as contemporary technical and scientific progress.“ The above mentioned implies that if the man is the owner of nature and object contained therein, he must have knowledge on its internal communication codes through which its intentions are revealed. Lyotard believes that “some languages and recognition of these objects is the ability to translate these languages .“ In case of the Endless Bio exhibition, the principle of cognition is reflected in the manner how the author adopts “the constitutive elements” of object and subject. The learning process, however, has started already in a pre-production stage, lasting approximately two years; in this stage, the author intensively searched for suitable material for his objects purely in their natural surroundings. Each tree had its own qualities determined by its immediate surroundings and events, whether climatic or accidental ones. These aspects complete a substantive level of every work. The author does not cut it, on the contrary he seeks for opportunities to enter through his personality, narration in this case, what works as a kind of subheadings.
 

Radicant

An implicit narrative level or story line is the significant part of the exhibition concept. The story is linked to the first object placed before entry to the synagogue. A clearly visible human figure is ripped from the ground and to some extent subdued by branches reshaped by minimal sculptural interventions. The object refers to a story from Greek mythology in which the unbeatable giant Antaios, the son of the Gaia goddess and Poseidon, the god of the sea, capitulated to Heracles. Heracles knew that Antaeus derives its strength when he touches the Earth so he lifted the giant up from the earth in the contest. He did so to weaken him. This object presents an entry, implies the causation of removing natural and original material and human decay and degradation.

Catafalque

After passing an entrance hall, a visitor is confronted with a disturbing lying figure, the only horizontally designed work. It evokes a deceased body which exist and disappears in a tree trunk and indicates where narration could go. Suggestive power of the work is further strengthened by its placement in the synagogue premises. It prevents smooth transition from the entrance hall to the central premises of major mass, what directly impacts visitor´s feelings of architecture and its historical layers.

Dancing tree

It continues to a monumental object, a tree with branches transformed into feet. Feet lose its original purpose, support and physical stability. It has been reduced to the form of the symbol, the foetus growing form the tree. The product, symbol of vitality expresses the meaning and essence of the author. However, in this case it represents the process of gradual distraction from exact shapes derived form subject anatomy. The product which delivered benefits, has been reduced to the form of outdated and unnecessary form, representing only the index of original meaning and purpose and indicating the next phase of elementary anatomic forms decay.

Hollow tree

This decay becomes evident in a hollow tree where the foot fragments are defined only by tree mass structure. The procedure, which was named by Lyotard as the ability to know the languages of objects, characterises the object. The author denied the expansive nature of artistic interventions and morphology which were transformed to a communication code reporting man’s capitulation to nature.

Broken

It is legible in another object, where any sculptor´s intervention has been absent. It is the tree broken by storm placed just before the synagogue sanctuary. It concerns some form of adoration of purely natural material g in its purest form, together with “an individual mythology” strengthened by the fact that the only sculptor´s intervention was transport to the exhibition premises. The object is deprived of an anthropomorphic shape, i.e. reference to the subject presence. Its presence is transformed to the last object unobtrusively placed in the synagogue sanctuary – industrial mechanism (fan). It definitely reports subject substitution by itself. The subject changes into a machine, the symbol of progress and comfort as a pre-requisite for the future. It saturates the idea of the exhibition based on criticism of late (bio) capitalism, economic anthropocentrism, thus presenting continuation of the Great Story of Brain Power Emancipation with the prefix BIO.

Curator: Mgr. Filip Krutek