Veronika Romhány, a Hungarian artist, currently an Agosto Foundation artist in residency, will present her work, including a screening of her 3D films. The event will also include an improvisation performance by Alica Minárová (dance) and Miroslav Tóth (alto saxophone).

Veronika Romhány works extensively in 3D animation through the ruse of a mystifying “cooperation” with the fictional Russian artist Věra Nimova, dedicating an installation to this ambitious artist, a work which reflects themes such as power, greed and their impact on human individuality. The installation was first exhibited at Bartok 9/11 Gallery in Budapest, as part of a group show which was canceled because the participating artists were opposed to the fact that the gallery was supported by a newly-enpowered organization called the MMA (Hungarian Academy of Arts), an government-supported institute which was already considered to be scandalous. The dilemma split the artists between those who wanted categorically to cancel the exhibition, and those who wanted to disavow the political aspects and yet leave the exhibition running. This incident became an inspiring impulse for the further development of Nimova project.

Artist’s statement: This is a really strong point in decision making – how to balance [outside] pressure with our moral preconditions. We practise it day-by-day and with these small steps we form our personality.

As a reaction, I started on more focused research and I created a fictional personality to play with. I discovered a personality and created an environment to use it as a mirror for understanding more exactly what am I trying to avoid or running away from. I found Vera Nimova, a self-educated, Russian, nationalist female artist who created for this special exhibition a small bust representing The Worker of The Month (rather how I imagine how she would have thought it should look like).

That symbolic act, stemming from a one-night action, has become a long-term project. It is an approach for me for doing research and understanding how I work with visual forms. I search for these kinds of contradictions within a personality, and I am not able to separated it from the environment. I am interested in this kind of decision making and find the language of the absurd, of irony, or the grotesque to be a possible way to capture it.

After the presentation, there will be a dance and music improvisation “Rural snowflake, Snowman and Insertion” by Alica Minárová (dance) a Miroslav Tóth (alto saxophone).