TECHNO ZEN BY MÁRTON NEMEZ: THE HUNGARIAN PAVILION IN VENICE BIENNALE
For the 60th International Venice Biennale, Nemes designed the project as an immersive, painting-based Gesamtkunstwerk that expands the genre of painting and extends it to other media. Project curated by Róna Kopeczky.
Márton Nemes’s work is influenced by techno subcultures; the explosion and rearrangement of the pictorial field gives a psychedelic character to his abstract paintings that evoke the visual atmosphere of today’s nightclubs. Combining painterly and sculptural elements, his multimedia installations create a hypnotic spatial dynamic that propels the viewer from the harsh, real world into a fluid, dizzying, fluorescent color field.
The term techno also refers to techné and technological art; the fusion of industrial technologies and materials with a more conventional approach unfolds as a painting-object, an installation or a moving painterly environment. Laser-cut steel, car paint, enameled steel plate, projection, DMX lights, speakers and colored fans are the tools Nemes integrates in his practice in order to reinterpret the palette of painting. By doing so, he creates a multisensory environment: its optical, acoustic and haptic content unfolds through the combined effects of light, color, movement and sound. Thus, the vibrancy of techno transforms into a Zen resonance.
The exhibition is structured in three main parts; their joint, overall effect is meant to be fully understood, perceived and experienced when the visitor stands in the middle of the pavilion, the courtyard that links all spaces. This position—being in the middle—carries a symbolic meaning; it is both physical and ontological. In an era of extremely polarised societal phenomena that lack or completely exclude nuances, the project conveys a humanistic message that advocates for openness and tolerance.
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Pavilion of HUNGARY. Techno Zen. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Matteo de Mayda. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
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Pavilion of HUNGARY. Techno Zen. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Matteo de Mayda. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
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Pavilion of HUNGARY. Techno Zen. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Matteo de Mayda. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
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Pavilion of HUNGARY. Techno Zen. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Matteo de Mayda. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
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Pavilion of HUNGARY. Techno Zen. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Matteo de Mayda. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
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Pavilion of HUNGARY. Techno Zen. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Matteo de Mayda. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
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Pavilion of HUNGARY. Techno Zen. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Matteo de Mayda. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
Márton Nemes (b. 1986, Székesfehérvár) first studied industrial design at the Budapest Technical University, then continued his studies at the Department of Painting of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2013, and graduated in 2018 with a master’s degree from Chelsea College of Arts, London. A year later, he was awarded the prestigious Esterházy Art Award for emerging artists. His work has been exhibited in several European galleries (acb Gallery, Budapest; Fold Gallery, London; Annka Kultys Gallery, London, 193 Gallery, Paris and Erika Deák Gallery, Budapest) as well as public institutions in Hungary. He has participated in such international exhibitions as Haunting Monumentality at MSU Zagreb (2014), Falling Out the Rythm at BWA Warsaw (2019), Abstract Hungary at Künstlerhaus—Halle für Kunst und Medien in Graz (2017), as well as Place Value—New Acquisitions at Ludwig Museum—Museum of Contemporary Art in Budapest (2022) and New Mediations at Modem in Debrecen (2022-2023). His works are part of numerous Hungarian and international, private and public collections. He is represented by acb Gallery (Budapest) and Double Q Gallery (Hong Kong). In 2024, he founded the Kazinczy 51 Art Hub. He lives and works in New York and Budapest.
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