Zoltán Agócs's exhibition Zákulisie obrazového pola (Backstage of a field of vision) presents
classic paintings in an unusual way in the context of architectural scope in the synagogue in Žilina, an important architectural piece of Peter Behrens.
The interesting thing about this exhibition is that the installation architecturally changes four times in its duration.
With Zoltán Agócs and Juraj Gábor a collaborator, we tried to find various positions of the paintings that specify or change the visitor's point of view.
These positions also uncover the character of the paintings as objects, an object that obstructs our way or directs our path.
We are confronted with the feeling of tightness. The installation leads us into marginal positions of the space.
The installation directs us.
The cycle of 20 large format canvases was created during Zoltán Agócs's residency at the synagogue in the spring and summer months.
The name of this residency program was Anagram, after the meaning when a word that is created from rearranging letters from another word.
The meaning changes and that's how we worked with the chronology and dramaturgy of this exhibition.
It does have anagrammatic potential.
The paintings change positions, they're placed or grouped differently and form new meanings in the context of dramaturgy and space.
This exhibition is about the visitor's position, their point of view, their perception of paintings,
and also about letting the visitor see behind something that's not common in galleries.
Paintings are usually hung on the wall or it's placed as a focal point.
In this exhibition we play around with the option of connecting paintings, connecting them with architecture that comes from the paintings.
The paintings are interesting for me, especially for their ability to materialize the space.
They create scenic corners and stills where we can sense that something is happening,
they're often accompanied by a figure or the absence of a figure.
The scenographical character and the character of the Zoltan's panting process when he spends time in his small atelier
makes the paintings sort of a refuge, it creates an opportunity to build an intimate space.
As I've mentioned, the connection between the architecture of the synagogue and the paintings is interesting in its polarities.
There's an emphasis on the relationship of tectonics, instability, and stability, ruining and rebuilding.
So these contradictions visible in the paintings were a thing we tried to include in the architectural part of the installation.
Just like the painting evolved, so will the installation.
The following steps lead to the climax of thinking, a concept of making a temple inside of a temple with paintings.
It was a challenge for me, installing paintings in the synagogue.
I think that a version where we can touch the color and structure of it but also the backstage of the painting brings a feeling of fright.
It's a great experience for me as an artist for my next stage.
To think about the painting not just as a two-dimensional object but also think about installation. That it can be more varied.
That the paintings come back into the three dimensional.
They come from the environment and return back to it.