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Rain of tears. 2006/2007
Installation: tears in test tubes
Tibor Balogh is the first Roma artist to be admitted to, and to have graduated from the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts. Testifying to a full mastery of his art, his diploma piece, a series of copperplates, blends childhood memories of the artist with fragments from another scene of his life, the 8th district of the capital, which has the highest percentage of Roma population in the city, and which gave home to Balogh during his Academy years. After graduation, his first important appearance was at the exhibition at the Mõcsarnok/Kunsthalle, the Hidden Holocaust.
Balogh made a provocative work for the Holocaust exhibition, a booth with the dimensions of 1 x 1 x 2.3 m. Illuminated by a bare light bulb, the walls of the booth were papered with shocking documents, articles and photos on the Holocaust of the Roma and their ongoing discrimination. Stepping inside, it was impossible to ignore the evidence of their harrowing fate, no matter where one turned. Outside the booth, there were small test tubes, with the instructions pasted on the wall. You could take a test tube inside the booth, where you could spend as much time as you liked. You could collect your tears in the test tube, which you could sign if you wanted to. The test tube was to be passed onto a small table through an opening, whence the artist took it, and hung it up around the booth, among the other "raindrops." A hundred people took part in the action that preceded the exhibition, and the event had the mood of a Roma wake.
Tímea Junghaus
Print version
All texts and biographies
© Photos: Haupt & Binder
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* 1975 Fehérgyarmat, Hungary. Lives in Budapest, Hungary.
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