Subterranean Walks

Ištvan Išt Huzjan is one of the artists whose works are tirelessly shifting between different mediums of expression, constantly establishing a relation between material and ephemeral and thus interrogating the mechanisms and representational sphere of contemporary visual art. In addition to this, Huzjan attempts to recognise his personal space and relations within it, as point of departure to rethink the issues that he is currently dealing with. 

The project Subterranean Walks, which the artist has developed for EASTWARDS PROSPECTUS [now Gaep] can be seen as a continuation of the artist’s engagements related to journeys, but addressing a very specific and particular spatial situation. Huzjan’s intervention in the subterranean space of the gallery directly addresses its physical frame, but what is maybe even more important is how he symbolically “anchors” it. On a symbolical level, the exhibition space can be seen as a subconscious part of the gallery structure and through that it can be directly related to the social function that the metro system has in relation to the city structures, in the sense of something that is hidden from our eyes, but mostly in the sense of recognizing its basic function, to move from point A to point B. And this particular element creates a strong conceptual curve back and towards Huzjan’s ceaseless measuring of the “void” that is created between his departures and arrivals during his journeys. 

In this particular case, Huzjan’s “measuring” is conceptually developed around his movements in the exhibition space, which directly coincides with movements of the Bucharest Metro. Even though Huzjan´s gesture can be initially understood as symbolization of his ceaseless journey, it needs to be stressed that more important is how the artist directly, through his own poetics, reinterprets specific social structures and raises doubts in relation to the spectator and his established values and symbols.  

Text by Tevž Logar, curator