Art Encounters 2017 Exhibitions:

József Bartha (b. 1960) is a visual artist, stage designer and curator. In 1987 he graduated from the „Ion Andreescu” Fine Arts Institute (currently the UAD), in Cluj-Napoca. In 2004, he became an alumnus of the doctoral school of the University of Art in Budapest. He is the founder of the ARTeast Foundation and the B5 studio in Târgu Mureș, and is a lecturer at the Târgu Mureș University of Art.

Selected exhibitions: Nici o zeiță a memoriei [No goddess of memory], MAGMA, Sf. Gheorghe (2016); Few Were Happy with their Condition, Gallery 400, Chicago (2016); Dincolo de sintaxă [Beyond syntax], At Home Gallery Samorin (2015, solo with Bartha Sándor); Few Were Happy with their Condition, Motorenhalle, Dresden (2015); MAGMA, Sf. Gheorghe (2012, solo); 2011, Meci amical (Friendly game), B5, Tg. Mureș (2012, solo); GPS, Ernst Museum, Budapest (2007); New Gallery, Bucharest (2005, solo); Liget Gallery, Budapest (2006, solo); I Had a Dream, Kunstraum, Baden (2004); Personal Places, A+A Gallery, Venice (2003); Blood and Honey, Sammlung Essl, Wien (2003); Experiment ’60-’90, 4th Floor Gallery, Bucharest (1997); Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo (1996, solo).

In József Bartha’s works, he critically approaches the image in the media and the instruments that can manipulate a discourse through the image as an intermediary. The monument to “do-it-yourself” the artist introduces to the biennale is an obelisk with a surveillance camera placed at the top, and situated in a pedestrian area in the city center. The monument comments on the excessive appearance of surveillance cameras in the public space and ironically proposes their distribution like IKEA products, in boxes with items that should be assembled with minimal headache. The components of this work include: a box containing the components of the monument, precise instructions for assembly, a surveillance camera connected to an online network that transmits the images in real time, and a monitor in the exhibition space where the city life can be followed, as it is captured in the “vulture’s” eye, where nothing escapes.

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