Thirteen fresh fishes

A visit to an art and design exhibition provides the opportunity for a multi-layered sensory experience. Not only can visitors look at the artworks: they can also touch and try out the displayed objects.


Fresh Fishes II, a recently opened show at the FISE Gallery on Kálmán Imre utca, provides a multitude of sensory experiences, with the chance to experiment with kitchen accessories to board games. Thirteen new members of the prestigious professional institution of FISE (Fiatal Iparművészek Stúdiója Egyesület, which translates as Studio of Young Designers’ Association) introduce their innovative works here.
Visitors with a thirst for games with a cool design sense should find pleasure playing with Szilvia Vágo’s smart “Equalation balancing game,” or in exploring Gábor Zoltán Vad’s rustic strategic board game, the Hex-Tri.
With its well-proportioned logo and graphic vocabulary, Vad’s elaborate work stands out from games of generally banal design. With his designed curved wooden figures and the stone-like board of Hex-Tri, the young Vad proves that a refined and demanding appearance can add even more excitement to game-playing.
Dorottya Nagypál’s set of oil and spice bottles are clever alternatives to the accessories of uniform Ikea-kitchens. Her flask-in-a-flask system allows the storage of two different materials separately in the same bottle, while, just as importantly, endowing the objects with an intriguing look.
Designer Erika Sütő presents two of her diverse artistic faces at FISE. While her skyscraper-like spice-box set applies strictly geometrical, angled lines, her vase, entitled “Vermiform IV,” follows much more dynamic and organic forms.
As its title suggests, Zsolt Budai’s “Greetings from Finland” evokes the atmosphere of the icy winter. And indeed, to walk around and fully enjoy the floating glass figures demonstrates a Northern purity and interior design sensibility.
“The entire visual culture of Hungary would need to be transformed to approach a Western level of fashion and experimentation,” says leather-designer Sarolta Emese Végh, whose leather-strip compositions debut at Fresh Fishes II.
In Végh’s vision of the future, just like the fashion designers, accessory designers would also have the opportunity for continuous renewal, coming out with new collections every season.
Her heavy leather jewelry displayed here is composed of twisted leather strips connected with metal screws, and could become the beloved accessories to a minimalist ensemble, just as easily as to a rougher, wilder look.
Most of the exhibited objects are available for purchase, but only outside the confines of the gallery. Artist contact information is placed beside their works.

(Photo: Boglárka Katona)

Ágnes Vinkovits

15.01.2009