ROLAND FARKAS
email : farkasroland@hotmail.com
EDUCATION
1999–03 Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Intermedia, DLA, Budapest, Hungary
1996–97 University of Janus Pannonius, Pécs, Hungary
1993–99 University of Constantine the Philosopher, MA, Nitra, Slovakia
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 Refugees Welcome, Kulturkasern, Vaasa, Finland
2011 Draw Your Money, Studio Gallery, Budapest
2010 Change, Hungarian Institute, Tallinn, Estonia
2010 Master and Disciple 1., with P. Rónai, Magma, Sf. Gheorghe, Romania
2008 ’50’, Stúdió Galéria, Budapest, Hungary
2008 Cat Taints Dead Saints, Visu Galleri, Kokkola, Finland
2006 Mind Your Head, with H. Boráros, Hit Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2006 Eternal Love, CC Centrum, Bratislava, Slovakia
2003 Striptease, Gallery Rialtosantambrogio, Rome, Italy
2003 You too can be blessed! with P. Rónai, Gallery by Night, Studio, Budapest
2003 Talk show, with H. Boráros, Limes Gallery, Komárno, Slovakia
2002 Striptease, Kultiplex, Budapest, Hungary
2002 Connection, with H. Boráros, Limes Gallery, Komárno, Slovakia
2002 One step forward, one step backward, Óbudai Társaskör Gallery, Budapest
2002 Project H, with H. Boráros, Studio Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2001 Nomad, At Home Gallery, Šamorín, Slovakia
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS
2016 What Kind of Creature is an Artist?, Labor, Budapest, Hungary
2015 “From the intangible to the tangible” , Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zurich, Switzerland
2015 Hÿperlocal, 11th Athens Digital Art Festival, Athens, Greece
2015 Give me five!, Magma, Sf. Gheorghe, Romania
2014 Unclean Project, Somos Art House, Berlin, Germany
2014 GALLERY WEEKEND Interpixel//Pandamonium Preview, CHB, Berlin, Germany
2014 It Never Happened, Noordkaap, Dordrecht, Holland
2014 The Most, FKSE Annual Exhibition, Budapest, Hungary
2014 Bothnia Biennale 2014: Nykarleby Recall - Coming Back, Nykarleby - Vaasa, Finland
2014 Biennale #nfcdab, Wroclaw, Poland
2013 Impossibility vs. Self-Censorship, Matadero, Madrid, Spain
2013 Hidden Visions, Csepel Steel Works, Budapest, Hungary
2012 Social Tinkering, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary
2012 Whitewash, Noordkaap, Dordrecht, The Netherlands
2012 Gallery by Night, Studio Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2012 Experiments with the Magyars, Hungarian Cultural Center, New Delhi, India
2011 Back to the Future from the Past, Studio Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2011 NMA News, Demo galéria, Budapest, Hungary
2010 FFF, Magma Contemporary Medium, Sf. Gheorghe, Romania
2009 Cities With Boxes, OT301 Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2009 I think sixteen hours a day before going to bed, Trafó Gallery, Budapest
2009 No Pass, Olof Palme House, Budapest, Hungary
2008 Case History, Stredoslovenská galéria, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
2008 Case History, Soho, Vienna, Austria
2007 GPS, Ernst Museum, Budapest, Hungary
2006 CONTRAFACTS, Osterbottens Museum, Vaasa, Finland
2006 Roma in Miniatura, Accademia d’Ungheria, Rome, Italy
2006 SCCA-Sotheby’s Auction, Design Factory, Bratislava, Slovakia
2006 Variations on Rome, Central European Institute, Budapest, Hungary
2005 Borsec Project, Tranzit House, Cluj / Vector Gallery, Iaşi / Arthall, Sfîntu
2005 Gheorghe, Romania
2005 VideoNight, Castle Gallery, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania
2004 Billboart Gallery Europe, Vajanské quai, Bratislava, Slovakia
2004 Borsec Project, Culture Palace, U.A.P. Gallery, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania
2003 Permanent Romantism, GMB, City Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2003 DEMO, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Dunaújváros, Hungary
2003 Gallery by Night, Studio Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2003 Spheres of Valency II., Gallery of J. Koniarek, Trnava, Slovakia
2003 TranzArt Dislocated, Tranzit House, Cluj, Romania
2003 Transart Communication, Water Mill, Kolárovo, Slovakia
2003 Billboart Gallery Europe, klub Metro, Bratislava, Slovakia
2002 One minute for one picture, ICA, Dunaújváros, Hungary
2002 A.K.T. 3, International Performance Meeting, Brno, Czech Republic
2002 Transart Communication, Nové Zámky, Slovakia
2002 VISION, Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle, Budapest, Hungary
2001 Art of Action 1989-2000, Tatranská Galéria, Poprad, Slovakia
2001 MKE DLA, Artpool P60, Budapest, Hungary
2000 Intermédia, Galéria Medium, Bratislava, Slovakia
2000 Art In WINDOWS, International Symposium, Nitra, Slovakia
2000 Aritmia+Static Noise 5, ICA, Dunaújváros, Hungary
1999 Diploma Work, State Gallery, Nitra, Slovakia
1999 Videojournal BARLA III., Theater A. Bagar, Nitra, Slovakia
1999 MANDALADADA, Human Body Electronics, Nové Zámky, Slovakia
1999 Intermédia, Artpool P60, Budapest, Hungary
1998 MANDALADADA, Art Maneuver 3., Komárno, Slovakia
1997 POP ART, Alternatives 2., Košice, Slovakia
1996 VERTIGO, Transart Communication, Nové Zámky, Slovakia
RESIDENCIES
2016 Platform, Vaasa, Finland
2010 Portela, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2005 University of Applied Sciences, Nykarleby, Finland
2003 Accademia D’Ungheria, Rome, Italy
2001–02 GARBa, Montescaglioso, Italy
REFUGEES WELCOME
plexiglass signs, 2016
public spaces, Vaasa, Finland
Roland Farkas’s project ‘Refugees Welcome’ realized at the Platform’s Artist in Residence program deals with the vicissitudes of refugees arriving to Europe. Their welcome differs in each country of the European Union - from barbed wires to arrests, from heartily welcome through indifference to hostility, from refugee camps to integration language courses. The project points out the anomalies of the system, explores the phenomena of migration and the utopian aspects of integration. During the course of the project the artist cut and engraved his drawings in plexiglas plates examining various aspects of the topic described above and migration in general and illegally placed in different parts of the city: buildings, places of entertainment and near rest stops.
CONCURRENCY
linocut print, bill/board, 2014
The Most - Annual Exhibition of Studio of Young Artist’s Association, Budapest, Hungary
“Since the tradition of the annual exhibition started, it has never occurred that the Studio has not received financial support for it either from the ministry of culture or the Hungarian National Cultural Fund. In the year of 2014 the situation has fundamentally shifted since the current governmental cultural policy decided not to support the existence and the functioning of either the Studio or larger art institutions that exhibit contemporary art.” On my prints placed in public locations, the eyes of the featured personas on Hungarian banknotes are “watching” us.
DRAW YOUR MONEY
2011
Studio Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
“‘Draw Your Money’ is a project that involves recycling banknotes that have been literally cleansed of the ink markings that give hem value. A video projection shows the fascinating process by which the artist, using a coctail of ordinary household bleach and other cleaning materials warmed on the stove, loosens the precious ink from paper money. Unlike the counterfeiter, the end goal or the artist is not the creation of fake bank notes, but of drawings, realised in collaboration with volunteers at a workshop held for the opening of the exhibition. In this way the ink and paper of a HUF 20,000 note are recycled as materials for an original artwork, the value of which is greater than that of the denominated note from which it was created.“
From Time Out Budapest, December 2011, Exhibition of theMonth, edited by Maja & Reuben Fowkes
CHANGE
video, 3’38’’, 2010
Loss of value as a consequence of currency exchange is at the core of the project entitled Change. The work consists of movie sequences shot with a hidden camera, showing me in a series of currency exchange operations, Hungarian forint to Serbian dinar, Serbian dinar to Ukrainian hryvnia and so on, during which the purchasing power of the initial amount of money steadily diminishes. The sequence of cash exchange operations is then moved to Argentina where the value of the local currency, pegged to the US dollar, had not long before decreased to a fraction within no time. The half-dollar coin received in the last transaction of the project was given away as alms.
ARTIST HAS THE RIGHT TO JUST LAY ALL DAY AND WATCH THE SKY
performance, AKT 3., 2002
Brno, Czech Republic
“Roland Farkas, however seems to be giving up the battle with the immature sensitivity of the society full of prejudice towards the lonesome figure of the artist. Fulfilling the preconceptions of the general public, the performer, was in a “white trash” way of conduct relaxing on his camp-bed in the middle of the main square in Brno, the place notoriously known for its vegetable and fruit market. Next to the performer was a sign saying: “An Artist Has the Right to Just Lay around All Day Gazing at the Sky”. The content of the sentence gave rise to several discussions and irritating comments from the offended passerby. Many of them appalled the scandalous behavior of an ‘arrogant’ and ‘lazy’ artist, who was supposed to be provoking the respectable and honest people in the middle of the Saturday rush hour. The revolutionary potential of the situation reached its climax at the moment the police arrived. The police were called to investigate if the artist really has the right to just lay all day around and gazing at the sky. The conflict inspired a group of strangers, who seeing the scene, decided to make a statement as well and laid down, next to the artist. They claimed they were protesting against the conformity of the system.”
Mira Keratová In: Fekete-Kaiser, C.: Close Encounters - Vienna - Bratislava - Budapest, KulturAXE e.V., Vienna, 2008
