Firmamnet

Alexander Gyenes is a biochemist and fine artist of Hungarian origin. His exhibition in the Műcsarnok will mainly present his serial projects based on different areas of astronomical research.

One of the key figures of the show is Julius Fényi, a 20th-century Jesuit astronomer who studied the laws of solar protuberances through meticulous drawings. As Gyenes said about him: “Fényi’s personality is a very attractive one. It shows us a beautiful combination of devotional worship, combined with Catholic mysticism on one side, and the excitement of the discovery oriented naturalist on the other.”

The same duality is manifest in the creative attitude and work of Alexander Gyenes: he seeks to bring to people the laws of the heavenly order and harmony barely graspable with the human mind by using the framework, accuracy and analytical method of science, while calling attention to the possibility (or impossibility) of his endeavour.

Astronomy is seen by Gyenes as fertile ground for exploring the process of observation and its connection with reality through the means of art. The ‘language’ of science itself, scientific texts and images (photos and illustrations), equations, formulae and data streams becomes the new landscape in the frame of the art object.

The exhibited works are based on four astronomical events:
Julius Fényi’s complete set of observations of sun protuberances recorded in the early 20th century,
satellite imagery collected by the Giotto space-probe on its Comet Halley flyby mission in 1986,
imagery recordings of Venus’ 2012 transit in front of the Sun,
and the Sun’s partial eclipse on its path through North America in 2017.

Gyenes’ monotypes, video-projections, digital prints, graphic works and carved sculptures exhibited at our show explore these events.