The exhibition “The Cooked Frog” explores the boundaries between reality and imagination with the tools of art, which can provoke questions, thoughts or even actions in the visitor.
The exhibition presents two artists, Eszter Szabó (Hungary) and Aideen Barry (Ireland), whose work shares a common sense of humour and a wry perspective on the human condition and the jungle of everyday life.
The exhibition includes drawings, paintings, videos, animations and installations. The title draws inspiration from the myth of the boiling frog. It is believed that the frog, placed in gradually warming water, is oblivious to the danger and eventually dies when the water reaches boiling point. The artists are interested in this as a metaphor for our contemporary life.
Barry and Szabo play with feelings of inertia, inaction, claustrophobia and horror. The works they have assembled together explore the gradual and often imperceptible changes that shape life, the narrowing of spaces of personal freedom; ideas of dysfunctionality and uncertainty.
Using clever tricks and visual fictions, the works expose the real meaning behind the myth: that the frog never actually boils but leaps out into freedom.
Aideen Barry’s thought-provoking installations and multimedia artworks challenge our perception of reality. With meticulous craftsmanship and the use of everyday objects, she creates complex narratives that blur the boundaries between the familiar and the surreal. Barry’s work makes us question our own adaptability and the possible consequences of passively accepting social norms.
Eszter Szabó’s expressive works and animated installations offer a profound exploration of the human condition. Her poignant use of line, her use of technology, and her poetically condensed blend of installation and animation address subtle details. She explores invisible yet familiar phenomena, navigating between personal experience and social phenomena.