Artists: Viktor Rónai, Milán Kövics, Marcell Menyhárt
Venue: Horizont Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
Photography: Dávid Biró / all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Horizont Gallery, Budapest
“The title “Post-Plastic: A New Aesthetic Frontier” is an innovative and attention-grabbing formulation designed to encourage the reader to explore new realms of art and aesthetics. The term “post-plastic” refers to transcending traditional materials and forms used in art, while also alluding to environmental and social considerations. The “New Aesthetic Frontier” part suggests that new artistic directions and expressions are pushing a boundary where technology, social changes, and human creativity intersect.
Through this title, I want to convey that we are living in a period in contemporary art where traditional artistic paradigms are breaking down, making way for new and innovative forms of expression. “Plastic” here refers not only to artistic materials but also to artistic styles and visual languages, which are transforming and adapting to our changing world. This title encourages us to dive into the new artistic world, where artists reinterpret traditional and modern elements, and where art takes a new, exciting path to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the post-internet and Anthropocene eras.”
ChatGPT-3.5
The AI-generated “post-plastic” term does not exclusively refer to plastic as a material and phenomenon – although some works in the exhibition specifically use plastic. The term, in different contexts, creates different interpretations, thus expanding its capacity for reception and plasticity. “Plastic” in English has multiple meanings: one is the material “plastic” mentioned earlier, and the other is “plastics” as a concept that also permeates visual art, referring to formability.
Furthermore, the title also hints at a falsified state of existence. In the renewed communication space of the last decade, trends spreading within it distort individual characteristics, eroding the psyche in a society where an overload of information fills users with uncertainty and despair. This dual, uncertain state of existence is manifested in the widespread growth of computer games. There, easily accessible, alternative, non-physical reality outcomes quickly pull users into a pseudo-beautiful reality, where the appearance of success becomes the defining factor. This is also characteristic of the image flood on social media platforms, with their clean, unreal, parallel reality. The leakage of this parallel presence into the real, physical space is what truly makes the post-plastic term relevant. It creates a dual reality where the ideals, filters, and trends of virtual space also define the visuality of physical reality. As a result, a renewed visual world and a falsified state of existence become plastic.