ORDINARY CONSTELLATION
(excerpt)
Exhibited in the group exhibition titled “Plant Kingdom” in Budapest Gallery.
Curated by Flóra Gadó and Dalma Eszter Kollár
In 2020, during the first wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, Dániel Máté started not only his Ordinary Constellations series, but also growing houseplants. Collecting, caring for and propagating plants and germinating seeds was his way out of confinement and the resulting mentally stressful situation. He created ephemeral installations of everyday objects in his home and studio, captured them in photographs, and over time plants with increasingly important roles in his environment appeared in the photos along with the tools (such as flower pots) used to care for them. The objects and creatures in these small-scale compositions are metaphors not only for human emotions related to anxiety and isolation, but also for the paradoxical situation of controlling and even drastically interfering with the life of houseplants for the sake of their ‘proper development’. Somewhat like when during a pandemic, the government restricts our daily activities in the interest of our own health.
Text bx Dalma Eszter Kollár
Curated by Flóra Gadó and Dalma Eszter Kollár
In 2020, during the first wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, Dániel Máté started not only his Ordinary Constellations series, but also growing houseplants. Collecting, caring for and propagating plants and germinating seeds was his way out of confinement and the resulting mentally stressful situation. He created ephemeral installations of everyday objects in his home and studio, captured them in photographs, and over time plants with increasingly important roles in his environment appeared in the photos along with the tools (such as flower pots) used to care for them. The objects and creatures in these small-scale compositions are metaphors not only for human emotions related to anxiety and isolation, but also for the paradoxical situation of controlling and even drastically interfering with the life of houseplants for the sake of their ‘proper development’. Somewhat like when during a pandemic, the government restricts our daily activities in the interest of our own health.
Text bx Dalma Eszter Kollár
Photos by Tamás G. Juhász
