FREGOLI (2024)
kinetic installation“Mihály Hurai has always been the greatest quick-change artist. They always put him where he is most needed. […]
This man is incapable of doing a bad job.”
The Italian actor Leopoldo Fregoli (1867-1936) was an amazing quick-change artist, the true master of imitation. His name is synonymous not only with the hanging cloth dryer used once to store his costumes but also with versatility.
Similarly to Fregoli, the idea of rapid role-changing is not unfamiliar to the society of the 21st century — we often step out of ourselves multiple times a day to excel in various aspects of life, so as not to fall behind. Working for hours beside the assembly line or operating parallel looms could be extremely demanding physical work, not to mention that the majority of industrial workers worked in multiple shifts and commuted from the countryside.
‘I could have circled the globe, so many kilometers I walked around the machines’ - remembers a group leader from the hosiery factory in Eszter Zsófia Tóth’s study titled ‘This much time is enough for a husband, let alone a factory’ – Factory identity in the life narratives of women and men workers. The stylized brigade flags that move around the installation evoke the rivalry between the groups of workers performing each work phase.
Special thanks to: Dániel CSEH, László HALÁK
Contractor: Péter TÓTH/Digiterm Kft., Innomechanika Kft., Poliform Bt.
Exhibited in K11 Labor, Budapest, 2024.02.27-03.21.
Photos by Dániel Gaál
