Réka Lőrincz & Dorottya Vékony at VUNU Gallery/ Kunsthalle

Artists: Réka Lőrincz & Dorottya Vékony

Exhibition title: Body To Inhabit

Curated by: Niki Bernath

Venue: VUNU Gallery/ Kunsthalle, Kosice, Slovakia

Date: June 22 – August 3, 2024

Photography:  Tibor Czito / all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and VUNU Gallery/ Kunsthalle, Kosice

The duo exhibition of Hungarian artists Réka Lőrincz and Dorottya Vékony at VUNU Gallery/Kunsthalle Kosice offers playful and intimate meditations on notions of femininity, fertility, healing, and the influence of the beauty industrial complex. While the two artists have previously exhibited together, Body to Inhabit marks the first time they are showcasing collaborative artworks, born from the artistic dialogue between their distinct styles and approaches.

In the swimming pool-transformed exhibition space of the Kunsthalle, one piece that immediately captures attention is a large-scale photograph printed on textile, My body is your hand. It features a statuesque figure reminiscent of a Greek goddess, dressed in a long white gown with a fern leaf in hand, hair extension obscuring her face, and one breast exposed—a possible tribute to femininity and female power. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the figure is supported by another woman, whose hand emerges from the long skirt on the ground. With this detail, the monument challenges the glorification of individual strength by highlighting the often overlooked support and care provided by others. In a world driven by patriarchal, capitalist logic, women are conditioned to compete, yet uplifting one another ultimately strengthens the collective. This piece also explores the broader concept of (co)creation—beyond childbirth, what else do women bring into existence?

Another collaborative photograph depicts three hands with prosthetically long fake nails surrounded by flowers and leaves, with pink plastic straws as stems—a visual link to the fern held by the fertility goddess. This composition harmoniously blends the synthetic with the organic, reflecting the surreal juxtapositions characteristic of late-stage global capitalism—a recurring theme in the exhibition.

Réka Lőrincz’s sculpture, titled One of Us, is both totemic and anthropomorphic: various vessels, such as a water keg and a wash basin, are stacked atop each other on a basket; two cowry shells represent the eyes, with fake nails for eyelashes, and a wooden spoon with a feather duster forms the crown. This piece is rich with associations to traditional feminine realms and fertility, nodding to the long lineage of Venuses, stretching from the Venus of Willendorf to Mattel’s Barbie dolls. Naturally, One of Us incorporates the ubiquitous vibrant matter[1] of the 21st century that fills our lands and waters: plastic.

Dorottya Vékony’s sculptural contributions seem less quasi-spiritual and more provocative: a set of massage kits that evoke sex toys or torture devices, and a whip made from a tree branch with hair extensions. These objects walk a fine line between pain and desire, oscillating between these two poles within the context of self-care. The beauty industry’s rising stars, the gua sha and jade roller, are signified as arrows in a three-part video co-created by the artists. In this video, Vékony receives a full makeover, facial massage, and shiny manicure. However, the oddly placed fake lashes and massage tool markings on her face create a clown-like appearance, shedding light on the absurdity of chasing fabricated notions of youth and femininity. Vékony’s photo series, Venus of Potato (2023), serves as a memento mori in the exhibition, reminding viewers of the fleeting nature of beauty and the body, whether human or non-human.

The exhibition aligns with Audre Lorde’s concept of the erotic, as articulated in her seminal essay, Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power (1978). As an opposing pole to the pornographic, Audre describes the erotic as “an assertion of the lifeforce of women; that creative energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives.” The works in Body to Inhabit resonate with this idea, encouraging the viewer to seek the embodied knowledge of what feels good, fostering a deeper connection to their bodies in contrast to following the profit-driven interactions and rituals that distance women from each other and their inner powers.

-Veronika Molnár

[1] Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010)