The Idol of Denial

(The copy of the plaster copy of Michelangelo’s Moses in the Kecskemét synagogue)

The synagogue of the southern Hungarian city of Kecskemét, was abandoned and almost entirely destroyed during the II. World War, during the war it served as the stall of the SS horses. In the late 1960-s it was reconstructed in the socialist realist style, leaving very little of the interior as a reminder of its original function and history.

When it was reopened as the House of Science and Technology it gave space for an exhibition of 15 life-size Michelangelo plaster copies from the 19th century. The famous figure of Moses was one of them.

We found it intriguing, Michalelangelo’s classic figure floating in the air of this hounted building. We decided to perform a temple trick: to animated the figure of Moses, in order to make the figure talk to us and the people of the city of Kecskemét about itself, himself and its, his present day significance and context.

We commissioned three sculptors to create a new copy of the plaster copy, which we than placed on the stage of the lecture hall that is directly linked to the exhibition area. We announced the “lecture” in schools of the city of Kecskemét. The sculpture moved on stage and gave a lecture in front of an audience of around 20-25 people.

The documentation of the processes of the project are edited into a narrative film (The Idol of Denial, 23”).

The lecture Idol of Denial was held on 26.10.2014 at the Kecskemét House of Science and Technology.

It was composed by Zoltán Kékesi in collaboration with Tehnica Schweiz.

Sculptors: Péter Szalay, Tibor Varga, Balázs Veres

Made possible by Kunsthaus Dresden with kind support of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung / Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden.

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