Eszter Bornemisza
Elective Affinities, 2021
Pure foam, paper pulp, spools, nettle string, overprinted newsprint 130 x 100 x 30 cm
Inspired by Goethe's novel exploring human passions, this piece deconstructs the multilayered nature of personal identity. Hanging objects reveal abstract landscapes that conceal faces, with inner surfaces displaying profile silhouettes filled with inverse map images—metaphorically mapping the complexity of human interiority. Separated by empty spools and tied by nettle strings, these objects dynamically interact as viewers move, creating shifting constellations of connection and distance. Each subtle movement transforms relationships: some figures face each other intimately, while others turn away, revealing hidden profiles and inner landscapes.
Eszter Bornemisza
Heritage, 2022
Vintage clothing parts, strings, paper pulp and concrete 190 x 190 x 120 cm
In every family's history, threads of hardship, triumph, and secrecy weave a complex tapestry that shapes successive generations. This piece explores this intricate interplay of ancestral experiences and their lasting impact on identity formation. The monumental female dress, built from fragile fragments of vintage clothing forms a metaphor for the overwhelming presence of familial legacy. It pays homage to the family members -often the women - who sensitively navigate the family history, who not only transmit information but model resilience and healthy processing past traumas. By visualizing the physical and emotional weight of heritage, the installation invites viewers to reflect on familial narratives and the potential for transforming inherited burdens into sources of strength and understanding.
Eszter Bornemisza
Internal City, 2022
cardboard, newsprints, melted synthetics, yarn 15 x 15 x 3 m
In this immersive installation set within a French church gallery, human-sized anthropomorphic figures levitate among three-meter-high translucent maps, blending real and imagined urban landscapes. These figures embody the inner cartography of memory and experience—revealing how city dwellers carry internal geographies that continuously shift and transform. Windows within the figures contain inverse map fragments, creating a dialogue between subjective perception and external reality. The work explores our perpetual navigation through physical, spiritual, and mental landscapes—where orientation becomes a metaphor for identity, and memory serves as our most intimate, ever-changing map. By juxtaposing external urban structures with internal psychological terrains, the installation invites viewers to contemplate how we constantly re-draw our personal schemas, seeking meaning amid continuous change.
Eszter Bornemisza
Here and Nowhere, 2022
newsprint, melted synthetics, yarn 320 x 180 x 20 cm
In unfamiliar cities, we rely on maps and GPS, only to encounter signs with yet another map declaring 'You are here.' This red dot, a supposed anchor, serves as a reference point not just physically, but mentally and socially. Yet it often leaves us more disoriented in our complex world. This installation explores layers of identity-seeking and situation recognition, examining the pulsating process of orientation amidst constantly changing surroundings, oscillating between doubt and certainty. Overlapping, transparent maps of varying densities represent the intricate web of information, experiences, and memories that shape our sense of place.
Eszter Bornemisza
On the Edge of Tolerable, 2013
Newsprint, plastic ring, yarn 142 x 250 x 15 cm
This piece explores urban growth's complexities, challenging the boundaries between architectural development and human experience. Using city maps and transparency the artwork questions whose interest urban spaces truly serve and what makes an environment tolerable. By transforming cartographic representations into narratives, the piece invites viewers to ponder on the tensions between progress, design, and lived urban realities.
Eszter Bornemisza
Unseen Pangs, 2024
Vintage saw blades, electric cables and barbed wire, organza, newsprint 170 x 110 x 130 cm
This artwork visually explores the interplay between a woman's outer elegance and the concealed struggles within. The corselet becomes a symbol of silent battles, tormenting both body and soul, echoing the impact of a harsh address that evokes visceral discomfort. Portraying subtle complexities, this piece intends to initiate a dialogue about empathy, communication, and the profound impact of our words on others, understanding the nuanced dynamics woven into the fabric of our connections.
Eszter Bornemisza
Urban Links, 2015
Canvas, paper. computer keyboard, integrated circuit films, organza, plastic 300 x 100 cm
A city map is overlaid with integrated circuit films covered by a grid-like structure representing a map of public transportation system. The underground and circuit boards in computers, are ways to connect people, the former literally and the latter as an essential part of twenty first century living.
Eszter Bornemisza
Quo Vadis, 2013
Chickenwire, paperclay. paperpulp selfmade of rush and sedge 120 x 70 x 100 cm
While experimenting with distortion of cone forms shapes emerged, that started to look like humanoids: people abandoning a place, fighting their way forward or leaning against the wind with one of them in doubt.
Eszter Bornemisza
City Skins, 2015
Newspaper, silkfloss, organza, threads 250 x 110 x 30 cm
Clothes that we wear are often considered our outer skins, and the place where we live the even outer one. It protects, and enwraps us with warmth, but sometimes just with roughness and smudge.
Eszter Bornemisza
Next Page, 2014
X-ray film, threads 200 x 90 x 5 cm
This work expresses my concerns how and where the city getting developed. Urban planner’s ideas are crossed by business interest making it hard to imagine how the next page of the map book will look.
