In 2020, our fund of photography and other media was enriched with three pieces by András Cséfalvay: Light of the World (2016); Godefroy de Bouillon (2017), Godefroy de Bouillon (2008 – 2018).
The works have been previously presented as a part of various Nitra Gallery’s projects, Death (in) Tales (2017 – 2018) – Light of the World; I Am Not Here, I Am in Arcadia (2018); Godefroy de Bouillon and FOKUS (2021) – all three of them).
Nitra Gallery’s Virtual Gallery presents the work titled Light of the World (2016). Cséfalvay has created a story of three whales (a sperm whale, blue whale, killer whale) crucified next to each other. Each one bearing its own cross, its own crucification, its own burden, wounds, pain… In the darkness of the film, one of them whispers through the heavy deep breaths of the other tortured whales, with a gradually rising musical score… Suddenly, all three of them start singing quietly, humbly and affectionately: “We give our life so you could live your life as before… the poor will always be with you, but we will not be with you…”
The artist uses a simple, mournful, but also very emotive and painful method to emphasise human egoism and egocentrism. His symbolic depiction of whales underscores our temporariness, ephemerality and irreplaceability – once we die, nobody can replace us, but “our death” can allow others to live their lives in a different way, even though we are not here anymore: life goes on even without us…
Besides referencing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Light of the World also points out the sacrifice and suffering hidden in every one of us. The work also has a distinctive environmental and spiritual dimension to it. The sad, dying, tortured whales are visualised as symbols of sacrifice in the most basic way. They are trying to teach us how to pay attention to our own life and the lives of others through religious images and references. “While living our lives, we are not paying enough attention to the huge price our world pays so we could live, but it will be our turn very soon… and nobody might pay attention to it as well/just like we are not paying enough attention to the gradual loss of whales and other fish. It is also possible there will be no one left to pay attention…” (A. Cséfalvay).
The whales’ singing may be compared to the farewell songs we sing and play at funerals and memorial services.
Ľudmila Kasaj Poláčková
Sources
http://www.andrascsefalvay.com/works39
KASAJ POLÁČKOVÁ, Ľudmila: Príbehy (o) smrti [Death (in) Tales]. Bratislava: Nitra Gallery, 2018, p. 28 – 29.
András Cséfalvay (1986) – graduated from Newcastle University in fine art in 2008. In 2011, he received a masters degree at AFAD in Bratislava (under Daniel Fischer). Later, he also received a doctoral degree and currently teaches at the Department of Intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. Cséfalvay’s films have been presented at many festivals: Early Melons in Bratislava, Cinematik in Piešťany, PAF13 in Olomouc and others. His works can be also found at Slovak National Gallery, Nitra Gallery, but also Malmö Konstmuseum. He focuses on experimental films and 3D animation.
No.: F 163
Artist: András Cséfalvay
Title: Light of the World
Year of origin: 2016
Technique: video, edition (2/5)
Material: USB
Dimensions: 7:09 min.
Signature: none