Népsziget
Róbert Nunkovics
The Népsziget, formerly known as Mosquito Island is one of Budapest's lesser-known, underrepresented districts. It used to be an island on the Danube River, which in the 1850s transformed into a peninsula with a thin strip of land. It is surrounded on all sides by the Danube, except for Zsilip Street, where I renovated a studio a few years ago in the currently operational Mahart Shipyard. This provides an opportunity to observe the island's everyday life up close and through a real network of relationships. I am conducting a documentary project that I have divided into two parts: collecting and photographing. The two works function independently, but together, they become truly complex, reinforcing each other. I am interested in the young people enjoying the floodplain forest, those celebrating their birthdays, the fishermen, a day in the life of the island’s mail carrier, the residents of the shelter, the rusty regulars at the historical Vasmacska, or the skeletal remains of a chewed fish on a waxed tablecloth, dripping ice creams with a portable speaker – basically anything happening around me on the island.
Róbert Nunkovics (1993) examines the relational systems of urban life, exploring naive artistic attempts appearing in public spaces, graffiti, and the acts of their reception through the medium of photography and video. In his own images, he presents urban space as various, freely usable surfaces for artistic creation. He sensitively combines research-based mediums - objects, memories, drawings, or collective photography - with works coming from his own observations, delicately examining the issues of our environment and social groups.