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The

Artist

Lives and Works in
Budapest
Máté Dobokay (b. 1988) is interested in conceptual art and experimental photography, particularly through manipulating the medium and neglecting the apparatus. He is graduated at University of Kaposvár on Photography BA department. He is a member of Studio of Young Artists’ Association. He received a Republican Scholarship for 2015‐2016, was shortlisted for the Leopold Bloom Award in 2015 and for the Esterházy Award also in 2017. During 2014 he was a member of the winning team at OFF_Festival, Bratislava and was nominated for the Lucien et Rodolf Hervé Prix. He was the youngest artist in “IMPACT: Abstraction & Experiment in Hungarian Photography” exhibition in New York. He has had some solo exhibitions and featured in several group shows. He is represented by acb Gallery, Budapest.
Projects
2020

Developing till the Exhaustion

By analogy with Maurer’s drypoint series – which visualises the process of exhaustion and abrasion of forms on a printing plate in use, and the transformation of the motif – Dobokay documents the progressive deterioration of the liquid developer on uniformly exposed and developed photo papers lined up to the point where the chemical does not react to the photosensitive material anymore. Neither is the analytical examination of photography’s internal structure and most fundamental components unknown to Dobokay’s artistic practice, nor is seriality. With its gradient counting more than 600 photographs, not only do the works newly made for this exhibition differ spectacularly in scale from his previous pieces, their repetition and the gesture of accumulation also reveal a shift in his creative approach. Overriding a possibly aesthetical selection, the authenticity of representation demands this time the complete presentation of the contiguous phases composing the process. The element of the series thus materialises the immaterial component of photographical image-making, time, while reflecting on the specific time experience of the creative process, as well as on the dilemma of the unrepeatable repetition. The symbolism of surfaces turning from dark and heavy qualities into light ones, the gradual exhaustion, as well as the transubstantiation of the material into the intellectual allow an at least as important interpretation of the apparently numerical-mechanical natured piece as the characteristic property of a technical procedure raised to the level of visual motif. (HORVÁTH Lili, curator)
Máté
was nominated by
Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center
in
2018
Show all projects
Each year every member of the FUTURES European Photography Platform nominates a set of artists and projects to become part of the FUTURES network.

Éva Szombat | „Pure positivity! Eva is a person who looks at the world with a smile and wants to translate that uplifting outlook on life into her work. If this is the mission of her work, then she absolutely achieves in doing so. Eva presented coherent projects that document herself and people in her surroundings in a captivating, confident and unexpected manner.”

Emilia van Lynden artistic director of Unseen Amsterdam

Márton Kállai | „Solotvyno, Kallai’s project that focuses on a former salt mining town in the Ukraine, explores two communities who have contrasting relationships to their shared local environment. His project explores the different manners in which these communities live alongside each other and the distinctive emotions, or lack of emotions, that they feel towards their natural surroundings. Kállai presents a cohesive body of work that looks at how opposing communities live together and their disparate approaches to the environment, heritage and commerce.”

Emilia van Lynden artistic director of Unseen Amsterdam

Szilvia Bolla is a young artist with a very professional approach to art, that combines photography in relation to sculpture, resulting in some very interesting installations. Her work is a combination of senses, mixing colors, shapes and light in order to catch the viewer’s eye. She has a good understanding of the present and future trends and I am certain that her installations will pleasantly surprise the audience.”

Sebastian Vaida photographer, director of Photo Romania Festival

Dávid Bíró works with abstract shapes, creating new and exciting concepts. He combines geons and colors into new forms and installations, drawing attention to his point of view. Presented well his work will stand out in any exhibition.”

Sebastian Vaida photographer, director of Photo Romania Festival

Máté Dobokay works at the border between clear and unclear, both with color and shades of grey. He has a unique technique of using analogue techniques in expressing his work, sometimes in huge prints. I will certainly love to see his work printed and exhibited, just as I saw it in a portfolio review presentation.”

Sebastian Vaida photographer, director of Photo Romania Festival