https://tamas-dezso.com Tamas Dezsö Tue, 14 Oct 2025 18:40:59 +0000 https://tamas-dezso.com en https://tamas-dezso.com/Tamas-Dezso Sat, 13 Feb 2021 11:00:03 +0000 Tamas Dezsö https://tamas-dezso.com/Tamas-Dezso <img width="2560" height="4333" width_o="2560" height_o="4333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3f597b0285d1a68b3aef0df08ccb4af4620cf39fcee92803762ccbd2a848ccab/Tamas-Dezso-Resistance-db.jpg" data-mid="234291367" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3f597b0285d1a68b3aef0df08ccb4af4620cf39fcee92803762ccbd2a848ccab/Tamas-Dezso-Resistance-db.jpg" /> <img width="80" height="23" width_o="80" height_o="23" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/969e8e8003aea373b2de5a2eab14e3c206171ca57597142cfd0c9b0869dbfa91/tamas_dezso_logo.jpg" data-mid="201635929" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/80/i/969e8e8003aea373b2de5a2eab14e3c206171ca57597142cfd0c9b0869dbfa91/tamas_dezso_logo.jpg" /> &nbsp; https://tamas-dezso.com/works Sun, 21 Aug 2022 18:30:14 +0000 Tamas Dezsö https://tamas-dezso.com/works https://tamas-dezso.com/inderwelt Sun, 21 Aug 2022 18:41:44 +0000 Tamas Dezsö https://tamas-dezso.com/inderwelt inderwelt 2022 <img width="2560" height="1062" width_o="2560" height_o="1062" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1dd8b6ea5fcdd13eb1fddbf29af15bdba948cbd915722f81b56333919ae74d01/Dezso_Tamas_inderwelt.jpg" data-mid="173859101" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1dd8b6ea5fcdd13eb1fddbf29af15bdba948cbd915722f81b56333919ae74d01/Dezso_Tamas_inderwelt.jpg" />inderwelt, 2022, convex oval mirror made from a piece of the Campo del Cielo meteorite, photographs of 19th-centuryfairyfly (Mymaridae) microscope slides, archival pigment prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta paper, triptych,&nbsp;130 × 320 × 6 cm The Campo del Cielo (Sky Field) meteorite is 4.6 billion years old, i.e., it came into existence at the same time as the Solar System. It is the most ancient known object to have been found on the planet and is believed to have fallen to Earth about 5,000 years ago. Fairyflies are the smallest insects in the world and are imperceptible to the human eye. Their size ranges between 0.15 and 1 mm. They weigh 0.02–0.03 milligrams. They feed on plant nectar and pollen and play an important role in pollinating plants. Fairyflies have lived on Earth for more than a hundred million years and their lifespan is generally 1–2 days. The triptych is a composition of three black-and-white negative photographs of 19th-century microscope slides of fairyflies (Mymaridae) and a convex oval mirror made from a piece of the Campo del Cielo meteorite. In the photographs, the background, which resembles a starry sky, is purely dust, namely the negative image of dust grains on the antique microscope slides. The title inderwelt, intentionally written in lowercase, refers to Martin Heidegger’s notion In-der-Welt-sein (Being-in-the-world) and his anthropocentric worldview expressed in his Being and Time and The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics. In Heidegger’s interpretation it is only the human being who has an actual world: “The stone is worldless, the animal is poor in world, man is world-forming.” (MH, 1929/1930, 1983, p. 185) For Heidegger, the human being is the only being capable of inhabiting a world, a space of its own creation, and of making meaning within that space. Heidegger argues that the human being is uniquely capable of projecting meaning and understanding onto the things that it encounters. He disregards the fact that objects exist even without human presence and human perception. Moreover, he simply leaves vegetal existence out of the equation. Humans are not the only actors, and the world is independent of our honored observer’s role. The world is full of phenomena that act and are acted upon, from the smallest particles to the largest galaxies. Plants, animals and minerals, oceans and storms, cultures and societies, technologies and machines can all act and be affected by other actors. Therefore the mirror chiseled from a meteorite primarily functions as a moral institution, while at the same time it is also an optical machine, a tool which will go wrong in the course of time due to corrosion, similarly to Heidegger’s objects. Looking into the meteorite-mirror we ourselves turn from a subject into an object being-in-the-world, an object to be examined and evaluated. <img width="1600" height="2000" width_o="1600" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/18bd2f89d4f138def90c36607fb5a5c5e01183614e3a8ddb0a6bef98baca1d9c/Dezso_Tamas_inderwelt_03.jpg" data-mid="161737662" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/18bd2f89d4f138def90c36607fb5a5c5e01183614e3a8ddb0a6bef98baca1d9c/Dezso_Tamas_inderwelt_03.jpg" />inderwelt, 2022, detail <img width="1600" height="2000" width_o="1600" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dc6a4882251022b2d247854a1bd8e9c912f53f446f6a67623e584d11039ccc54/Dezso_Tamas_inderwelt_02.jpg" data-mid="161737617" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dc6a4882251022b2d247854a1bd8e9c912f53f446f6a67623e584d11039ccc54/Dezso_Tamas_inderwelt_02.jpg" /> inderwelt, 2022, detail <img width="1250" height="1250" width_o="1250" height_o="1250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f54f9cf79b1f2ce00760ea1da26e458dde585b26d4857f03020792e761228504/Tamas_Dezso_inderwelt_CDC3.jpg" data-mid="177064999" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f54f9cf79b1f2ce00760ea1da26e458dde585b26d4857f03020792e761228504/Tamas_Dezso_inderwelt_CDC3.jpg" /> <img width="1250" height="1250" width_o="1250" height_o="1250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/54ff97972db2554855c8b4476056f8f71823c9226a4facda741fbc800c360426/Tamas_Dezso_inderwelt_CDC2.jpg" data-mid="177064998" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/54ff97972db2554855c8b4476056f8f71823c9226a4facda741fbc800c360426/Tamas_Dezso_inderwelt_CDC2.jpg" /> <img width="1250" height="1250" width_o="1250" height_o="1250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d64898a7bf969d4b96d64d70cc2713e8f65ae3d49e1132085cec383a4765672c/Tamas_Dezso_inderwelt_CDC1.jpg" data-mid="177064997" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d64898a7bf969d4b96d64d70cc2713e8f65ae3d49e1132085cec383a4765672c/Tamas_Dezso_inderwelt_CDC1.jpg" /> inderwelt, 2022, detail, convex oval mirror made from a piece of the Campo del Cielo meteorite, installation view: Hypothesis: Everything is Leaf, Robert Capa Contemporary, Budapest, Hungary, 2022 “The background in the photos, which is reminiscent of a starry sky, is purely dust, since the photograph of a microscope’s glass plate is reversed into negative making the stains of dirt visible in this enlargement and this size. On the one hand, the three images open up a dazzling temporal dimension with the meteorite, as well as with the insect species that has lived on Earth for a hundred million years, while on the other, it presents the alienness that surrounds us and is invisible to us, those living or non-living matters which we ignore because of our limited anthropocentric attitude. We practically don’t even have a way of communication with the non-human, thus we do not hear the voice and the language of the non-human and neither do we understand it. The theoretical and practical framework of In-der-Welt-sein is defined by our blindness to our non-human environment. Having positioned ourselves in our comfortable and hierarchic dichotomy (I vs. nature, man vs. environment, subject vs. object, where the first is always emphatic) we have subdued what is not us in such a way that we haven’t the slightest idea what not us is.” Text by György Cséka, exhibition review, A mű, november 2022 <img width="2560" height="3201" width_o="2560" height_o="3201" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ae4c528c939384dc7e8f2c18bd5eca4899b08154c7dc0dd7dd29392124e60f7f/tamas_Dezso_inderwelt_cc2.jpg" data-mid="174264696" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ae4c528c939384dc7e8f2c18bd5eca4899b08154c7dc0dd7dd29392124e60f7f/tamas_Dezso_inderwelt_cc2.jpg" />inderwelt, 2022, installation view: Hypothesis: Everything is Leaf, Robert Capa Contemporary, Budapest, Hungary, 2022 <img width="2560" height="3200" width_o="2560" height_o="3200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b32ad79b1cc4518232fe449f727b77280b1688cdc68d2acf8943d72c4903bfcb/tamas_Dezso_inderwelt_cc1.jpg" data-mid="174264695" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b32ad79b1cc4518232fe449f727b77280b1688cdc68d2acf8943d72c4903bfcb/tamas_Dezso_inderwelt_cc1.jpg" /> inderwelt, 2022, installation view: Hypothesis: Everything is Leaf, Robert Capa Contemporary, Budapest, Hungary, 2022 <img width="45" height="24" width_o="45" height_o="24" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/750d80e797c2f92ce15c9514e9103083fba7c48c9848f9153973db867edb7581/ins.jpg" data-mid="163107954" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/45/i/750d80e797c2f92ce15c9514e9103083fba7c48c9848f9153973db867edb7581/ins.jpg" />&nbsp; https://tamas-dezso.com/Tout-se-met-a-flotter-spring Tue, 14 Oct 2025 18:40:59 +0000 Tamas Dezsö https://tamas-dezso.com/Tout-se-met-a-flotter-spring Tout se met à flotter (spring)2024 <img width="2200" height="1459" width_o="2200" height_o="1459" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1c8c2514046d7bc176671422207dff9d055724df3d9a809eae7c18bf119ff7c2/Tamas-Dezso-Tout-se-met-a-flotter---spring.jpg" data-mid="239377269" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1c8c2514046d7bc176671422207dff9d055724df3d9a809eae7c18bf119ff7c2/Tamas-Dezso-Tout-se-met-a-flotter---spring.jpg" />Tout se met à flotter (spring), 2024, archival pigment prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta paper, diptych, 205 × 310 cmTout se met à flotter, “everything begins to float.” So says Antoine Roquentin, lost in reverie over the root of a chestnut tree. The main protagonist of Jean-Paul Sartre’s novel Nausea soon realizes that he himself is only one of the objects surrounding him. His honored human viewpoint becomes insignificant. His personality dissolves in the infinite multitude of the impersonal, while existence with its disorder, absurdity, and nakedness becomes alien. The humanist feeling of “everything begins to float” can be compared to the concept of flat ontology, which plays a central role in contemporary posthumanist philosophy. The adjective “flat” refers to the fact that every entity, be it human or nonhuman, living or dead, has equal ontological status. Namely, no one and nothing has an exceptional position or significance as compared to another. The diptych represents the proliferation of an Alpine forest’s ground vegetation on two color-negative photographs. Since human perception primarily focuses on bright colors, contrasts, sounds, and movements, phenomena that once signaled danger and directly affected the survival of our species, quiet, slow, and uninterrupted vegetal existence was confined to the periphery of human attention and became an unnoticed background of our lives. The work offers a double gesture. On the one hand, it presents an otherwise neglected form of existence in an unusually large format. On the other, it suspends the viewer’s spatial perception by reversing the image into negative, “everything begins to float” in the absence of shadows. Our perception is overwhelmed by enforced interpretation. It keeps trying to attach meaning to forms. The complementary colors, hues, and contrasts that replace the habitual green ground compel the mind to relearn and relate in a new way. The represented place ceases to be a place and is taken over by the sight of a strange, alien, decentralized, non-hierarchical organization of vegetal actors. The simple gesture of the negative image reveals our habitual perceptual disorders and deficiencies, which results in the contingency, quality, and radical otherness of hidden vegetative existence. Inverted imaging is not only an aesthetic mode of expression but an attempt to rethink our relationship to our ways of seeing and to nature. <img width="2200" height="2200" width_o="2200" height_o="2200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/467434eb49910eff6030c2807c806ec2a6668f9d83051baed3b63778d360fc39/Tamas-Dezso-Tout-se-met-a-flotter---spring-d1.jpg" data-mid="239377270" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/467434eb49910eff6030c2807c806ec2a6668f9d83051baed3b63778d360fc39/Tamas-Dezso-Tout-se-met-a-flotter---spring-d1.jpg" />Tout se met à flotter (spring), 2024, detail <img width="2200" height="2200" width_o="2200" height_o="2200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7156d09cdd755b387cd5fe1a959fe5178ce8b07dcffcc41d4cc5d704116b900d/Tamas-Dezso-Tout-se-met-a-flotter---spring-d3.jpg" data-mid="239377271" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7156d09cdd755b387cd5fe1a959fe5178ce8b07dcffcc41d4cc5d704116b900d/Tamas-Dezso-Tout-se-met-a-flotter---spring-d3.jpg" />Tout se met à flotter (spring), 2024, detail<img width="2200" height="2200" width_o="2200" height_o="2200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ed063198d8003a88083cb18ec518d10a64417c412a06554b553f1a1576ca9a25/Tamas-Dezso-Tout-se-met-a-flotter---spring-d2.jpg" data-mid="239377272" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ed063198d8003a88083cb18ec518d10a64417c412a06554b553f1a1576ca9a25/Tamas-Dezso-Tout-se-met-a-flotter---spring-d2.jpg" /> Tout se met à flotter (spring), 2024, detail https://tamas-dezso.com/Garden-of-Persistence Sun, 21 Aug 2022 18:50:33 +0000 Tamas Dezsö https://tamas-dezso.com/Garden-of-Persistence Garden of Persistence 2020-2023 <img width="2560" height="2335" width_o="2560" height_o="2335" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9b97859b32b8108d6d8168167d5799736a40b589444ebca7022553ff0f32e0ef/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence.jpg" data-mid="192375481" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9b97859b32b8108d6d8168167d5799736a40b589444ebca7022553ff0f32e0ef/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence.jpg" />Garden of Persistence, 2020–2023, kinetic table, wood, steel wire, magnets, antique metronomes,&nbsp;19th-centuryherbarium specimens,&nbsp;110 × 200 × 120 cm, the kinetic table was designed by Árpád Hunor György and built by Heonlab, installation view: Hypothesis: Everything is Leaf, Foto Wien, Atelier Augarten, Vienna, Austria, 2022, image by Zalán Péter Salát and Csaba Villányi Vegetal and human temporalities&nbsp;are not identical. The essence of human ontology does not originate from our life itself, but its&nbsp;finitude. Plants are not aware of their own&nbsp;finitude; therefore they entirely subordinate their existence to life itself. The rhythm of human time consciousness is confused and heterogeneous. In addition, human beings are actually never identical with themselves, our temporality is nothing other than continuous planning, a constant projection of our future self. In contrast, the lack of self-awareness obliges a plant to adjust exclusively to the temporality of its medium, i.e. that it should unceasingly obey the laws of its environment. The succession of night and day, the changing seasons, the constant repetition that accompany growth, the continual self-hiatus and resumption, and the rhythm of cyclic character all represent vegetal chronology, the image of Nietzsche’s eternal return (Ewige Wiederkunft). So a vegetal body exists according to a different time compared with a human body, yet its existence is still fragile and finite. Thus, we can also feel its significance. In The Metamorphosis of Plants Goethe emphasizes the rhythm of growth and metamorphosis. The continual reaction to the rhythm of the environment and the flow of nutrients resemble a tune. The mechanical synchronisation of processes is&nbsp;like music. video { width: 100%; height: auto; } Garden of Persistence, 2020-2023, kinetic table, wood, steel wire, magnets, antique metronomes, 19th century herbarium specimens, 110 x 200 x 120 cm The Garden of Persistence is a kinetic installation. Fifteen antique metronomes are standing on the surface of a table which is floating and moving on steel wires. Plants from 19th-century herbaria are closely attached to each pendulum of the metronomes. The metronome-plants, i.e., the mechanical-organic units, begin to communicate with each other “chaotically” once wound. Thus a connection is established among them due to the transmission of their kinetic energy, and they slowly become synchronized with one another. Yet they nearly immediately lose the synchronous movement, although they find it again, and so on as the pattern repeats itself. There are several examples of synchronization in vegetal communication and in the mode of vegetal existence in general. It is also the cause of the periodic flashing of light produced by fireflies, the simultaneous chirping of crickets, the synchronized distress signals of frogs and the interlinking lightning activity in distant storm centers. The principle of synchronization also explains why the parts, and even the cells, of a healthy human or non-human heart beat synchronously. It is now well established that plant photoreceptors govern specific activities. There is a photoreceptor which instructs a plant to turn towards the light, another tells it when to germinate, while yet another informs it about too much light, and so on. Photoreceptors also have the task of timing, that is, the operation of the circadian clock. The vegetal circadian clock is a “molecular metronome” which, similarly to the timing machinery of human beings and animals, regulates and synchronizes physiological processes. For example, it helps a plant to detect when it is daytime or night. In accordance with the parts of the day, it is also the circadian clock that sets appropriate metabolism, growth, and flowering of a plant. How well this internal chronometer synchronizes with day length and the seasons strongly influences plant health. An increasing number of indicators show that global warming disturbs the circadian clock of plants. As a result, the timing of the recurring events of vegetal life cycles becomes confused and the loss of synchronization critically affects the ecosystem. A main reason is that disorder within individual plants impairs communication among them. In vegetal communication synchronization plays a significant role in harmonizing physiological activities, the distribution of resources, adaptation to the environment and the communication with animals. The correct operation of the molecular metronome of plants is the basis for the appropriate functioning of the ecosystem. <img width="2000" height="2500" width_o="2000" height_o="2500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/423bed6eba72bd95bd1b189d54e065d4232b56907addb2324001045a9718cb8a/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_S3.jpg" data-mid="166445540" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/423bed6eba72bd95bd1b189d54e065d4232b56907addb2324001045a9718cb8a/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_S3.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="2500" width_o="2000" height_o="2500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9dedd276a53cfe38736d66f0da7f4847bacff37ae231d2b513481e425aa8bc87/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_S.jpg" data-mid="166496322" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9dedd276a53cfe38736d66f0da7f4847bacff37ae231d2b513481e425aa8bc87/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_S.jpg" /> Garden of Persistence, 2020-2023, kinetic table, wood, steel wire, magnets, antique metronomes, 19th century herbarium specimens, detail <img width="2560" height="2560" width_o="2560" height_o="2560" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c8c7b1a461ce67f87b96489dff2821a2edb5332bcda9e4cea5db9f8801f8e3ee/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_S5d.jpg" data-mid="174006017" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c8c7b1a461ce67f87b96489dff2821a2edb5332bcda9e4cea5db9f8801f8e3ee/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_S5d.jpg" />Garden of Persistence, 2020-2023, kinetic table, wood, steel wire, magnets, antique metronomes, 19th century herbarium specimens, detail <img width="2560" height="3200" width_o="2560" height_o="3200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/adb5b7a3e4bf435d1be7bf38cdb19dd38510c1cce0958f0177df2ac54a9b3920/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_S2.jpg" data-mid="174007456" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/adb5b7a3e4bf435d1be7bf38cdb19dd38510c1cce0958f0177df2ac54a9b3920/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_S2.jpg" />Garden of Persistence, 2020-2023, kinetic table, wood, steel wire, magnets, antique metronomes, 19th century herbarium specimens, detail <img width="2560" height="2560" width_o="2560" height_o="2560" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b5bdd50cbc3893dbdd4c9217f4cf8e6644cb448c207273b1384087f14ac1fc34/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_S6d.jpg" data-mid="174007641" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b5bdd50cbc3893dbdd4c9217f4cf8e6644cb448c207273b1384087f14ac1fc34/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_S6d.jpg" />Garden of Persistence, 2020-2023, kinetic table, wood, steel wire, magnets, antique metronomes, 19th century herbarium specimens, detail <img width="2560" height="1853" width_o="2560" height_o="1853" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f4ba5aa3c66feb964a1c370e9658cae149c6f56a17f840d0ecf62cad1bf29e9f/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_R.jpg" data-mid="174010691" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f4ba5aa3c66feb964a1c370e9658cae149c6f56a17f840d0ecf62cad1bf29e9f/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_R.jpg" /> Garden of Persistence, 2020-2023, kinetic table, wood, steel wire, magnets, antique metronomes, 19th century herbarium specimens, 110 x 200 x 120 cm, installation view: Hypothesis: Everything is Leaf, Foto Wien, Atelier Augarten, Vienna, Austria, 2022, image by Rudolf Strobl <img width="2560" height="2026" width_o="2560" height_o="2026" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/950261b1d252469b6503be92b4c88ff1b8d86c1b0c6438b37b0c6289dcf1a533/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_WW.jpg" data-mid="176192983" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/950261b1d252469b6503be92b4c88ff1b8d86c1b0c6438b37b0c6289dcf1a533/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_WW.jpg" /> Garden of Persistence and Variations on the Self,&nbsp;installation view: Hypothesis: Everything is Leaf, Foto Wien, Atelier Augarten, Vienna, Austria, 2022, image by Zalán Péter Salát and Csaba Villányi <img width="2560" height="3200" width_o="2560" height_o="3200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f95543a126846985317a169f51b80511e171cf21b6222124657a3cf654bac27c/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_SF1.jpg" data-mid="181637216" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f95543a126846985317a169f51b80511e171cf21b6222124657a3cf654bac27c/Tamas_Dezso_Garden_of_Persistence_SF1.jpg" /> Garden of Persistence, 2020-2023, kinetic table, wood, steel wire, magnets, antique metronomes, 19th century herbarium specimens, detail <img width="35" height="45" width_o="35" height_o="45" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9e2a04e187d4a1d326923c0f5864959515232e512a410e89029448e5949fad3f/marder.jpg" data-mid="162634773" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/35/i/9e2a04e187d4a1d326923c0f5864959515232e512a410e89029448e5949fad3f/marder.jpg" /> https://tamas-dezso.com/Ladder-1 Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:55:15 +0000 Tamas Dezsö https://tamas-dezso.com/Ladder-1 Ladder2025 <img width="2200" height="2900" width_o="2200" height_o="2900" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2bbdd2781bd6515167b06d1bfb5cea982d07e89fffbdf05dab65c8622653ccaa/Tamas-Dezso-Ladder.jpg" data-mid="238786530" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2bbdd2781bd6515167b06d1bfb5cea982d07e89fffbdf05dab65c8622653ccaa/Tamas-Dezso-Ladder.jpg" />Ladder, 2025, wood, fallen fragments from 52 of the world’s most renowned ancient trees, 230 × 105 × 85 cmLadder (2025) contains fallen branches and pieces of bark gathered from a global selection of fifty-two ancient trees, among the oldest and best known in the world. Many grow in secret or hard-to-reach habitats for protection. Over several years, a coordinated process collected their naturally shed parts. Using Google Maps, collaborators near selected trees were contacted by email, WhatsApp, or phone to help source materials. The trees range in age from a few hundred to several thousand years. Many carry distinct cultural-historical significance, for example trees linked to literary inspiration, religious tradition, and novel legal recognition. To underscore the work’s intimate dimension, material from a beloved childhood hideout tree was also incorporated. The minimalist, almost industrial-style ladder was crafted by carpenter István Komjáthy. Human and plant temporalities diverge sharply: human time is subjective and event-centered; plant time follows strict external and internal rhythms. Human time is linear, plant time is cyclical. Humans live with finitude; for plants, time entails exposure, adaptation, repetition, and renewal. The time span of a tree growing for centuries or millennia exceeds human experience. Across cultures, ancient trees symbolize permanence, immortality, and the transience of human life, demanding a shift in perspective: a millennia-old tree outlasts individuals, empires, civilizations, entire eras. Constructed numerical time and narrative compulsions can create the illusion that trees “witness” human history; biologically, our scale is negligible. This anthropocentric projection exposes the limits of fully understanding plant existence. The ladder, an ancient emblem of inquiry, uses industrial, austere, functional woodwork (standardized sizing and everyday form) to dismantle illusions attached to ancient trees. Wood sourced from distant regions is integrated, like Earth’s ecosystem, into a single system, evoking a unified, deeply interwoven planetary garden. The sculpture incorporates material from the following trees: General Sherman (United States) — giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) — 2,700 years old President Tree (United States) — giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) — 3,200 years old Hangman’s Elm (United States) — elm (Ulmus sp.) — 310 years old Kongeegen (Denmark) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 1,500–2,000 years old The Major Oak (United Kingdom) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 1,100 years old The Ivenack Oaks (Germany) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 1,000–1,200 years old El Árbol del Tule (Mexico) — Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) — 1,500–3,000 years old Methuselah (United States) — Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) — 4,853 years old Pando (United States) — quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) — 16,000–18,000 years old Fortingall Yew (United Kingdom) — common yew (Taxus baccata) — 2,000–5,000 years old Llangernyw Yew (United Kingdom) — common yew (Taxus baccata) — 4,000–5,000 years old Sarv-e Abarkuh (Iran) — Persian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) — 4,000–5,000 years old The Sagole Baobab (South Africa) — African baobab (Adansonia digitata) — 1,200–1,300 years old The Huon Pine (Tasmania, Australia) — Huon pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii) — 3,000–4,000 years old Tree That Owns Itself (United States) — white oak (Quercus alba) — 200 years old Buttonball Tree (United States) — American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) — 350 years old Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi (Sri Lanka) — sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) — 2,308 years old Castagno dei Cento Cavalli (Italy) — sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) — 3,000–4,000 years old Prison Tree (Australia) — boab (Adansonia gregorii) — 1,500 years old Olive Tree of Ano Vouves (Greece) — European olive (Olea europaea) — 2,000–3,000 years old Olivastro di Luras (Italy) — European olive (Olea europaea) — 3,000–4,000 years old O Patriarca (Brazil) — jequitibá-branco (Cariniana legalis) — 2,000 years old Alerce Milenario (Chile) — Patagonian cypress (Fitzroya cupressoides) — 5,200 years old Goethe-Ginkgo (Germany) — ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) — 250 years old Cipresso di San Francesco (Italy) — Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) — 800 years old Il Quercione di Pinocchio (Italy) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 600 years old Olivo dei 30 zoccoli (Italy) — European olive (Olea europaea) — 2,000 years old Olivo della Strega (Italy) — European olive (Olea europaea) — 3,500 years old 750-jährige Zirbe (Austria) — Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) — 750 years old Sobreiro Monumental (Portugal) — cork oak (Quercus suber) — 236 years old Olivier millénaire de Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (France) — European olive (Olea europaea) — 2,000 years old Gümeli Porsuğu (Turkey) — common yew (Taxus baccata) — 4,113 years old Seven Sisters Oak (United States) — southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) — 1,500 years old Foo de Tee (Italy) — European beech (Fagus sylvatica) — 500 years old Stelmužės ąžuolas (Lithuania) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 1,500–2,000 years old The Eternal Sisters (Lebanon) — olive (Olea europaea) — 5,000 years old Newton’s Apple Tree (United Kingdom) — apple (Malus domestica) — 400 years old Thimmamma Marrimanu (India) — banyan (Ficus benghalensis) — 550–650 years old Square Viviani Black Locust (France) — black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) — 418 years old Tiglio di Napoleone (Italy) — small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata) — 350 years old Schenklengsfeld Dorflinde (Germany) — linden (Tilia sp.) — 1,257 years old Italus (Italy) — Balkan pine (Pinus heldreichii) — 1,230 years old Old Veteran of Point Lobos (United States) — Monterey cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa) — 300–400 years old Tausendjährige Eiche (Austria) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 1,200 years old Kandelaberfichte (Austria) — Norway spruce (Picea abies) — 600 years old Santa Gertrude (Italy) — European larch (Larix decidua) — 2,300 years old Jōmon Sugi (Japan) — Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) — 4,000–7,200 years old Le Cèdre Bossu (Morocco) — Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) — 900–1,000 years old Kamō no Ōkusu (Japan) — giant camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora) — 1,500–2,000 years old Pouakani (New Zealand) — tōtara (Podocarpus totara) — 1,800 years old Zsennye Oak (Hungary) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 700 years old Tamas Dezsö’s Favorite Childhood Tree (Hungary) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 80–100 years old <img width="2500" height="1681" width_o="2500" height_o="1681" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1a822d9897194b03b4589967b5c0dfe2dcaafed3e5474fcb30c72caea30c3d5e/Tamas-Dezso-INN-SITU-interior-05.jpg" data-mid="239440784" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1a822d9897194b03b4589967b5c0dfe2dcaafed3e5474fcb30c72caea30c3d5e/Tamas-Dezso-INN-SITU-interior-05.jpg" />installation view: Everything Begins to Float, INN SITU, Stadtforum, Innsbruck, Austria, 2025 https://tamas-dezso.com/Resistance Thu, 05 Jun 2025 08:14:39 +0000 Tamas Dezsö https://tamas-dezso.com/Resistance Resistance 2025 <img width="2500" height="1755" width_o="2500" height_o="1755" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1b87ef46817b32a284561f7b7fd2cab9bd4efff5f2417a7b129f1ac86cd0f285/Tamas-Dezso-Resistance.jpg" data-mid="234194039" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1b87ef46817b32a284561f7b7fd2cab9bd4efff5f2417a7b129f1ac86cd0f285/Tamas-Dezso-Resistance.jpg" /> Resistance, 2025, bronze thorns, 19th century clockwork, metal,&nbsp;installation view: Momentary Minds, Budapest Gallery video { width: 100%; height: auto; } Resistance, 2025, bronze thorns, 19th century clockwork, metal The bronze thorns were made as exact copies of the thorns of the honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos). The honey locust has the largest thorns in the plant kingdom, which is one of the most striking examples of evolutionary anachronism. Evolutionary anachronism refers to a situation in which a given species has an adaptive survival strategy that is no longer required because the potential danger has ceased. The honey locust likely evolved its large thorns to protect its fruit from mastodons and other similar trunked herbivorous mammals, which did not survive the Pleistocene. In an era when the Earth’s ecosystem is experiencing rapid and irreversible changes, the concept of anachronism acquires a new meaning: although the original danger has ceased, it has been replaced by global, chaotically changing threats. The temporality and rhythm of biological and ecological transformations are radically different and cannot be fitted into the framework of our linear, unified chronology, namely, it is beyond the scope of human perception. Self-preservation is a fundamental gesture of existence. A paradox: if a plant has no Self, what exactly is resisting and being protected? If resistance is a deliberate act, the plant guards its own existence. The dilemma opens up two possibilities. Either a plant has its Self, i.e., it exists as an entity identical with itself, or the existence of Self is a mere illusion. In other words, if the protective mechanisms of living organisms are not directed at preserving the individual, human self-identity can only be an illusory phenomenon, which is due to the complexity of the brain’s operation. According to evolutionary psychology and cognitive science, human self-consciousness can be described as a dynamic network mechanism emerging from the brain’s ongoing integration of information through feedback processes. <img width="2500" height="2500" width_o="2500" height_o="2500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/87c9478f26b41e1fb4e007fa004893963229fa93d858a3e4ff3829243e0d5ebe/Tamas-Dezso-Resistance-d3.jpg" data-mid="234201000" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/87c9478f26b41e1fb4e007fa004893963229fa93d858a3e4ff3829243e0d5ebe/Tamas-Dezso-Resistance-d3.jpg" />Resistance, 2025, detail, bronze <img width="2500" height="2500" width_o="2500" height_o="2500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/83b824dbc177b2b8ea34a6c3a880749da04a7b5f6770ce95cea59ffcad178427/Tamas-Dezso-Resistance-d1.jpg" data-mid="234195591" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/83b824dbc177b2b8ea34a6c3a880749da04a7b5f6770ce95cea59ffcad178427/Tamas-Dezso-Resistance-d1.jpg" />Resistance, 2025, detail, bronze thorn, 19th century clockwork, metal, installation view: Momentary Minds, Budapest Gallery <img width="2500" height="2500" width_o="2500" height_o="2500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a58f489020b7a51449bd8b61759d8f58e07c1eceeadce4d714c7094012f38f42/Tamas-Dezso-Resistance-d4.jpg" data-mid="234204557" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a58f489020b7a51449bd8b61759d8f58e07c1eceeadce4d714c7094012f38f42/Tamas-Dezso-Resistance-d4.jpg" />Resistance, 2025, detail, bronze https://tamas-dezso.com/Transcript Sat, 02 Sep 2023 13:43:47 +0000 Tamas Dezsö https://tamas-dezso.com/Transcript Transcript 2023 <img width="2560" height="1756" width_o="2560" height_o="1756" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9d03701833efbeb1294122e4bc14e982df32520ffc6570207f73373e763490f5/Tamas-Dezso-Transcript-2023.jpg" data-mid="191129027" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9d03701833efbeb1294122e4bc14e982df32520ffc6570207f73373e763490f5/Tamas-Dezso-Transcript-2023.jpg" />Transcript, 2023, drawing, alarm calls of a hundred birds,&nbsp;charcoal from burned giant sequoia trees&nbsp;on paper, triptych,&nbsp;185 × 450 cm, installation view: Coda, Einspach Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, 2023The triptych renders the alarm calls of a hundred bird species living in the forests of the Sierra Nevada as waveforms. The drawing was made with charcoal gathered onsite from the remains of burned giant sequoias that had reached ages of 2,000 to 3,000 years. Between 2011 and 2020, eighty-five percent of the dense, old forests of the Sierra Nevada were destroyed or severely thinned. Fourteen thousand sequoia trees, many&nbsp;thousands of years old, have recently burned.&nbsp;There are no data&nbsp;on the billions of other plants and animals that perished. In the aftermath of these megafires, scientific observations indicate that regional bird communities have shifted dramatically, with some species vanishing locally. Moreover, the giant sequoia’s unique fire-resilience strategies, such as thick insulating bark and serotinous cones, are proving insufficient in the face of&nbsp;the unprecedented frequency and intensity of human-driven climate change. Trees that are centuries to millennia old build complex habitat&nbsp;structure&nbsp;over time: hundreds of cavities, bark fissures, dead branch stubs, and rot pockets that, decade after decade, serve as serial nesting and roosting sites for shifting bird assemblages (cavity nesters, woodpeckers, owls). Over its lifespan, a single giant sequoia sustains well over a hundred bird species, tens of thousands of invertebrates and fungi, plus lichens and epiphytic mosses, while its trunk and rhizosphere shelter a diverse soil biota. The loss of this accumulated “ecological memory” therefore produces a disproportionately large,&nbsp;community-level loss&nbsp;across the entire forest network. <img width="2200" height="1780" width_o="2200" height_o="1780" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6c70e3c05a42a260b4f0bd0952c08927c0e70410b3d0996fffdddd86e9b03ad2/Tamas-Dezso-Coda-2023.jpg" data-mid="191139578" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6c70e3c05a42a260b4f0bd0952c08927c0e70410b3d0996fffdddd86e9b03ad2/Tamas-Dezso-Coda-2023.jpg" /> Kings Canyon and Transcript, 2023, installation view: Coda, Einspach Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, 2023 <img width="2200" height="2200" width_o="2200" height_o="2200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6dbb7c8cc0370a8efec8d0c94e79a86b1d1d546fa06be78f0fb5c31b69bf87fa/Tamas-Dezso---Transcript---detail-01.jpg" data-mid="191923414" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6dbb7c8cc0370a8efec8d0c94e79a86b1d1d546fa06be78f0fb5c31b69bf87fa/Tamas-Dezso---Transcript---detail-01.jpg" />Transcript, 2023, charcoal remains of burnt giant sequoia trees on paper, triptych, 185 × 450 cm, detail <img width="2200" height="2866" width_o="2200" height_o="2866" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d0d2c4aeec8f306058f4b8c4b52979b15cfcfd8b9dccaa15888efa6ff9a33c39/Tamas-Dezso---Transcript---detail-02.jpg" data-mid="191229363" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d0d2c4aeec8f306058f4b8c4b52979b15cfcfd8b9dccaa15888efa6ff9a33c39/Tamas-Dezso---Transcript---detail-02.jpg" /> Transcript, 2023, drawing, alarm calls of hundred birds, charcoal remains of burnt giant sequoia trees on paper, triptych, 185 × 450 cm, detail“Tamás Dezső’s work focuses on the Sierra Nevada, a landscape scarred by California’s forest fires. In this triptych he transcribes the alarm calls of one hundred bird species, using charcoal gathered on site from the remains of giant sequoia trees that had lived for millennia. In this sense, the drawing is written with what remains of the trees; words such as “corpse” or “dead body” are unusual beyond human contexts, yet they convey the gravity of the loss. Dezső commits to paper calls that in many cases may no longer be heard, since the fires reached the birds with astonishing speed. He first renders the voices as waveforms with software, then traces them by hand, creating a personal, sensory relationship with each individual call.” Text by György Cséka, curator <img width="40" height="41" width_o="40" height_o="41" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d37f869ccf79f32cec7b91897ae191908bafb2c1efdd23bb4f87269af1f0a6c8/quail.jpg" data-mid="191160134" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/40/i/d37f869ccf79f32cec7b91897ae191908bafb2c1efdd23bb4f87269af1f0a6c8/quail.jpg" /> https://tamas-dezso.com/Tout-se-met-a-flotter-winter Wed, 20 Nov 2024 18:21:09 +0000 Tamas Dezsö https://tamas-dezso.com/Tout-se-met-a-flotter-winter Tout se met à flotter (winter)2024 <img width="2200" height="1462" width_o="2200" height_o="1462" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3bda3fd57b5edd47267ddd946a1428d959e239a85c895d0bd4a2b61d70ec7104/Tamas_Dezso_TSMAF_W.jpg" data-mid="222146411" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3bda3fd57b5edd47267ddd946a1428d959e239a85c895d0bd4a2b61d70ec7104/Tamas_Dezso_TSMAF_W.jpg" />Tout se met à flotter (winter), 2024, archival pigment prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta paper, diptych, 205 × 310 cm <img width="1500" height="1500" width_o="1500" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d8090d40dd7b6ed3ada8feb15171bf72c91aefe11ec616d13d46b812359dcbe1/Tamas_Dezso_TSMAF_a1.jpg" data-mid="222261395" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d8090d40dd7b6ed3ada8feb15171bf72c91aefe11ec616d13d46b812359dcbe1/Tamas_Dezso_TSMAF_a1.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1500" width_o="1500" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3f499c31bca4adcbafe1daf520b63e0a79e2d38b3340f1d1c7d0fa69c7d9708e/Tamas_Dezso_TSMAF_a2.jpg" data-mid="222261396" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3f499c31bca4adcbafe1daf520b63e0a79e2d38b3340f1d1c7d0fa69c7d9708e/Tamas_Dezso_TSMAF_a2.jpg" /> Tout se met à flotter (winter), 2024, details <img width="2500" height="1904" width_o="2500" height_o="1904" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5318352f27bb81a9831da3ab3adc13d85a52a3a2f73103d4fcbf62ea91944722/Tamas_Dezso_INN_SITU_in14.jpg" data-mid="239440785" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5318352f27bb81a9831da3ab3adc13d85a52a3a2f73103d4fcbf62ea91944722/Tamas_Dezso_INN_SITU_in14.jpg" /> installation view: Everything Begins to Float, INN SITU, Stadtforum, Innsbruck, Austria, 2025 https://tamas-dezso.com/Kings-Canyon Sat, 16 Dec 2023 18:46:54 +0000 Tamas Dezsö https://tamas-dezso.com/Kings-Canyon Kings Canyon 2023 <img width="2200" height="2750" width_o="2200" height_o="2750" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8d3801d8ad5e477e35e86b3ad69a343b5c640b11af3284701793799d03767ae1/Tamas-Dezso---Kings-Canyon---Coda-2023.jpg" data-mid="199558673" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8d3801d8ad5e477e35e86b3ad69a343b5c640b11af3284701793799d03767ae1/Tamas-Dezso---Kings-Canyon---Coda-2023.jpg" />Kings Canyon, Sierra Nevada, California, 2023, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta paper, 155&nbsp;× 122 cm, installation view: Coda, Einspach Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, 2023<img width="2000" height="2500" width_o="2000" height_o="2500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8089fc644b7c33a88a2f8f73bed9570c74e1a4cc1b1964bd244ffe069e69a635/Tamas-Dezso-Kings-Canyon-Coda-2023.jpg" data-mid="199558671" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8089fc644b7c33a88a2f8f73bed9570c74e1a4cc1b1964bd244ffe069e69a635/Tamas-Dezso-Kings-Canyon-Coda-2023.jpg" />Kings Canyon, Sierra Nevada, California, 2023, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta paper, 155 × 122 cm In autumn 2021, the KNP Complex burned across California’s Sierra Nevada, sweeping through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and affecting approximately 88,000 acres. Fire behavior was mosaic, with episodes of crown fire that permanently reconfigured parts of the montane conifer forests. Several sequoia groves suffered severe losses, with thousands of old trees killed or fatally damaged. In mixed conifer stands, including sugar pine, mortality surged as drought stressed and pathogen weakened trees succumbed, leaving broad fields of snags. Warming intensifies drought and heat stress and boosts bark beetle survival and outbreaks, thereby amplifying biotic damage. The introduced white pine blister rust and a century of fire exclusion further compound the crisis. The work depicts a snag within Kings Canyon National Park, a standing dead sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) burned during the KNP Complex. As an ecological indicator, it bears the imprint of high severity fire and elevated tree mortality while serving as critical habitat for cavity nesting birds, xylophagous insects, and wood decaying fungi. Concentrated in a single trunk, it attempts to grasp the cumulative effects of fire, drought, and biotic agents and to register the ecological transition that follows. <img width="2200" height="2200" width_o="2200" height_o="2200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e6ce07f0ae11f0bd00a3892b21e26076ef3c29fbb52dccf3e14f88819040ffa6/Tamas-Dezso-Kings-Canyon-detail.jpg" data-mid="199558672" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e6ce07f0ae11f0bd00a3892b21e26076ef3c29fbb52dccf3e14f88819040ffa6/Tamas-Dezso-Kings-Canyon-detail.jpg" />Kings Canyon, Sierra Nevada, California, 2023, detail<img width="20" height="44" width_o="20" height_o="44" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/04ed59dd9768f58161e4f9614fdca921ec84df125c804a689baff6da03427591/cone.jpg" data-mid="202882997" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/20/i/04ed59dd9768f58161e4f9614fdca921ec84df125c804a689baff6da03427591/cone.jpg" />