Dante projects & artworks
The history of the Dante Empire as well as the circumstances of its birth, its wars and its laws came to life and were first published in the Book of Dante by Gábor Miklós Szőke, just to be followed by a series of installations, sculptures, paintings, photos, films, music, fashion designs, a self-branded furniture line, Dante Home, expositions, performances and parties.
The history of the Dante Empire as well as the circumstances of its birth, its wars and its laws came to life and were first published in the Book of Dante by Gábor Miklós Szőke, just to be followed by a series of installations, sculptures, paintings, photos, films, music, fashion designs, a self-branded furniture line, Dante Home, expositions, performances and parties.
Dante Conference, Diploma Work
Kunsthalle Budapest
The Dante Conference is a huge installation consisting of nine sculptures surrounded by a cage. The nine participants of the conference are the nine most powerful masters of the universe, leaders of life and death. The nine dogs are from nine circles, these are the provinces of Dante’s universe. Most of their body is made of plastic bottles and of used materials from the artist’s everyday life. They are cyborg creatures living on the edge of the organic and inorganic world. Machines are built into their monstrous body. They communicate in a secret language behind closed doors. They stand in front of us as inhuman mirrors endowed with human characteristics. They carry records of past ages, timelessness and the ancient unalterable truth. The nine monarchs are sitting around the table, each in its own throne. The pieces of furniture are part of an imagined Dante furniture collection.
SEATING PLAN:
1. Dante, the dog, whose head is made of a chainsaw, is sitting at the head of the table. He is Dante, the headless absolutist-anarchist monarch. A chainsaw clatters in the place of his head.
2. Filippo is an elegant dog from the 20th century, probably a gangster or a businessman. He is sitting
3. Balthasar is sitting on the left side of Dante. He is a feminine man, a more graceful dog, a complex creature. A roebuck’s skull can be seen under his rotten scalp and meat.
4. Ciacco, an over-developed robot is seated next to Filippo, whose charachteristics are so excessive that he became an unrestricted, degenerate monster. That is why he got the name Ciacco from the Divine Comedy. His gluttony is also mentioned by Boccaccio.
5. Opposite Ciacco, next to Balthasar, another complex creature is sitting, called Tommaso. He is Dante’s sharkself. His skin is similar to the scales of a dead fish. In his mouth, among his rusty iron teeth, there is a knife which cuts metal. Filippo and Tommaso are the first names of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, author of the Futurist Manifesto.
6. Next to Ciacco, there is the most merciless conqueror of the universe: General Alexandros. There are knives placed in his upper and lower jaw instead of his teeth. He can turn his head real fast in 360 degrees. The conflict of Alexandros and Tommaso is inevitable at the table.
7. Next to Tommaso, there is a greyhound-like mister from the future. His bodily functions differ from the others. His brain is replaced by a machine, which starts to malfunction if overloaded and emits steam through a pipe. His body is covered by rotten mucous skin. He is Veltero, the Greyhound, the most mysterious symbol of the Divine Comedy. Many people identify him with Can Grande della Scala, the Veronese lord, who hosted the outcast Dante for many years. The name means ”grand dog”, he is the symbol of hope and redemption.
8. Next to Veltero, a cunning beast creeps towards us with a muzzle on his head. He is Giacomo, the traitor, who committed the most horrible sin in hell. He got his name after Giacomo Balla, the futurist painter. You can hardly recognize the little clattering chainsaw placed on his back.
9. On the other side of the table, opposite Giacomo, we can see a charming conservative mister from the beginning of the century. He is Luis, the most sophisticated dog.
