Echo, 1998

Installation, tracing paper, tempera, stone, string – 3000 × 10000 × 3000 mm
Location: Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Somogyi József Art Residency, Tihany, Hungary

Echo is a work in Bónyai Barbara’s early Hermetic Cycle (1996–1998), addressing the archetypal polarity of death and birth. The installation comprises two large suspended sheets of tracing paper, whose formal and symbolic duality evokes a timeless, cosmic cycle.

The triangular sheet, painted with black lines to depict a face, represents death: its downward-pointing tip, the cut-out at the open mouth, and the absence of light behind it all evoke aspects of disappearance and cessation. In contrast, the square sheet features a face painted in red lines, shown upside down; a triangular void cut into the forehead suggests the fragility of emergence and the moment of birth.

The two elements are suspended from the ceiling by string, bending inward in a concave arc, forming a spatial metaphor for the concept of “echo.” The pointed ends of both sheets rest on the floor, secured by large stones, while their suspension points span a distance of ten meters. This configuration emphasizes the tension of the installation’s spatial structure and the physical immediacy of its presence. The mask-like faces further deepen the interpretation, alluding to depersonalized, archetypal states of being.

The work is site-specific, designed for one of the rooms at the Tihany art residency, and enters into a deliberate dialogue with the natural echo phenomenon for which the region is known. This connection enhances the temporal and spatial resonances embedded in the installation.

Conceptually, Echo explores the philosophical interplay of light, shadow, and space. Shadow functions as a metaphor for the choreography of existence: an ever-pulsating balance between cosmic expansion and contraction. The spiraling flow of time and space finds visual expression in the toroidal form, whose central axis embodies the transitional point between death and birth – an axis of inversion and transformation.

As part of the Hermetic Cycle, the work marks a shift from intuitive expression toward deeper metaphysical, psychedelic, and sacred dimensions, integrating diverse media – from tempera to found object techniques. This expansion of material vocabulary reflects the artist’s exploration of the visual potential of transcendent experience.
Through its immersive spatial presence, Echo renders perceptible the continuous flux of being, the interwoven cycles of life and death, while guiding the viewer toward the philosophical thresholds of identity and consciousness.