Two Persons, Three Faces, 1995

Performative installation, plaster, acrylic paint, pinewood, walnut wood, voice, cello – Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Epreskert, Budapest, Hungary

Two Persons, Three Faces was presented in the Calvary Hall of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts’ Epreskert campus in 1995.
The installation featured three sculpted heads placed in the exhibition space: a plaster head painted with acrylic (Wolfman, 1995), a burnt walnut wood head (Struggler, 1995), and a pinewood head stained with acrylic (Idol, 1995).
At the opening, the artist performed an improvised vocal piece in collaboration with cellist Michael Babinchak. The tension between the raw, instinctive quality of the human voice and the cello’s virtuoso precision created a visceral sonic field. Here, sound functioned as an extension of the body – a direct medium for emotional and instinctual layers, and a site of experimentation.
The three heads conjure three personas – yet ultimately refer to only two individuals. The plaster and pinewood heads represent dual aspects of the same person: one a friend, the other a rival. Between them stands a third head, carved from the hardest material, which is “wounded” in the clash – scorched by fire. This central sculpture becomes both witness and victim to the collision, bearing the mark of irreconcilable identity tensions.
The choice of materials and surface treatments carries psychological and dramaturgical significance beyond their formal qualities: the pine is soft, the plaster fragile, the walnut hard – but in the end, it is the hardest that is visibly affected by flame.

Video documentation of the performance installation