Not in My Name, from the Back // Screenshot of a real-time rendered metahuman body mesh, 2025
Exp → Synthetic Smile with a High Confidence-Score (ongoing)
“...the algorithms that render neural networks viable are resolutely “political in the sense that they help to make the world appear in certain ways rather than others. Speaking of algorithmic politics in this sense, then, refers to the idea that realities are never given but brought into being and actualized in and through algorithmic systems.”
Algorithmically defined outputs, systematically calibrated from input data and optimized -modulated- by weightings, are always already political inasmuch as they summon forth computational, routinely normative, models of our world.”
Antony Downey
Hey, How Are You? / Screen recording (loop) of a customized metahuman acting ‘fear’. Motion-capture sample.
, 2025
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DUPLICATING THE SELF & (IN)VISIBILITY
When I created a persona called Vera Nimova in 2012 - I found this gesture the only legit response to an emerging schism in the cultural scene I just freshly entered. What I experienced all of a sudden, that progression, self-doubt or self-reflection as integral parts of a healthily growing and ever-changing organism of the art sector became illegitim and non-supported by the narrative of the then-newly founded MMA (Academy of Hungarian Arts). I found myself in a dividing situation: should I cancel my participation in an institutional space that is supporting the emergence of the MMA-narrative, or stay (visible?) and exhibit– with respecting my peers and artist friends who were also going to take part in the show.
Vera Nimova was a dystopia itself, a weird mix of not-me, but stemming out from my
, 2016
own, personal, civil fears and predictions (let it be biased or not)
FROM PERSONAL TO COLLECTIVE-
Using VN as a fictive character, to tell stories, I wanted to understand how deception works in storytelling; where are the responsibilities of the author –how can we fuse personal realities with fictitious (and fearful) predictions? I found narrative storytelling
collaboration-period-
FROM COLLABORATING TO GENERATING-
how the storyteller is in the center; how the medium is unreliable; how collaboration can be understood through generative technologies;
iNTERview›
snippets
“ She was a persona since the beginning, and as such she functions as a shield. Her existence itself is already ridiculous and embarrassing – I found it interesting for this very reason. She is a shield that will never be identical to its inventor. I was always interested in this hiding/transforming process in literature – a fiction populated by characters – they are always half-invented. I find this process really close to the method of how we live a daily life – that is through our own narrative. It is always deformed to make it acceptable and digestible to ourselves.
This distinction is the key in creative processes, and I see analogies between exhibiting an appropriated object in a white cube and this distinctive form of character creation. I was always curious about the internal mental processes, so it was necessary to set a boundary to pretend (or rather represent) a gap. The more I focus on the exact mental process the less I can define this demarcation (this became a dangerous convergence/note from 2025). I used a phrase during my presentation at the Skautský Institute (Prague, 2017) and I gave the presentation the title Thick Skin.
So to finally answer the question – this thick skin, this shield is Vera Nimova. (...) How do I see it now? The defense is already internalized, so the persona itself is no longer as interesting as its function. It is less schizophrenic, more abstract and less focused on gender or identity ( from 8 yrs of distance, this was not the case - note from 2025 ) – like the cyborg of Donna Haraway. A biomechanical sculpture during sublimation.“
, 2019
,
2018
“This is an unfortunate coincidence that my first years after graduating fell into the exact period of the increasing reinforcement of ......... I was really sensitive to these happenings but not radical enough to become politically active. In 20.... and 20...., we needed to digest several changes within the internal cultural politics: important and drastic changes in the education system and the following demonstrations; the disturbing and frightening economic situation of art universities, especially the ...................................; the infiltration of state influence in decision-making, like the government’s influence in the awarding of scholarships. The feeling was a bit similar to attacking a crystal palace with a hammer. I would say that nearly the whole art scene was vibrating, but not in a good way. It was a bit similar to a small but collective trauma. It was frightening, to be honest. It happened already several years ago, and what do the micro societies and individuals do in such a situation – they try to react and learn from the changes. To be a bit cynical, it seems to me that we are really good at one thing only – surviving. But this also forced the scene to work with the situation – several small, independent organizations and fellowships were created and, also as a statement, ................. was born. In my case, it forced me to draw up my near future – the paths among which I can choose. I decided to not apply for scholarships, and decided to build a dual life, with a daily job coupled with artistic independence. This freedom was a hugely inspirational advantage in the beginning, but the balance is fragile and for a while I have been feeling the limitations of this pseudo-independency from the art scene. “(2018-January)
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