Laser cutter and rust powder - an exhibition of industrial artworks opens in Kecskemét

An art exhibition featuring works created using special construction materials will open in Kecskemét on 23 June, according to a press release from the K-ARTS Art Foundation. The exhibition of the foundation, which was established by KÉSZ Csoport, a leading player in the domestic construction industry, visitors will be able to view spectacular metal sculptures, graphics, photographs and installations created from reinterpreted steel and scrap metal elements. What's more, the exhibited objects were created by artists using industrial tools such as laser cutters, plasma cutters and 3D printers.

In addition to Hungarian artists, Finnish, Norwegian, Japanese and German artists will also participate in the exhibition, and more than seventy new works will be on display, the concept of the exhibition being "ETHOS - PATHOS - LOGOS".

The works in the exhibition were created at the Kecskemét Steel Sculpture and Fine Arts Symposium (KASZ+) international art camp. The camp was organised for the 20th time this year by the K-ARTS Art Foundation, established by KÉSZ Csoport.

Mirror made of steel poles on linen

Each year, the camp brings together young talent and established artists. The special feature is the availability of factory technology, an industrial environment that provides a special backdrop for creation. This can be an unusual environment for artists, and the technical tools available offer rare opportunities to shape innovative, unique works of art.

"Among the exhibiting artists, the Japanese painter Fukui Yusuke, for example, experiments on the canvas, gluing rust powder and steel particles into the linen, so that it almost steps out into space. Finnish sculptor Markus Kåhre has created polished stainless steel columns that literally hold up a mirror. But there is also a special work by Norwegian artist Anne-Karin Furunes, who, inspired by museum photographs of women prisoners in the early 1900s, enlarged, pixelated and laser-cut the portrait of one of them into the steel plate. And Gábor Király from Kecskemét, Hungary, is using a plasma cutter and a flame cutter to cut pieces of steel plate into human heads, but there will also be sculptures that function as barbecues and form robots" .

- said István Árvai, director of the K-ARTS Art Foundation.

The K-ARTS Art Foundation aims to promote contemporary art in Hungary - working with steel and other industrial materials - and to support artists working in the field of industrial arts and crafts and applied design. The Foundation currently cares for more than 500 works of art - metal sculptures, installations, prints, photographs and paintings - which have been presented to the public in more than 50 exhibitions and events over the last 20 years.

Using laser cutters and 3D printers to make the creations

In the summer of 2004, the foundation opened the first steel sculpture camp in Kecskemét with the participation of six artists at the KÉSZ Csoport industrial site. At that time, the artists, who learned how to shape different types of iron materials (plates, shapes, tubes, wires), shaped their works using flame-cutting, angle grinders and welding machines. "They produced 'classic' steel sculptures, where rust was used in conjunction with painting or even galvanising.

Over the past twenty years, the industrial art scene has changed a lot. New steel materials, such as stainless steel, or other metals (aluminium, copper) and so-called composite materials have become the basis for the artworks. In addition, plasma and laser cutting equipment and 3D printers help artists. Engineers also use CAD software to design the artworks in three dimensions, scan the various components and create the pattern for the production plant.

"In 20 years, KASZ has become a truly innovative creative workshop, where young talents and experienced artists from home and abroad can realise their formal ideas within a broad framework. There is also the possibility of crossing over between different artistic disciplines, as not only sculptors, but also graphic artists, painters and photographers have visited the workshop."