In Conversation with LORINC BORSOS

Lorinc Borsos – Dark in EU / EU in Dark (Flag series), 2012, variable size, photo by Miklos Sulyok

Lorinc Borsos is the imaginary child of Janos BORSOS and Lilla LORINC, who exists outside of gender, age or sex and since forming has been awarded, amongst others Strabag Award 2008, Esterházy Painting Prize 2010. The pair came together to form hybrid artist Lorinc Borsos whilst studying MA Graphic Design and Painting at University of Fine Arts in Painting in 2008 and have continued to practise as this entity in Budapest since. During the first five years of its artistic career, Lorinc Borsos focused on examining the possibilities of a self-reflective national identity. Following this period they reflected on the dark, unjust side of history through self-observation. Their trademark is the shiny black substance derived from black enamel paid. Flags has been a series in continuous development since 2010, that marks a blurring of these two themes and approaches. The works of art are at the same time abstract images and pieces of Lego with national symbols. Formulas of tolerance, in terms of the community suffering manoeuvres of the political reigning systems and the symbolic compensation of the individual are apparent in the matching of the flags. In this, there is a display of identity forms, beyond national belonging. The recently exhibited Language of Flowers, twisted expectations of political art and aesthetics.

The exhibition displayed thirteen politicized flowers, the paintings beautiful and yet making no distinction between the different documents connected to the paintings; real, authenticated historical documents featured in the exhibition as equally important and authentic as the fictional newspaper articles, blog posts or pseudo-scientific documents based on Wikipedia articles and botanical studies. There was an approach to bury the exhibited flower paintings beneath all the complementary information, political interests, revolutions, historical associations and economic aspects linked to them. We have invited them to place the EU in the Dark/Dark in EU Flags within the context of the European referendum. In doing this, amongst the official campaign materials, their is an opportunity to unearth some of the truths of the debate. In negotiating the national identity and sovereignty of Britain, the national identity of a European Union Superstate has become the enemy, one clouded in mystery and suspicion. The piece is in no way European Propaganda but suggests a position, if we are to regard Britain in relation to the EU as the iconic dark black square to argument of Yanis Varafakos “rather than escaping the EU, Brexit will keep you tied to a Europe that is nastier, sadder and increasingly dangerous to itself, to you indeed to the rest of the planet”. Maisie Linford

Lorinc Borsos – Dark in EU (Flag series), 2012, variable size, photo by Miklos Sulyok

Giulia Colletti: Lorinc Borsos is born as a duo in 2008 by Janos Borsos and Lilla Lorinc with the aim to examine consequences of the national identity. How would you describe your practice and in particular the series Flag, 2010? Borsos Lorinc: At the beginning our practice focused on examining and emphasizing the conflicts and absurdities of national identity, based on exclusion and politics in general brought to our everyday lives. Of course, we started this from our own Hungarian perspective with the first piece of the Flag series titled Borderline Case/Sekler, Upper Hungarian, Vojdovinian, Subcarpatian. This work actualizes and reflects on the Treaty of Trianon, the Hungarian tragedy that happened after World War I, when our country lost 2/3 of its territory and almost half of its population. This is a very serious topic to deal with, but our motivation to do this work came from a joke, namely: “How will a Serbian become a Romanian? - If he/she comes to Hungary!”. So we Hungarians seem to have this border complex, which we really wanted to highlight to make it more visible, because of this weird sense of responsibility artist tends to have. We believe that without self-reflection and self-irony there is no chance of acceptance. The symbols and forms of national representation are schematizing and limited, they are unable to convey the many shades of identities. Nationalisms’ exclusionary manifestations need a counterpoint. There is a need for transitional representative forms in-between nations and ideologies so that the individual can also find their place.

This is why we continue this series, although we now keep a distance from Hungarian actual-politics. We try to find and look at the bigger picture; otherwise we would lose our minds. G.C.: Jelena Vesic writes that in recent years “the expanse of Europe was no longer marked by the political division of East/West, but by the cultural division of Balkans/Europe, by relations between what was recognized as the center and what was designated as periphery”(1). Do you think that the East European contemporary art is placed “behind the curtain of Europe”(2)? B.L.: As a post communist country, Hungary definitely feels like the periphery of Europe. We usually feel like being excluded from the mainstream, even 50 years late, so it does not really matter if it is East or the Balkans, the feeling is the same. As an artist it is also hard to live with this feeling of invisibility, but we would rather stay invisible than to become an exotic scene for catastrophic-tourism. This kind of recognition only deepens the gap we are trying to fill by learning the international language of art and staying authentic by knowing and working with our roots. Maisie Linford: How would you like voters in the UK to perceive your work in relation to the European Referendum? B.L.: To be honest, for us as artists maybe it would not change things that much. But that is not the point. We are struggling with our own isolation in a country where democracy is being demolished day by day. (We made a process-work on this topic called Immovable Land [3]). Sometimes the last broken reed what we hold onto is that we are part of a bigger community, where democratic values matter, and hopefully things can still turn for the better, although our voting system has been also hacked by the government. They can do almost what they want, but the word almost is very important, and I think that is there only because of the EU. We believe in long-term projects. The EU is a great, but not perfect experiment, which has improved our lives in so many ways we do not even recognize. We do not have a better option yet, only worse, and you cannot escape by going back. If the UK decided to leave, that would set a very dangerous example for those countries where the far right is getting stronger. (1) Cf. Vesic, J., On a Certain Problem with Spelling: The Center and the Periphery of Europe in Art and the F Word: Reflections on the browning of Europe, Lind, M., Hamdan, L. A., Bauer, P., & Wiberg (2014), Stenberg Press, p. 77 (2) Ibid. (3) borsoslorinc.com

Note: This interview is an excerpt from an art catalogue made in the frame of EUROPHONIA Pop-up Exhibition. EUROPHONIA is a curatorial project by Giulia Colletti and Maisie Linford, documenting and highlighting the voices and images of the 2016 referendum, when Britain decides to stay in or leave the European Union. Check it more >> europhoniapopup.tumblr.com