Eliza Ertl: Transitional Being ✽ Exhibition and opening

As a result of the Christian ideological shift, the rituals of nature-based religions practiced for tens of thousands of years disappeared into nothingness. Within a few generations, we completely lost our connection to sacred groves, rivers, and springs. Catholic church ceremonies did not require such active participation from believers, who gradually became spectators – perhaps it is not an exaggeration to say this was the moment we lost our sense of competence regarding our own spiritual experiences.

In archaic times, visual art was inseparable from performative acts; images and objects gained significance within this magical space. Without ritual, such works are merely archaeological finds, traces, fragments. While ethnographic and cultural anthropological research approaches these topics cautiously and within limits, the artist’s perspective allows for a much freer and more intuitive engagement with these objects. We may even bring them back to life, activate them – not only visually reconstruct them, but also carry their power into our present time of crisis.

For a long time, I have been preoccupied with meaningful objects that accompanied transformative acts, such as death masks or offerings to the spirit world. Every transition into a new life stage is a celebration, yet also a crisis: adolescence, sexual maturation, separation, becoming a parent, bodily changes, confronting mortality. Many taboos are linked to these transformative moments, perhaps precisely because spiritual frameworks that guide us through these frightening and magical processes are no longer accessible.

The local reference point of the project is the Danube as a sacred river and the healing waters of Budapest. We reconnect with these through transitional beings existing on the boundary of fiction and reality – water creatures and magical amphibians. The altar is both a Gesamtkunstwerk and a personal space that we will actively use. The gallery appears as a transitional space, not merely a display area where we are present as spectators. Performances and communal rituals are connected to the exhibition, through which we can connect to the resources inherent in sacred waters. These will be announced in separate events.

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About the artist:

Eliza Ertl (born Eliza Markó) is a transdisciplinary artist, fairy tale therapist, and founder of the Tarot Kollektíva.

From the beginning, I have been fascinated by border territories. During my art theory studies, I explored the boundaries between architectural and pictorial space, as well as design and art. Even during my decade as an antique dealer, I was most excited by projects that stepped outside conventional frameworks. In recent years, I have trained in art therapy, history of religion, and cultural anthropology, and I am most engaged by the relationship between spirituality and art – healing images, ritual objects, and the therapeutic use of archetypal imagery. Alongside my theoretical work, I am active as a creator; my photographs and drawings sometimes move into spatial forms, and recently I have also been experimenting with clay.

Curator: Flóra Gadó

Consultant: Andrea Csekő

Special thanks: Albert Ertl, Anita Farkas, Szilvia Gábler, Lilla Gollob, Judit Hatfaludi, Lili Nagy-Peti, Éva Sinkovitz, Tímea Somogyi, Orsolya Szabó