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Oto Hudec

artist in residence November 2016, Slovakia /



Statement

In November 2016 it will pass more than a year since the wave of refugees started to travel in larger numbers through Central Europe in search of asylum in safe and welcoming countries. Facing this situation, Slovakia refused to accept EU quotas on number of asylum seekers, receiving only 100 Syrian christian families. As a response to significantly different asylum politics of two neighboring countries (Austria and Slovakia), my intention is to research, how Austria reacted to the situation through series of interviews, drawings, videos and photos. Austria used to be the closest destination for those, who ran away from socialist Czechoslovakia. Now it become a home for people running from war and poverty. But the public opinion is shifting: it seems that the fear and the radicalization is same all across the Europe.
Instead of personal comment, the work will be a form of a visual and audio dialogue between different people: community workers, immigrants from Czechoslovakia, artists, and asylum seekers, or Austrians who disagree with current asylum politics. The result will be a sculptural installation with documentary approach.

Biography

Oto Hudec (1981) created his recent work in USA, South Korea, Cabo Verde, Portugal and Slovakia. He works on videos, murals, animations, sculptures and art in public space about immigration, refugees and the impact of globalization on the environment. His projects often involve utopic perspective as a way to shed a light on food production, industrial landscape, or decline of bees. He often cooperates on projects with children and youth from disadvantaged communities. He is a member of creative team MAP -Make Art with Purpose and represented by Gandy gallery. Since 2013 he works on Projekt Karavan with Roma cummunities in Slovakia together with Daniela Krajčová.