BIO
Nikolett Balázs (b. 1990) is a Budapest based artist who graduated from the Painting Department from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2015. She was nominated for Leopold Bloom Art Award and Esterházy Art Award in 2021. Balázs is a member of MŰTŐ artist run collective since 2016 and internationally active artist. She is the winner of the Secondary Archive competition from the Hungarian young art scene section. Her works can be found also in public (MNB Hungarian National Bank, MODEM Modern and Contemporary Arts Centre) and private collections. Nikolett was recently selected to take part in MANIFESTA 14 Prishtina, Saco Biennial Chile 2023 and VISEGRAD FUND Residency in New York.
STATEMENT
Balázs works mainly with the iconic material of 20th century women artists, the raw jute canvas used by Ilona Keserü or Marina Abakanowicz, similarly stiffening the crumpled, shaped textile. Nikolett Balázs inhabits the space with her strange sculptures, completing the existing world with this missing formal order of hers. The rippling folds, which open and close like flowers, intertwine many layers of meaning beyond the feminist vulva symbolism, from folkloric tulip motifs to the symbolism of totemic individuality on flayed skin.
The examination of our socio-cultural system, the reinterpretation of our consciousness of reality is the main task of Balázs’s activity, which places a special emphasis on the identity of those living in the periphery and on the representation of women’s experience. Her artworks and installations go all the way down to the roots, into the deep, embedded in the story of our own age and personal mythologies.
CV
Membership
MŰTŐ artist run space
Prizes
2023 MMA Scholarship
2021 Secondary Archive – winner of hungarian young art scene
2019 Young Talents of Hungary Scholarship NTP NFTÖ -19
2016 Barcsay Prize
Collections
MNB Hungarian National Bank
Irokéz Collection
David Kovats
MODEM Modern and Contemporary Arts Centre public collection
Residencies
2023 Visegrad Fund Residency New York
2021 AIR – Artist in Residence – Krems
2019 Villa R residency – Sicily
Studies
2018-2019 Budapest Art Mentor
2015-2016 Hungarian University of Fine Arts – Teacher
2009-2015 Hungarian University of Fine Arts – Painter
2005-2009 Medgyessy Ferenc High School and Secondary School of Fine Arts
Solo shows
2024 BORN FREE – Zahorian & Van Espen Gallery, Bratislava
2023 BODYLAND – Saco Biennial – Antofagasta, Chile
2022 THIRSTY WELL – Artkartell projectspace – Budapest
2021 MADE of DUST – Nagyházi Contemporary – Budapest
2020 Recycling into Sacral – Hybridart space | Budapest
2019 Sensation Session – Négyszoba Gallery | Budapest
2019 Game of Snakes – Telep Gallery | Budapest
2019 Clean Yard – Deák palace | Budapest
2017 Inside-Out – MŰTŐ | Budapest
Selected Group Shows
2023 Open Floor – MŰTŐ – Practice of a common ground – Kunsthalle Energasse – Vienna
2023 Das Erbe der Avantgarde in Ungarn-KUNSTWERKBERLIN-Berlin
2022 Manifesta 14 – Prishtina
2021 Esterházy Art Award – Ludwig Museum – Budapest
2021 Leopold Bloom Art Award – Q Contemporary – Budapest
2021 FLOWERS and MONSTERS – Vunu Gallery – Slovakia
2021 All that is mine – Arcadia Missa – London
2020 Personal Mythologies – Nagyházi Contemporary | Budapest
2020 Art Market Budapest – acb Gallery online
2019 LOOP – MŰTŐ | Budapest
2019 Kepesita Collection Final – Eleven Blokk | Budapest
2019 Matter – MODEM Modern and Contemporary Arts Centre | Debrecen | Hungary
2019 The Tidal Flood Beneath the Lunar Sway – Lateral ArtSpace | Cluj-Napoca
2019 Transition – Suomi Art Fair | Helsinki
2019 Acidic Taste – Durden and Ray Gallery | Los Angeles
2019 Dreams Upon waking – MŰTŐ | Budapest
2018 Break-out 2.0 – MŰTŐ | Budapest
2018 Break-out – Supermarket Independent Art Fair | Stockholm
2016 Interferencia – MŰTŐ | Budapest
2016 Hélium Contemporary – A38 Exhibition Space | Budapest
2016 Barcsay Prize – Barcsay Museum | Szentendre | Hungary
2015 There must be a window above every coach! – Hermina Gallery | Budapest
2015 Studio discourse – Godot Gallery | Budapest
2015 Degree show – Barcsay room | Budapest
2015 Thinking spaces – Ram colosseum | Budapest
2014 Ludwig scholarship group show – Barcsay room | Budapest
2014 Gén-Tér-Kép – Artus Gallery | Budapest
2013 Gender brush – Barcsay room | Budapest
2013 Feminin-masculine – Műterem Gallery | Budapest
2013 Attention – Mazart Gallery | Budapest
2011 Master and his apprentices – Karinthy Salon | Budapest
Contact
Mobile: +36 30 925 5454
E-mail: nikolett.blzs@gmail.com