Crocodile Power

In their new project Crocodile Power continues to explore the borders of reality. The human brain is designed in such a way that every time we recall some particular memory we simultaneously overwrite it. As a result of this overwriting process new details appear, and some integral parts disappear. In consequence, memory becomes elusive and the truth it contains becomes indistinguishable from fiction.

In search of material and new experiences for this project, the artist couple undertook a three-day journey from Moscow to Budapest in their car: 80 % of the journey passed through fields, forests, and mountains. The continuity and tedium of this road form a series of images which eventually becomes one single unit - this represents the overall picture of feelings and sensations, and is more reminiscent of a dream than of reality. It is impossible to determine the exact boundaries of these memories: they are conventional, much like the boundaries of the countries, which we cross.

Many of the landscapes seem recognizable and familiar; they create a deja vu effect, as we have seen these places in our childhood. Trees with the strange marks symbolize the liminal state of reality; it is unclear if they are dead or alive – they exist only for a moment: a moment, which the artists are trying to save. The installations are formed with temporary materials, which have been found in the forests along the way. Wax, moss and wood symbolize the variability and volatility of existence.

The room-landscapes and objects resemble simultaneously the confessional booth and the abandoned forest lodge. They create the image of our memory cells, which store both real and imaginary memories.

Marcus Farr

The focus of Marcus Farr’s project, Templates, Patterns & Folds, is to obtain information about a sense of place by investigating the most simplistic materials and processes of making that create basic architecture scenarios. This data is used to inform new ways of looking at architecture and creating spaces that could be meaningful to the public in an artistic way.

In Budapest, the work takes specific meaning from the studio process in folding, creasing and cutting materials such as paper and card stock. In some ways, this looks at the material as an ancient one, explicitly simple and quiet, yet by representing it in an architectural context, it is allowed to have very real and perceived meaning to how one might begin thinking about a "new” architectural environment in this location.

This new architecture doesn’t currently exist, and has never existed, but is manifested in the world of drawing, and model making, whereby the process of imagination allows the most notable characteristics of material to begin to make a “hyper” impact on the representation of architecture based upon what the artist finds interesting. As an artistic process, this method differs from traditional ways of design where program, dimension, cost & human inhabitation take precedent over shape and effect.

Crocodile Power was founded in 2011 by artists Peter Goloshapova and Oksana Simatova. They have studied in MGHPA of .S.G. Stroganova, live and work in Moscow. In their works, the artists explore the problem of the vanishing reality and a place of the modern man in it. Elusive changes are recorded in the new forms by using a combination of materials, ranging from the traditional - oil on canvas, porcelain and wood to fiberglass and various plastics. Recent exhibitions include Always contemporary, ROSIZO Gallery, Exhibition Center, Moscow (2016); ...Hooray! Sculpture!, SRC Winery, White Hall, Moscow (2016); Out of range, MMSI, Moscow (2015).

Marcus Farr is the founder of Material Artifact a studio focusing on research, architecture & art practices. He received a post-professional Master of Architecture (M.Arch) from Rice University, as well as a Professional Degree in Architecture (5 year B.Arch) and a B.A. in Studio Art from Drury University. Farr is an Assistant Professor at the American University in Sharjah. He has many years of experience working in architecture, urban design, &site-specific landscape architecture throughout the United States, Europe, Middle East and Asia. This includes collaborations with the offices of Carlos Jimenez Studio, James Burnett, SOM, Gensler, HOK, Robert A.M. Stern.

Crocodile Power: The Borders of Memory
Marcus Farr: Templates, Patterns & Folds

Opening reception: Tuesday, July 26, 2016 6-9. pm
On view until August 31, 2016 (by appointment)

Venue: Budapest Art Factory, Project Space and Guest Studio
Address: 1138 Budapest, Váci út 152-156.
by car: H-1138 Budapest, Vizafogó utca 2.

More: http://www.budapestartfactory.com/