Judit Csatlós - Szilvia Nagy: Cargocult - Zsófia Szemző's two exhibitions
article in the Új művészet(contemporary art magazine) february issue
“Szemző's cargo is social science, fiction, criticism, and in a particular mix, which transforms science into magic. Perhaps the only difference is that while cargo-cult proposes symbolic arena and with virtual solutions to real problems, whereas science often forgets to bring feedback, by falling into its own spell. Cargo-cult science is not exactly a positively connoted territory, however it is justified, by the expansion of the practical action field by the ways of personal knowledge. Arjun Appadurai, Indian anthropologist, writes about the democratization of knowledge and about mapping social phenomena that is directly affecting the individual - even though their method is not, in every detail professional as science requires it – but it allows identification of problems and contributes to social change. So, in addition to the right to religion we can take on the record the right of research, as does Appadurai. We see that Szemző, as a result of the research described by her own requirements, shows artwork patterns to solve social problems, and also encourages mapping of personal aspects in these problems and and also stimulates thinking about these problematics.”
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