The project, A House Like No Other, (2022–2025) was inspired by visits to artificial insemination stations and cattle gene banks. Encountering the bulls evoked memories of the protagonist in Jorge Luis Borges' short story 'The House of Asterion': the Minotaur, a half human-half animal character, trapped in his own world, waiting for his saviour to arrive in the maze. My work tackles the invisible labour of breeding bulls in service of industrial animal husbandry, exploring themes of masculinity, monstrosity and domestication.
At the heart of the work are casts of salt licks sculpted by breeding bulls, reminding us of their limited agency and testifying to the metabolic relationship between humans and animals. Breeding bulls, which often weigh more than a tonne, live in isolation from the outside world in individual pens. The steel structure forming the installation reinterprets this zootechnical environment, opening it up to interpretations such as a maze or a house. A soundscape created from audio recordings made at the original location — the barn — underscores the installation, evoking the presence of the animals and orientating visitors.
At the heart of the work are casts of salt licks sculpted by breeding bulls, reminding us of their limited agency and testifying to the metabolic relationship between humans and animals. Breeding bulls, which often weigh more than a tonne, live in isolation from the outside world in individual pens. The steel structure forming the installation reinterprets this zootechnical environment, opening it up to interpretations such as a maze or a house. A soundscape created from audio recordings made at the original location — the barn — underscores the installation, evoking the presence of the animals and orientating visitors.
Visitors are invited to enter the installation and reflect on the relationship between presence and absence, the organic and the technological, and the human and the non-human, ultimately identifying and forming a mythical connection with the animal.
Sound design: Márk Bartha
Engineering: Péter Alasztics and Levente Vass, Intertechnika Kft.
The work was realized as part of my DLA programme at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, with the support of Intertechnika Kft., Akademie Schloss Solitude, Génbank-Semex Magyarország Kft., and the New National Excellence Programme of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation.
Sound design: Márk Bartha
Engineering: Péter Alasztics and Levente Vass, Intertechnika Kft.
The work was realized as part of my DLA programme at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, with the support of Intertechnika Kft., Akademie Schloss Solitude, Génbank-Semex Magyarország Kft., and the New National Excellence Programme of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation.
