Takes You Into Márk Fridvalszki

In his work Takes You Into, Márk Fridvalszki further develops the visual approach of computers, the World Wide Web and acid rave flyer culture that broke into the pop culture of the 1990s. The companion piece of the work, identical in size and technique, was donated to the Contemporary Art Collection of the Hungarian National Gallery in 2020. Fridvalszki’s works are full of hidden references, quotes and logos as well as excerpts from flyers. In this work, looking through a gap in the middle part of the grid structure visible in the lower field, we see a picture of the universe, with planets of increasing size and, at the bottom, the following words in white “… takes you into the pleasure zone”. This detail stems from a flyer for the Dance Planet events held in Halesowen in February 1993. In the picture we can even see the icon for the computer program Macromedia FreeHand Version 5.5 as well as the MTV logo converted into the initials of Fridvalszki. In the upper left, a fictional poster with the inscription UTOPIA advertises an event featuring the most famous British DJs of the 1990s to be held on 21 August 1991, the night of the coup attempt in the Soviet Union shortly before its final collapse.

Kata Harangozó