Ekfrázy

Ekphrases: A Photographic-Textual Installation
Exhibition Opening at the Novotvar Festival

Venue: V-klub, Nám. SNP 12, Bratislava
Time: 6:00 PM
Opening remarks by: Erika Vályi Horváth (curator), Peter Šulej (poet), and Attila Merva (translator)

Synopsis:
The installation opens a vibrant creative space where contemporary literature blends with visual art. The exhibition brings together and fully presents two chapters of a profound cross-border dialogue between Slovak and Hungarian creators: the project Ekphrases / Szó-kép (2022) and its companion sequel The Gap on the Border / Tű–rés–határ (2026). Visitors will have the unique opportunity to view a collective body of work by 24 writers and 24 photographers or visual artists.

Initiated by the Bázis Association, the project is built on the concept of ekphrasis—the literary reflection of a visual artwork. Representing the Slovak scene, prominent figures of contemporary literature and art enter this dialogue, including writers such as Pavol Rankov, Peter Šulej, Lukáš Cabala, Jana Micenková, Irena Brezná, and Slavka Liptáková. Their texts organically complement the works of recognized photographers, among whom are Jana Hojstričová and Ľubo Stacho.

While the first phase of the project in 2022 responded to the immediate outbreak of the war in Ukraine, exploring the fragility of home and identity through the urgent question, “What would you take with you if you had to flee?”, the new 2026 reflection examines the phenomenon of borders in a broader context. It no longer views them merely as dividing lines, but rather as points of encounter, tension, a search for understanding, and inner transformation. This bilingual installation captures that very thin yet permeable "gap on the border" through which we can cross the limits of language, culture, and personal experience to shape a single, open cultural space together.