Emese Kádár and Martha Kicsiny's exhibition at Reset Art Space in Budapest.

Tears of the Walls
Artists: Emese Kádár and Martha Kicsiny
Curated by: Anna Zsoldos and on behalf of reset, Enikő Tar and Tamara Csermák.
18 November  - 9 December, 2022
reset art space, Budapest, Hungary

Excerpt from a diary
The locals worship this place with dread. They think an ancient burial site must lay deep within the depths of this earth. Its existence is yet to be proved as it awaits discovery. A vast corn field has covered it in the past thirty years, a wheat field before that. A highway will split it in two before long.
They tell stories of painted stone tablets, burnt bricks and stone fragments produced from the soil during the plough. The tablets have been brought to the local temple to be merged with its walls. The bricks have been scattered. The temple is still famous for its Weeping Mary fresco, a phenomenon that is only seen on the first day of harvest - lasting ‘till midnight that day.
I arrived just before the harvest. The farmers work in large groups, their hands all needed for labour. The harvest of the corn proceeds the same way as it ever did with their ancestors. The first plant is sacrificed during a mourner’s song, sung by the womenfolk grasping each other’s arms, their tears feeding the freshly turned ground. The plant is then transferred to the temple’s altar with a quiet ceremony. The Mary fresco starts its weeping only moments later. A mourning mass is held and the vigil starts until the last teardrop. This will be the last harvest here.
Fortunately, I got hold of the research permit if they’d ever dig up anything under the field. My access was prohibited until then. Days passed as I continued my research in the town library’s archives. I knew there had to be something.
Then I got the news. This time, a discovery was made not by a plough but by heavy heavy machinery: several days of digging later it opened into the darkness beyond. I found huge brick vaults painted inch to inch with elaborate designs. There were decorated stone tables and some plant seeds - presumably used for rituals - scattered alongside huge walls covered in impressive painted figures from top to bottom. I figured the faded tablets in the temple were similar to those laying on the ground.
The light was faint... A
small, calm stream of water was flowing among the cracks of the bricks. I rub my eyes...
Anna Zsoldos

We, the artists Emese Kádár and Martha Kicsiny, created the exhibition “Tears of the Wall” in November 2022 in Budapest, Hungary with the curator Anna Zsoldos. We developed the exhibition during a year of collaboration in which our projects went hand in hand. The works merge the borders between the analogue and digital, illusionary and real. Rituals, beliefs and community are central questions of our work. How can communities unite and practise resistance against opposing powers? How can individuals create their own truths and mythologies that might contradict common sense and rationality? Where can we escape in search of meaning and belonging? Liminal space outside or underneath towns and cities traditionally have always offered a home for hopes, secrets and reunions. “Tears of the Wall” aims to provide the viewer with a cathartic experience in search of answers to these questions.

Photos: Kata Linda Kis and Martha Kicsiny