You are cordially invited to a guided tour led by curator Judit Szalipszki and poet and visual artist Anna Zilahi at Anna Zilahi’s exhibition titled Urtica on February 5th (Wednesday) at 6:00 PM.
About Judit Szalipszki:
Judit Szalipszki is a curator and cultural worker affiliated with Trafó Gallery. After completing her studies in liberal arts at ELTE and earning a degree in art theory from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, she worked with contemporary art galleries and as a freelance organizer of various art events. She pursued her master’s studies in Arts and Society at Utrecht University and graduated in 2018 from the Art Sense(s) Lab program of PXL University in Hasselt, Belgium, focusing on the senses of smell, taste, and touch. She occasionally collaborates as a member of the BÜRO imaginaire curatorial collective, organizing events and exhibitions. As a curator, she primarily engages with artists who treat food as a medium and interpret it within ecological systems, as well as with artistic practices centered on patterns of care, healing, and illness.
About the exhibition:
Anna Zilahi’s solo exhibition at Liget Gallery centers on the stinging nettle (urtica), a plant that encapsulates humanity’s ambiguous relationship with nature: it is both a troublesome weed and a potent medicinal herb. Since the emergence of private property, humans have sought to dominate their natural surroundings; with the advent of agriculture, they have exploited and commercialized them. Yet, our survival remains fundamentally tied to the natural world. The Enlightenment ideals that established rigid dichotomies—such as nature versus culture and body versus mind—now appear increasingly inadequate.
To challenge these binaries, Zilahi draws on Jacques Derrida’s concept of the pharmakon, a term that signifies both remedy and poison. The nettle embodies this duality: its sting causes pain, yet its properties can heal. This paradox mirrors the complexities of our relationship with nature itself. In her work, Zilahi approaches the nettle as a non-human entity with mythical, material, and active dimensions. Her ritualistic, almost collaborative engagement with the plant opens up new possibilities for connection and understanding. The exhibition includes new objects, photographs, and the video work Urtica (2022), which collectively examine the shifting dynamics and oscillation of the human-nature relationship and the concept of the pharmakon through an ecofeminist lens. […]
Opening hours: Wed-Thurs-Fri: 4-7 PM.
The exhibition was created with the professional support financed by the National Research, Development, and Innovation Fund under the University Research Fellowship Program of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, code number 2024-2.1.1-EKÖP-2024-00020.
Photo by Barnabás Neogrády-Kiss.
