Fotograf Zone – Barnabás Neogrády-Kiss

Untitled I–III, 2024

Untitled object I–II, 2024

Barnabás Neogrády-Kiss’s practice is strongly influenced by the fact that in his youth he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. After undergoing two brain surgeries, he had to relearn how to use and inhabit his body, particularly his right side. He is still unable to perceive a full 360-degree perspective as his vision remains permanently impaired. Thus, changing perspectives, the questions around vision, perception and visibility as well as understanding his own condition were always a crucial part of the artist's work. He chooses the photographic medium to experiment with these questions around sight and vision, connecting his own experiences with the possibility to see something with / through the camera which otherwise would not be possible for him.

The installation presented here was created as part of the exhibition and research project C80 – Aesthetics of Cancer? commissioned by curators Dalma Eszter Kollár and Kristóf Kovács together with faculty members of the Semmelweis Medical University – where the aim was “to break down taboos about disease, and cancer in particular, and to exploit mutual learning opportunities between patients, doctors (and doctors in education), nurses, medical students and, to reinforce visuality, visual artists.”. Within the framework of the C80 project it became possible for Neogrády-Kiss to explore his own condition and cancer in a more objective manner, while also appropriating and distorting the medical gaze. In the lightboxes, a photograph of a brain enters into dialogue with a schematic image of a cancer from a book cover, again highlighting the tension between subjective involvement and objective, analytical understanding. His three self-portraits emphasize how to live with the aftermath of the illness as well as the persistent symptoms of it, reminders of how the condition continues to shape the way the artist perceives himself and the world.

The works were created as part of the C80 – Aesthetics of Cancer? project, Budapest, 2024.

EXHIBITION
FEVER STATE
October 4–12, 2025
Holešovice Market, Hall 13

Barnabás Neogrády-Kiss

creates works rooted in his personal experience with visual and physical impairment, exploring perception and the nature of images. He studied at the University of Kaposvár (BA) and at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MA). Since 2014, he has presented solo and group exhibitions in Hungary and abroad, received the Capa Grand Prize (2020), held a residency at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, and published his first book Solitude (2021). His practice reflects on the materiality of seeing and the fragility of vision.

#49 Talk Together

This issue explores language – its forms, possibilities, and limits. We look at how we communicate in the digital space, how the language of artificial intelligence changes our notions of creativity, and how visual images can replace words. You will discover why language is never neutral and how it shapes identity, creates inequalities, and opens paths to liberation. The issue features a reflection by bell hooks, the artistic practice of Eszter Magyar, projects documenting the Roma community in Brno, and visual essays by Claudia Larcher and Tabor Robak. The magazine presents language as a tool of communication, power, and resistance and invites you to reflect on what it truly means to talk to one another today.