SAMO (calm)

The artwork presents the Bonțida section of the Someșul Mic River in seven layers, showing its past, present, and an imagined future. The inspiration was given by a lecture: the current riverbed line was projected onto a 19th-century military map, revealing the differences between the two states. The beauty of the graphic depiction and the speed of the transformation left a deep impression, as the riverbed's alteration is partly the result of natural processes, but partly of human intervention. Inspired by this experience, the artist has created a seven-layer representation of the river's past, present, and an imagined future state. At the bottom lies the 19th-century line of the riverbed, above it two generated transitional states, in the middle the current bed, followed by two more fictional transitions, and at the top the almost completely straightened, imagined future version. The layers, cut from steel plates, rest on a shelf-like support structure, evoking the feel of a museum display tool depicting the river's temporal metamorphosis. The work was driven by the tension of seeing the river's graceful curves disappear under human interventions – regulation, dredging, gravel extraction – and with them, the local biodiversity: fish, insects, reptiles, birds, and other species. The interactive element of the installation reflects this disappearance: as visitors stand at different sections of the riverbed, they alternately hear bird sounds and the noise of human machinery – the tension between nature and intervention. Interaction: Gáspár Hajdu. The exhibition is part of the CO-VISION project, which explores the relationship between humans and nature, with a particular focus on the local significance of the Someșul Mic River. Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.