This exhibition does not take place inside a gallery. It begins on a path. We walk deep into a gorge — a space shaped not by human hands, but perceived as an exhibition. Nature here is not a backdrop, but a co-author. We enter a narrative where every step is part of the installation.
This is an initiation route: collapsed trails, a stream that speaks with the voice of the past, fallen trees composing an invisible script. We must slow down, lean on overhanging roots, walk “not in our own shoes.” Through embodied participation, we become part of the exhibition.
At the journey’s end is a round rock niche — a stage, a theater of memories. Within it lies a mirror, buried beneath dust. Clear it away, and you will see yourself. Or rather, who you have become by walking this path.
Key “exhibits” :
Embracing Transition — the moment when the past ceases to define the route.
Working with Absence — where emptiness becomes the theme and medium.
New Tactility — discovering the world’s textures as an artistic language.
The “Reflection Hall” — the journey’s climax. Nothing is added here except the mirror beneath the sand. We are the main exhibits. Yet the way back is closed: the only exit is upward — a vertical ladder, stairs, daunting but leading to liberation.
We have walked this path together. Will you walk it with us?
From November 26 to December 16, 2024, the mini sculptures traveled along the route: from Budapest Airport, where they paid tribute to the Liszt monument, to Thailand, where they visited the Golden Temple of Ganesha in Chiang Rai, and Wat Huai Pla Kang with the giant Guanyin, the ruins of Wat Ruesi Chewap in Chiang Mai, in Bangkok the 0 km marker, the royal palace and cultural center with an exhibition of the Bangkok Biennale, and Koh Tao island. At each location, searches were conducted to find a spot for installing the mini monument. The site fitting was accompanied by photographic documentation.
During heavy rain on Koh Tao, they began to soften and bloom. They were sent to the spirit house near Ao Leuk beach to negotiate for good weather. Not in vain — the next day the weather improved. They were left in that spirit house.
From June 10 to 23, 2023, the mini sculptures traveled along the route: Hungary — Keszthely, Croatia — Split, Pelješac (Žuljana, Ston, Mali Ston, Sveti Ivan, Orebić), Zadar. At each location, searches were conducted to find a spot for installing the mini monument. The site fitting was accompanied by photographic documentation. The installation point — Zadar, Dock.
From the authors: “…We scraped together from the bins and swept the barns, and gathered enough flour for… an unauthorized monument to travelers. The piece turned out eco-friendly and harmless, full of salt. A two-figure mini sculpture — semi-amorphous beings: one with a mustache and a panama hat, the other wearing glasses, hand in hand, both with backpacks. (I thought about naming them ‘Look-Alikes’ because they really do look alike, and it sounds like ‘walkers’ and ‘passersby’ too, but then I figured, let them walk with us for a while, maybe the right name will come later.)
And so they went with us on a journey through Dalmatia… They trekked through dark forests, crossed wide steppes, climbed high mountains. Along the way, they gave concerts in towns, with great success… And all the time they tried on the surroundings and atmosphere.
Exactly one month ago, right after the shortest night, our minis finally found their place. Everything came together in Zadar — with the constant sounds of the Sea Organ and the cries of seagulls. Next to the ‘Greeting to the Sun’ and ‘staring into the sunset.’ The mooring bollard — the perfect pedestal. And what a texture it has! Nothing can spoil it. (We were worried, we didn’t want to glue anything in historic places to avoid damaging the site.)
In short, everything aligned perfectly: the journey salted with salt inside them, the salt of the sea, the salt of the roads, and the sun. So these ‘Posolontsy’ (Salt Travelers) came to be — a monument to salty travelers who have tasted the salt of the path and the salty sea spray…
I don’t know how long they will stand there (or have stood). Usually not long. After all, that’s what travelers are for.”
You can try searching for photos on Google Maps at the following locations: Zadarska županija (здесь и здесь) и Zadar Dock (здесь ) . There are many views, but no new photos have appeared. Is the monument still there, or has it been moved somewhere? But that’s exactly how it’s meant to be.
The Nyirád Bauxite Quarry is a place where geology, industry, and art meet. Once a site of intense bauxite mining, it now reveals colorful slopes, water-filled basins, and layers of natural and human history. Through performance, pigment collection, and immersive artistic practice, we bring this landscape’s memory to life.
Geological and Historical Context The bauxite quarry is located approximately 4 km south-southwest of the town of Nyirád. It consists of several interconnected basins, covering an area of about 1100 by 700 meters. All mining operations have since been halted. Today, the southern basin features a racetrack, while the northern basin is recognized as a geological natural monument. It showcases exposed multicolored slopes and a partially water-filled floor, measuring around 300 by 400 meters. The quarry is known for its vivid and varied coloration.
The primary material extracted from the site was bauxite — an aluminum ore. Bauxite forms in tropical climates through the intense weathering of igneous rocks. Under hot and rainy conditions, rock components break down and are carried by water, settling where the flow slows. The quarry’s bedrock consists of Upper Triassic dolomite (227–205 million years old). During the Cretaceous period (approximately 143–113 million years ago), a bay formed in a depression in the dolomite layer. Sediments rich in bauxite minerals accumulated there, creating a bauxite lens.
Aluminum derived from bauxite is widely used in the aviation and aerospace industries. After the construction sector and packaging production (such as cans and foil), one of the largest consumers of aluminum is the energy industry. Mining in this area began in the 1940s. In the 1960s, to prevent flooding of the quarry, a gradual lowering of the regional karst water table was initiated. The ore was extracted through deep mining combined with continuous pumping of underground water. This process disrupted the natural water balance of the Transdanubian Mountains. Major river systems were damaged, and springs—including the Tapolca cave spring and the thermal sources of Lake Hévíz—were depleted. Water inflow into the lake was reduced by half. Although the environmental consequences were known to experts, the political climate at the time did not permit halting mining operations. Extraction was only stopped in the 1990s due to public pressure. Since then, groundwater levels have slowly begun to recover. [1]
Performance and Artistic Intervention We first visited the Nyirád Quarry in 2022. The site looked almost otherworldly — people often say such landscapes resemble Mars, the planet named after the god of war. In some places, the terrain appeared like a dried, bloody wound. Mining left physical and ecological scars, but also cultural and emotional ones.
In many cultures, the deer symbolizes a mediator and healer of the earth. Our performances with deer masks embody this role, invoking the idea that art itself can heal landscape wounds. So we performed an artistic ritual in deer masks — a gesture of connection, care, and transformation.
We returned in 2023. This time, in the multicolored part of the quarry, we gathered natural pigments from the vibrant mineral layers.
These were later tested on sandpaper – combining touch, memory and matter into images.
Revealed RealismMethod Our artistic approach does not impose new narratives but reveals and amplifies existing realities. By engaging physically with the site—through touch, movement, and material sampling—we deepen the perception of the quarry’s layered history and present condition.
This method bridges science and art, combining geological knowledge with sensory experience to create a multidimensional understanding of place.
The scientist reveals the quarry’s geological past and industrial impacts, preserving knowledge as a form of memory. The artist animates this knowledge, transforming it into lived experience and emotional connection. Together, science and art restore the quarry’s voice, enabling dialogue with its scars and stories.
Materials used: cotton wool, earth pigments from Darvastó, thread, time.
About the Place: The quarry is located approximately 7 km southwest of the town of Nyirád. It is characterized by its red coloration and is currently inactive. The quarry measures approximately 700 meters in length, 250–400 meters in width, and 15–20 meters in depth.
The extracted material was aluminum ore — bauxite. Bauxite forms as a result of the weathering of igneous rocks in tropical climates. Under extremely hot and rainy conditions, the rocks disintegrate, and their components are transported in solution to areas of sedimentation where the flow of water slows down. The bedrock of the quarry is Upper Triassic dolomite (dating from 227 to 205 million years ago). During the Cretaceous period (143 to 113 million years ago), bauxite-bearing particles accumulated in a bay formed by a depression in the dolomite layer, eventually forming the bauxite lens. Bauxite mining in the Nyirád area began in the 1940s. Ore from the lens was extracted through deep mining and the pumping of karst water. The quarry was closed in 1977. [1, 2, 3]
Artistic Intervention In 2022, we visited the quarry and brought an artistic presence into its landscape. A small stag figurine, handcrafted from cotton wool and tinted with natural pigments taken directly from the site, was photographed by us in the quarry. Then we left it there — an unauthorized miniature monument. It bore no label, no explanation, no protection. It simply remained — vulnerable, visible, and quietly appropriate.
The red stag in the red earth became a silent ritual of return. A handmade creature, infused with the color of the land itself, placed into the wounded earth like a stitch.
In many mythologies, the stag is a messenger between worlds — between the visible and the hidden, the natural and the artificial, trauma and regeneration.
We see it as a soft footprint on hard ground. A gesture of remembrance, healing, and care.
This action was created by our team as part of a growing series of works exploring the memory of the land, ecological trauma, and myth through Revealed Realism (RR) — a method of subtle intervention, documentation, and co-presence with altered landscapes.
On the northern edge of the Hungarian village of Gyenesdiás, nestled on the slope of Pipa-hegy hill, lies a forgotten landscape — an abandoned dolomite quarry. Its pale grey walls preserve the memory of the ancient Tethys Ocean: more than 200 million years ago, during the Upper Triassic period (237–205 million years ago), warm shallow seas accumulated lime-rich sediments composed of the shells of tiny marine organisms. Through the action of microorganisms, these deposits transformed into a dense, compacted mass of calcium and magnesium carbonates — dolomite.
Covering an area of approximately 400 × 400 meters, the quarry is now silent and overgrown. It is divided by a narrow ridge into a spacious eastern section and a smaller western one. The eastern basin is particularly striking: nature has sculpted ravines, terraces, and canyons whose almost fantastical forms resemble an ancient amphitheater. The slopes and ledges are largely covered with black pine and brushwood, and each groove or outcrop feels like a mark left by both geological time and human intervention.
Once, the quarry supplied valuable materials for construction and industry. Dolomite was used as aggregate in building, as flux in metallurgy, to neutralize acidic soils and enrich them with calcium and magnesium in agriculture, as well as in the production of glass and refractory materials. [ 123 ]
Today, with its industrial role long gone, the quarry returns to nature — and simultaneously opens itself to artistic contemplation and action. As part of the series “The Quarry as Witness,” we approach such places as living archives: not only of geological memory, but of the potential for interaction between human presence, form, and time.
As part of the Deerland art festival in September 2020, we conducted a series of artistic explorations in the old quarries around Gyenesdiás, Hungary. One of the key events was the creation of The Native Deer — an ephemeral geoglyph formed in an abandoned dolomite quarry on the hill of Pipa-hegy. The project became a spontaneous yet profound collaboration with the landscape itself, where natural forms revealed the image that was meant to appear.
Originally, we planned to work in another pristine white quarry, but upon arrival discovered it was again under excavation. We had to change location quickly and chose the old, forest-overgrown quarry. We descended to a light clearing that intuitively called for action.
TheSzamorodni Deer, 2020 (process and details)
Our original sketch — a two-headed elk — didn’t match the terrain. But the natural streams and grooves already suggested another deer’s form. I merely “revealed” it with pigment splatter. Later, a heart appeared in the center, turning into a sun. (Instagram)
Meditation inside the deer and Performances around
A week after the geoglyph was completed, we conducted a performance inside its outline — a physical alignment with the symbolic shape. The body tuned into the place, activating its latent presence. (Instagram 1234)
Spiral with a Deer Hoof Stamp
Using a sponge stamp in the shape of a deer hoof, we created a double spiral: coiling inward in ochre, then unwinding outward in red. From above, the form resembled spiraling time — folding and unfolding. (Instagram)
Cave Deer
Next to the site, we found a man-made cave — likely carved out during stone extraction. Inside it, we staged a photo performance titled Cave Deer: shadowy images on the walls like memory archetypes. This added a subterranean dimension to the project, deepening the connection between human, stone, and symbol (Instagram)
This work belongs to our practice ofRR-method — an approach where the artist does not impose a new form, but listens attentively and reveals what is already present in the landscape. Here, the environment itself acted as both witness and co-author.
Although nothing went as planned — we changed location, abandoned the original idea, and adapted the technique — the result was unexpectedly precise. We simply uncovered what was already embedded in the place.
That’s how the Samorodny Deer appeared — an ephemeral trace shaped by streams, stones, and light. A month later, it vanished without a trace, as intended. What remains is memory, and the documentation.
But most importantly, what remains is the experience of co-creation with the land — where the quarry was not just a backdrop, but a protagonist.
Pusztamiské Gravel Quarry is located 2 km south of the village of Pusztamiske, Hungary. The quarry, approximately 1300 × 1500 meters, is still in operation, though extraction has ceased in some areas. These former work zones are visually divided into two contrasting basins: the southern part is predominantly white, while the northern part displays ochre and orange tones.
The quarry’s sandy and gravelly layers frequently contain fossilized seashells, sea urchins, corals, and other marine organisms — remnants of the warm Pannonian Sea that covered the region during the Middle Miocene, 12–13 million years ago. These deposits, formed by rivers carrying quartz grains and larger rock fragments, became extensive beds of sand and gravel.
The extracted materials — gravel-sand mixtures, crushed stone, and sand — are processed using modern machinery and used in concrete production, paving bases, landscaping, and even as glass-grade sand. The quarry is developed by the Austrian company Lasselsberger Holding Internationale GmbH, with extraction beginning in the late 1990s. [1, 2]
Pusztamiské is not merely a source of raw material; it is a layered archive, a witness to ancient seas, vanished lives, and present gestures. It holds time not only geologically, but poetically — in deer tracks, in wind-carved sediment, in the color of its cliffs, in the movement of bodies and shadows.
Walls the Color of Time “Walls the Color of Time” is a series of visual and textual observations of the exposed quarry walls, where color, structure, and texture become a chronicle of time. Each stratum carries traces of a sea, a glacier, a forest, or human intervention.
We see these quarry walls as living archives: their palette — ochre, limestone, pale sand, flecks of coal or clay — is not just aesthetic, but a material expression of deep time. The landscape speaks in minerals.
This project combines scientific description with a poetic gaze, recording the moment when the landscape stops being a background and becomes a voice.
Ritual with Shadows Among the towering walls of orange sand, we staged a performance and photoshoot — figures in deer masks moving slowly across strata, like spectral mediators between epochs.
The quarry’s colors — bleached whites, rusts, ochres — hold the memory of the Pannonian Sea. Its currents, once fast and slow, have left layers like time pressed into pigment. To appear here in deer masks is not masquerade, but listening. The deer, in our practice, is a mediator — one who follows invisible paths, linking the visible with the invisible.
Shadows matter here: they fall across the sand like echoes of past presences. As we move through the light, our bodies become brief projections — alive within the sediment’s stillness.
This ritual is not a reconstruction of history, but an attempt to enter its rhythm, to step into the fluid memory of the landscape and briefly become part of its unfolding.
In the Footsteps of the Deer In the inactive zone of the quarry, we found a surprising number of deer tracks. One trail followed a path up a slope, ending on a circular platform — likely used by quarry vehicles — where the tracks vanished.
This moment inspired a video. A masked figure follows the trail. At its end, he notices another pair of legs beside him. He slowly looks up — and sees himself. A silent encounter: a meeting of self with self.
Selected frames from the video “In the Footsteps of the Deer” Director & Camera: Marina Razheva · Actor: Dmitry Razhev Editing & Color: Sasha Snova · Music: Vlad Razhev
A Meeting Thread In another part of the quarry, pale sand mounds formed a soft labyrinth. There, we filmed a second video: two masked figures walk toward each other, each winding thread onto a spool. When they meet, their threads are already tied in a bow — a symbolic guiding thread that led them to each other.
Stills from the video “A Meeting Thread” Directors & Camera: Marina & Dmitry Razhev Editing & Color: Sasha Snova · Music: Vlad Razhev
This work is part of our ongoing practice of Revealed Realism (RR) — a method that merges artistic intuition with research, myth with landscape, and presence with attention. In this approach, quarries are not neutral scenery, but collaborators. The terrain is active, speaking, remembering.
Yekaterinburg, Russia, 2002 Urban intervention / Public art
“Corridor” (from currere — Latin, “to run” or “to go”) is a site-specific urban intervention in which everything within a walking path of at least 25 steps is painted in a single pure color: houses, pavement, trees, grass, soil, and other elements. The result is a visual and emotional shift: the colored zone changes not only how the city looks, but also how it feels.
In this iteration, the color yellow was used. Even in bad weather, the space appeared sunlit and joyful. The project invited people to experience the city through a new lens.
“Corridor” was realized on September 26, 2002, during the international urban art festival A_REAL001: Art in Public Spaces, organized by the State Center for Contemporary Art (GCSI), Yekaterinburg branch. The festival explored the theme “Mythology for the City” and focused on re-urbanization through cultural action. Curated by Arseny Sergeev, Nailya Allakhverdiyeva, and Tatyana Vetluzhskikh.
Artist’s Note: I wanted to mark a passage: not just a path, but a shift in perception. When you step into a space where even the grass and asphalt are the same bright color, your body reacts: the city becomes less neutral. It’s about tuning your attention like walking through a thought.
