Novogen (2017–2018) is a project focusing on the eponymous breed of chickens, a special type of commercial layer, which was developed to use its eggs in the production of pharmaceutical products such as medicines and vaccines. Through the investigation of the industrialized farming of the Novogen White chicken, the work poses questions about biotechnology and man’s relation to nature. At the same time, by taking the chicken as a metaphor, it reflects on the capitalist concept of workforce. The core of the project is formed by an installation of 168 portraits of individual chickens. This installation is supplemented by a series of photographs documenting the production facilities and the process of the vaccine production. Its last part is a selection of extracts from the management guide of the Novogen White and the marketing material of the company which produces them.
Modernism brought fundamental changes in the way we conceptualize the urban space, which resulted in the pigeons being perceived as nuisances or pests. Through an investigation of the pigeon-related bureaucracy of the city of Vienna, the project, Stadtluft focuses on the political, scientific and technical apparatuses in which the modernist spatio-visual logic imposed on pigeons is being implemented, and highlights their similarities to the means of oppression of social groups. At the same time, by turning a spotlight on the metaphor of "rats with wings", the work connects its subject with the rhetorical framing of human groups on a broader political horizon and raises awareness of stigmatization through animalization.
Daniel Szalai
Daniel Szalai (b. 1991) is a Hungarian artist, working on large-scale, photography-based projects. In his latest works, he focuses on human-animal relations reflecting societal, political and economic anomalies. He mixes different media in his artistic practice and also works with spatial installations.
Szalai studied photography at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He also holds a degree in Art and Design Theory.
He was nominated for the C/O Berlin Talent Award 2020. In 2019, he was a winner of LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards. In 2018, he became the laureate of the Carte Blanche Award founded by Paris Photo. In the same year, he was selected for the 2nd cycle of PARALLEL - European Photo Based Platform and he was also awarded the grand prize at the Budapest Portfolio Review 2018.
Szalai’s work has been exhibited and published internationally. He is a member of the Carte Blanche Collective and the Studio of Young Photographers, Hungary. He lives and works in Budapest.
