Beöthy, Balázs, Németh, Hajnal: Near Hajnal, Beside Balázs I-IV (1997-1999)

The photographic works and films of Hajnal Németh, made in the late nineties, show a peculiar, intermediate state: they simultaneously show elements that seem realistic and elements that defy reality, rewriting it. In the four-part series Near Hajnal, Beside Balázs, the female and male figures pose in identical clothing (polka-dot monokini, jacket, raincoat, black T-shirt) in various locations (petrol station, apartment interior), sometimes in mirror-symmetrical, sometimes in disturbingly different, yet similar-looking positions. The unisex clothing and apparent identicalness of the quasi-twins, “torn into two halves”, point to the difference in gender roles and stereotypical attitudes towards them. Recurring elements of the works are the problem of reflection and doubling as well as the theatrically placed decorative motifs; artificial flowers and garlands were originally props in Matthew Barney’s 1997 film Cremaster 5, shot at the Opera House. Kriszta Dékei