Bernadett Pager - BUNKER (ENG)

“Textile is my bunker, and it includes the canvas too. It makes me feel real safe.”

DETTI PÁGER (1972)

+36 30 907 1962

bernadettpager@hotmail.com

Studio: Studio 14 at 89 Pannónia Street, 13th district of Budapest

STUDIES

1994-1999 Carpet and Woven Fabric Design, Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts

1998-1999 University of Art and Design, Vantaa, Finland

PROFESSIONAL HISTORY/EDUCATIONAL WORK

2001-2008 Felting, Department of Textile Art, Hungarian University of Applied Arts

2001-2008 Part-timer artist teacher, Department of Textile Art, Hungarian University of Applied Arts

2005 Felting, Secondary School of Visual Arts

2009-2010 Weaving, Institute of Applied Arts, János Harsányi College

2010- 2017 BA-MA in weaving, Design Institute, Budapest Metropolitan University,

2017- Member of the Board of Textile Design, Hungarian Design Cultural Foundation

EXHIBITIONS – ABROAD

1999 CHIC-CHINOIS, International Design Competition, Beijing-Paris-Kobe

1999 Chemnitz Klaffenbach Wasserschlos, Hungarian Days

2000 FISE, Klaffenbach, Wasserschlos.

2000 The Surface Design Association, Kansas, City Art Institute

2001 University of Art and Design, Vantaa, Finland

2002 FISE, Hungarian Institute in Berlin

2003 FISE, Hungarian Institute in Paris

2006 FISE, Tallin, Estonia

2006 FISE, Soul, South Korea

2006 Triennale of Paper Art Vienna

2007 FISE, BB Gallery Krakow

2008 Museum of Applied Arts, Stuttgart

2008 FISE, Wroczlav

2009 Solo textile jewellery exhibition, Riga Mencendorfanams, Latvia

2010 Hungarian Institute in Stuttgart – exhibition of the Eventuell Gallery

2010 Haslach Weben Market

2011 Haslach Weben Market

2013 Hungarian Days in Linz

2015 Gjutars Gallery, Vantaa, Finland. Budapest Gallery, Artist Exchange Programme

EXHIBITIONS – in HUNGARY

1999 “Visual Mix”, Péter-Pál Gallery, Szentendre

1999 ELTE Faculty of Sciences – Soros Foundation-Special Study

1999 MIF-MIE-MOME Degree Exhibition

1999 “SETTING OFF”, Péter-Pál Gallery, Szentendre

2000 National Paper Art Exhibition, Vaszary Gallery, Kaposvár

2000 15th Folkweave Exhibition, Heves

2000 Miniature Biennale – Professional Artists, Szín-Folt (Colour-Pattch) Gallery, Kaposvár

2000 Flag Festival in Székesfehérvár, Contemporary Art Festival

2000 1st Hungarian Ribbon Biennale, Szombathely

2000 Wall and Spatial Textile Biennale, Szombathely

2000 Spatial and Wall Textile Biennale, Riding Hall, Royal Palace of Gödöllő

2000 FISE – “End of the millennium Ambiance”, Vigadó Gallery

2000 3rd “Step into the Future” Design 2000, Vigadó Gallery

2000 Society of Hungarian Painters, Vigadó Gallery

2001 Lajos Kozma Applied Art Scholarship, Museum of Applied Arts

2001 Atrium Furniture Trend, Műcsarnok

2001 FISE, Tiszaújváros

2001 Society of Hungarian Painters, Kecskemét

2002 FISE, Deák Gallery, Székesfehérvár

2002 Lajos Kozma Applied Art Scholarship, Museum of Applied Arts

2002 Atrium Furniture Trend, Műcsarnok

2002 Péter-Pál Gallery, “Alternatives of Felt”, Szentendre

2002 Keszthely Flag Exhibition

2002 “Textile Biennale 30”, Szombathely

2002 “PÁGER” solo exhibition, Small Gallery, Pécs

2002 “FISE 20”, Vigadó Gallery

2002 Paper Art Exhibition, Kaposvár

2003 Lajos Kozma Applied Art Scholarship, Museum of Applied Arts

2003 Flag Festival in Székesfehérvár, Contemporary Art Festival

2003 Applied Textile Triennale, Szombathely

2003 2nd Ribbon Triennale, Szombathely

2003 Flag Triennale, Szombathely

2003 BNV (Budapest International Fair) Furniture Trend

2004 WAM Design Textile Exhibition

2004 Home Trend, Műcsarnok

2004 1st Hungarian Design Auction, Récsei Center, Budapest

2004 “EVENTUELL 10”, Millenáris, Budapest

2004 FISE solo exhibition

2004 Contemporary Art Festival, Székesfehérvár

2004 Applied Textile Triennale, Museum of Applied Arts

2005 “MADEINHUNGARY”, Műcsarnok

2009 “MADEINHUNGARY”, Műcsarnok.

2009 Applied Textile Triennale, Szombathely

2009 Festival of Folk Arts, Buda Castle

2009 Contemporary Art Festival, Székesfehérvár

2009 “CONTINUITY”

WORKS IN COLLECIONS

1996- GRABO Ltd Győr: Knotted – Tufted Carpet Designs

1999- Kobe, Japan: Contemporary Clothes Collection – Felted dress, “CHIC CHINOIS Design 21”, 1 piece

1999- Szín-Folt Gallery, Kaposvár: felt miniature textiles “Our Origins”, 3 pieces

2000- Hungarian National Museum: handwoven reconstruction textile from the period of the Hungarian Conquest, 10 m “peach stone design”

2003- Deák Gallery, Székesfehérvár: hand-woven Festival Flag, 3 pieces

2003- SKY-FILM, for the film “Hungarian Wanderer” by Gábor Herendi: handwoven textile for the character Előd, 10 m

2006- Municipal Museum of Szekszárd: handwoven reconstruction Biedermeier fabric, 10 m

2007- Deák Gallery, Székesfehérvár: festival flag “GAME”, 1 piece

2008- Art Foundation of Mór: felt shoes titled “COLLECTION”, 3 pieces

2009- Prohászka Prayer Association, Prohászka Church, Székesfehérvár: “Prohászka prayer flag”, 1 piece

2009- Collection of Ecclesiastical Art in Székesfehérvár: designs for the Prohászka prayer flag, 3 pieces

2015- Collection of Ecclesiastical Art in Székesfehérvár: design for the István Kaszap flag, 1 piece

2015- Prohászka Church, Székesfehérvár: “István Kaszap” flag, 1 piece

2016- Jacquard home textiles: “RIBBON” and “RIBBONS” designs, home gallery, Zamárdi

2016- Paulig Group, carpet structures for the Hungarpet handweaving plant, 30 pieces

2018- Deák Gallery, Székesfehérvár: Baroque festival flags, 2 pieces

2018- Deák Gallery, Székesfehérvár: designs for Baroque festival flags, 3 pieces

2023- King Saint Stephen Museum: “Of course” handwoven autonomous textile, 1 piece

MEMBERSHIPS

1999-2012 Studio of Young Artists’ Association (FISE)

1999- National Association of Hungarian Artists (MAOE)

2001-2012 FISE Board

2002-2005 MAOE Textile Committee

2002- 2016 Péter-Pál Gallery

2003-2015 Eventuell Gallery

2004- Association of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists (MKISZ)

2017- Hungarian Design Cultural Foundation, Textile Designer Board

SCHOLARSHIPS/GRANTS

1998 Erasmus Scholarship, University of Art and Design Vantaa, Finland

1998 George Soros “Special Study” Art Scholarship 2000 NKA (National Cultural Fund of Hungary) Creative Grant. Handwoven sacred liturgical church textiles

2000 FISE Creative Grant. Hand-painted turn-of-the-millennium autonomous textile 2001 Lajos Kozma Applied Arts Scholarship

2022 Textile Artists’ Colony, Kecskemét Workshop

AWARDS

1996 Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts, Hungarian Conquest Memorial Competition, 2nd prize

1997 GRABO Ltd Győr. Carpet and Dessen Design Competition, special prize

2000 FISE – Vigadó Gallery, Ministry of Cultural Heritage of Hungary (NKÖM) 1st prize

2003 Contemporary Art Festival Székesfehérvár, Festival flag, 1st prize

2005 Main Prize of the Paper Art Society

2006 FISE, NKÖM 1st prize

Katalin Nagy T.

Bunker

Bernadett Páger’s exhibition in the Újlipótváros Club&Gallery

Experimentation with non-traditional means and new materials, and a painterly approach came to the fore in Hungarian textile art, yet again, in the nineties. Bernadett Páger’s career began in this intellectual milieu. While still attending the carpet and woven fabric design programme at the Academy of Applied Arts in Budapest, she had the opportunity to study at the university of Vantaa, Finland in 1998. There she became acquainted with Finnish design and textile art, which had a major influence on the development of her visual world.

In the more than two decades since then, Páger’s art has been equally characterised by breaking away from conventions and keeping close to tradition. She is also at home in the world of design, home decoration and interior design, working mainly with natural materials, weaving, felting, sewing and making appliqué, tirelessly experimenting and discovering new areas.

The works at the exhibition titled Bunker comprise series of painted and woven pictures, demonstrating great diversity in their forms and use of materials.

In the paintings, the artist recorded her momentary feelings and thoughts through improvised, sweeping gestures, applied with a spatula. The swathes of paint form precarious structures in some pictures, while they resemble collapsing piles of wood in others.

The works woven on a loom take far longer to make and are more planned, but the special technique of weaving threads into the fabric during the weaving process makes them suitable to express momentariness and allow room for newly emerging ideas. Indeed, planning and improvisation, order and disrupting order walk hand in hand in the art of Bernadett Páger. Her textiles could be described as life fabrics since, as explained by the artist herself, she seeks to translate her childhood memories – the joy, sorrow and even traumas of those times – into these pieces. This is especially true for her Of course tapestry series, each part of which behaves like a living tissue, absorbing the light coming from their environment and interacting with them. Mental patterns are conceived in the memory of the artist; the manually inserted bundles of lines or threads occasionally buckle, as if the ground had disappeared from underneath them. The protruding threads on the textile could be interpreted as wounds of some kind or signs of psychological pain on the life fabrics. The repetitive narrative of the luminous patterns of string and their mantra, as if on a prayer wheel, also bring healing though, as they reveal post-traumatic states of existence. The bright, iridescent strings of red, blue and yellow are fused together with the linen fabric by being woven into it. The fluorescent patterns of lines absorbing light pull the compositions into space, while the depictions articulated by cascading

rhythms morph into geometric spatial constructions. The woven surfaces emphasise the cyclical nature and perpetuity of time, and the ‘stairs of threads’ can be seen as sudden halts, or attempts at exiting and breaking monotony.

One of the benefits of the two periods the artist spent in Finland on scholarship was mastering the ryijy technique. Ryijys are ancient Scandinavian textiles, which date back to the days before history and possibly formed part of Viking culture. The tradition of weaving Finish ryijys can be traced back to the 14th and 15th centuries.

In the 16th century ryijy textiles were used as bedcoverings, mainly in Finnish castles and manor houses. From the 19th century, they had a decorative function and were increasingly popular as tapestries and carpets.

They also spread into Finnish folklore, where their makers used techniques without looms, unlike professional textile artists, who work on looms.

Páger also uses looms and adapts this still highly popular northern technique, actually originating from Morocco, to her own image.

In her Tada series, yarn is replaced by old videotapes. The shiny tapes flicker in the slightest tuft of air, simultaneously generating optical and sound effects. They are found materials, albeit coming from the artist’s private sphere, as they store recordings of various events in Páger’s life.

This highly personal raw material, drawing from the artist’s own life, transforms her works into spiritual self-portraits.

Páger often uses materials that absorb light and after some time gradually emit them back into their environment. This special property is also utilised in visibility jackets, for example, which lend safety to their wearers, whether they are workers in the bustle of cities or homeless beggars. White cube galleries are fundamentally safe places for works of art, with lighting making the exhibits visible and security generally being provided. For Páger, amplifying visibility has symbolic importance, as it is the expression of a kind of empathy. At the same time, since her works, as previously mentioned, are life fabrics, the fabrics of her personal life, their luminescence is a reference to self-defence. Upon hearing the word ’visibility’, a statement famously made by Paul Klee comes to the mind of many in the art world: “Art does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes visible.” With some humour, it could be said that artists ‘over-secure’ themselves, as they want to make their thoughts and feelings visible under all circumstances.

Finally, the exhibition’s title Bunker needs some explaining. A bunker is a shelter made of concrete: a small fort that provides protection but also isolates us from the external world, while allowing an opportunity to contemplate and observe the world outside the bunger without being noticed. Nowadays, we can see the flourishing of bunker-existence, especially in overcrowded cities. Páger’s bunker is her studio. It is here that she can open up, find fulfilment and brace herself to step out into the world full of danger and show herself – through her works in a public space.

TADA = free (jap.) traditional technique & alternative material use

TADA handwoven, hand-knotted textile series 2021–2022

2021–2022

NORTHERN RUG highreflective ryijy, handwoven, hand-knotted

2021–2022

TADA handwoven textile series, with copper string (Electrosmog Protection)

2022

TADA handwoven, hand-knotted textile series

BUNKER oil, canvas 2021–2022

TADA handwoven, hand-knotted ryijy textile series 2022

of COURSE

Visibility fabrics, reflective and luminescent materials are the camouflage textiles of our times. That is why I have chosen UV-reactive strings for the patterns of the tapestries.

BUNKER oil, canvas

2021–2022

ADDICTION

RELATIONSHIP acril, canvas

BREAKWATER acril, canvas

NORTHERN CURTAIN handwoven, hand-knotted ryijy textile 2021

“In my professional life, I have reached the ‘starting point’.

By now, I have found the techniques and themes worth dealing with.”

“Weaving is a reflection upon my life. I must pass weaving on to posterity. This is my life’s work.”

“The fabrics with one, two or more layers show how many paths I am walking in parallel in my body, soul and mind.”

“Handwoven textiles can be read if you know how to interpret them. That is why education is needed.”

Photo Study Translate Layout

IMPRINT

EDINA LISZTES | Photographer BERNADETT PÁGER

KATALIN NAGY T. Németh Lajos-Prized

Art Historian

KRISZTINA SARKADY-HART (Word for Word Team Bt.)

BARNABAS SZITA (FreeTransform)

ÚKG Újlipótváros Club&Gallery | Kult13 Budapest 2024

©Bernadett Páger 2024

©Edina Lisztes | ©Katalin Nagy T.