Adam Centko describes himself as a ‘lens-based artist’. “I look at the world and try to make sense of it,” he says. “As an artist I interpret what’s around, but not just by using my two eyes.”
For Adam there is no dichotomy between technology and nature. “Technological development, in fact every human decision, is a continuation of natural processes. Rather than seeing Nature – Technology as a binary, you could see it as a spectrum. In my work, I try to merge natural systems and technology into virtual worlds, creating a different perspective on various issues. In this way I’m trying to make people question these processes.” His ongoing project Ethereum Landscapes, a collection of generated landscapes, is a sarcastic comment on energy-consuming crypto currencies: if we destroy natural landscapes, well, let’s just generate new ones. With a big smile he says: “Humour is a great way to communicate things.”
Research
The work Adam creates requires a lot of research, both practical and theoretical. “The practical part is what I do in my studio, exploring and experimenting with technologies and materials. The theoretical part consists of books, movies, articles, field work. I recently made a trip to a coal mine in Germany where you can really see impact and scale and try to document it.” Adam is also looking forward to a residency in Shanghai in the context of Prospects, the annual Mondriaan Fund exhibition of work by young artists. “In Shanghai, I will be in contact with a factory making screens, monitors and such. I have this idea of doing something with the spiderweb you get when a screen breaks.” Another smile: “I’ll ask them for broken screens.” For Adam, a factory is a place where everything comes together. “The raw material, the machines. The supply chain almost has the complexity of nature.”
The Hague
Adam’s fascination with the dynamics of video developed quite naturally. “In secundary school I was never much interested in the regular subjects, but I liked drawing,” he explains. “And then at a certain point I began to make videos of the bicycling activities of me and my friends.” Adam was born in Kosice (Slovakia), but he has been in The Hague for quite some time now. His bicycle takes him all over the city and he likes running half marathons, from the centre where he lives, down the Laan van Meerdervoort to Kijkduin and back. “My sister was studying in the Netherlands, so for me The Hague wasn’t such a strange destination. I actually started at business school, but when I met people from the Royal Academy of Art, I began to think that might be a better choice.” In 2016 Adam started the Bachelor Interactive Media Design, graduating in 2020.
A sense of community
The Shanghai residency will not be Adam’s first visit to Asia. His work has been shown in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Seoul (South Korea), and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). “It’s not only that there are more technological opportunities there,” Adam says, “it’s also the different mindset. We’re all so individualistic here. I always feel there’s more sense of community in Asia.” Speaking of the importance of community, Adam mentions his ‘bad film festival’ Sand Nudes. “It’s something I organise annually to encourage people to make a video. Each team gets an assignment and then has two weeks to make their video. There’s no competition aspect, no selection. We screen everything, you submit, we show. It really brings people together.” And this is The Hague so “the screening takes place in the dunes. It’s sort of illegal, a friend of a friend thing.”
Read the article here in Dutch.
Text: Anna Beerens
Photo: Dana LaMonda
