The next Artist You Need To Know is David Szauder.
Szauder is a Hungarian media artist, curator and computer scientist.
“His pieces often blend dreamlike imagery with hyper-realistic details, influenced by his admiration for early 20th-century artists. Through his art, David reflects on his personal experiences, emotions, and the philosophical questions he contemplates, imparting a unique, authentic quality to his work. He frequently employs irony to process and express the anxieties and tensions he observes in society.” (from here)
Born in 1976, when he was young Szauder was very interested in technology and was creating ‘abstract digital drawings’ on his Commodore 64. He studied Art History at the Eötvös Loránd University and Intermedia at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest. Szauder would earn a Masters Fellowship at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture at the Aalto University in Helsinki. Aalto University is well known for their European MediaLabs and it was here that Szauder’s artistic practice took a decisive turn defining his artistic career, as he began to engage with robotics, experimental electronics and 3D programming.
From Kate Vass Galerie GmbH : “Szauder has experimented with many techniques in his work. He is consistently intrigued by new developments at the intersection of technology and art. This curiosity has led him to explore code-based animation, glitch art, and the possibilities of virtual reality. After some time, he returned to creating collages before advancing to augmented reality and robotics. In his projects, Szauder often combines analog inputs with coded parameters to create unique works. He has reimagined Leonardo da Vinci’s conceptual machines in Milan as an augmented reality experience and transformed László Moholy-Nagy’s Light Space Modulator into a significant kinetic sculpture. Recently, Szauder had turned his focus to AI, utilizing this technology to create captivating post-photography works.”
He was also the curator at the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Berlin (CHB) from 2009 to 2014 and has been a visiting lecturer at the Film Academy in Potsdam in Germany and since 2010 has led interactive media workshops in Berlin and Budapest.
We’re sharing a number of his still images, but to truly experience Szauder’s artwork you have to watch his playful, yet also somewhat sinister, animations that can be enjoyed at his IG account.
“No matter how strange or bizarre my images may be, I hope they can help others alleviate their anxieties and tensions, and encourage them to think about these pervasive, troubling issues.”
He has said he’s influenced by the works of Oskar Schlemmer who was an important German Bauhaus artist.
Szauder’s artworks – from his still images to his animations and films and several of his interactive artworks – have been featured at a number of significant space, including the Light Art Museum in Budapest, Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, East of Eden Gallery in Budapest, Diskurs in Berlin, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
“Each series he creates has a distinct theme, reflecting his personal experiences, emotions, and the philosophical questions he contemplates.
He uses a personal database of both positive and negative emotions, which imparts a unique, authentic quality to his artworks. These pieces are expressions of his inner world. Szauder uses his art to process and express the anxieties and tensions he observes in society. This approach not only
allows him to address his fears through irony but also to comment on political and social issues.” (Kate Vass Galerie GmbH)
More of his work can be seen at this site as well as on Instagram where there’s a number of animations and short videos of his work.