TAMAS DEZSÖ (1978-)
Variations on the Self
2018-2022
archival pigment prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta paper, found metal buckets, Carrara marble, Dimensions Variable
Variations on the Self accompanies the path taken by a rock over time, namely its changes of identity. In a traditional sense identity change is discussed in relation to the course of life of humans thrown into existence and non-existence, their development and disappearance. The metamorphosis takes place in one direction and is irreversible, but self-identity, namely the continuity of personal identity itself can be followed throughout its individual stages, in the minute changes. In the course of the process, Ludwig Wittgenstein emerges temporarily. Wittgenstein has had the greatest impact on Tamas Dezsö’s thinking and thus on his personal identity. As time passes and arrives at the last image the circle closes and the rock returns to the reduced version of its original form. The fragments broken from the rock while being carved are collected in buckets, bringing to mind the permanence of the material’s entirety.
The work is concerned with the philosophical problem of personal identity, namely the universal issue beyond the human. By pairing non-living substance and human identity the artist is examining the error deriving from the anthropocentric tradition of western philosophy, which proclaims that the notion of identity relates exclusively to human existence. In reality self-identity, coherence and continuity are all intrinsic laws which are valid for all forms of existence: human beings, animals, plants, objects and systems, or even a rock. Such an extension of the concept of autonomy reflects a far wider recognition of the complexity and convergence of life, matter and identity, which describes reality more precisely.
Tamas Dezsö asked sculptor Gergő Ámmer to create and demolish the bust, and the two artists worked on Variations on the Self for nearly a year. During the long process, they developed such a strong emotional bond with the extremely lifelike bust that it became very difficult for both to dismantle it.
There is no statue anywhere in the world, either in a public space or institution, which commemorates Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the most significant philosophers who ever lived.
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