Remains of the remains by Berszan Zsolt. Review by 2nd year ITA student Emilia Florina Joja

                     

In Cluj-Napoca, between the 20th of April and 24th of May, on the fourth floor of the Center of Interest, a large event that consisted of five different exhibitions took place. One of them was Berszan Zsolt’s Remains of the remains, held in the BAZIS  Contemporary space and curated by Diana Dochia. 

Berszan Zsolt, born in 1974, is a graduate of the University of Art and Design of Cluj Napoca, Romania. Throughout the years, he had many important solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries both in and outside of Romania. Since 2010, he is represented by the  Anaid Art Gallery. 

The exhibition, though not directly related to the other four at the Center, is unintentionally connected to them. One might walk in the open space of it and try to correlate them. But could that actually be a positive aspect of the whole artistic experience, if I may call it that?  

Walking in and out of the artist’s space could surely be impactful if we take into consideration the differences between the works exhibited right outside of it, which happened to be natural landscapes, a subject drastically separated from the remains. 

Remains of the remains gathers a series of drawings, small and large, which the artist completed in the last two years ( 2020-2021).  The main theme of the exhibition surrounds the concept of death. The collection of drawings actually depicts the aftermath of death: distorted, disintegrating body parts that the eye barely perceives. The charcoal on paper shows the many phases of the decaying matter,  drowning in a turmoil of darkness. Some of the works show stages in which the body parts are still distinguishable, but gradually, as you go through the exhibition, they get lost within that darkness.  

These bodies are marking an ending of life, but also the beginning of a new process. They go back into the earth, merging with it, becoming one. The self is not important here, but the absence of it. Thus its remains become the subject. These remains are the witnesses of ghosts from the past, unknown mysteries that are no more. 

All in all, the exhibition has an impact on the visitor, whether he/she actually fully understands it. Watching the body go through such natural but unsettling stages makes us reflect on its ephemeral character of it. The experience itself of trying to comprehend the shapes and movements of the body leaves us in a contemplative state. For that reason alone,  Remains of the remains is worth seeing.