Michael Oedoen Erdész (Canada, b 1975)Guided by a desire to ambiguously traverse between interior and exterior worlds through the interaction of diverse media, Michael is a contemporary artist engaging with Intermedia creation, curation, and artistic research. Artistic research, for Erdész, is a kind of sensory technology suggesting a subaltern layer of knowledge human, animal or neither. His formative influences include the works of Jack Goldstein, anchorites and suburban Toronto of the 1980s, particularly the carpeted basement of a Downsview split-level house with a blue door, a redundant home bar partially stocked by random liquors and beverages adorned the edge of this nether-land, fairground attractions; the Darkride, gravity rides, vertical rides, dodgems, hauntings, and fun houses imagined within the shopping mall. A singular cymbal remained in the same spot on the floor and behind the bottom of the stairs, the massive weight of an underfloor safe’s door remained always open and always empty. Tending towards human portrayals of the supernatural in folklore, fairgrounds and horror films, descriptions of consciousness, mutability and disappearance infect his work. Eschewing the structural clarity of the artist’s architectural and philosophical training in favour of more ephemeral, ghost-like evocations, fictions are emphasised over physical viability. Among works in oil on rosin and mirror-glass, textiles, chrome and video, some pieces involve the dextrous working of oil paint and fine drawings onto synthetic transparencies.
During a visit to the Bavarian state capital, he photographed and filmed this incunable of modern architecture and later adapted it and made it alien. Projected onto a Lycra fabric background, individual acrylic glass elements of the roof structure shine in the dazzling sunlight, raindrops fall onto the roof, the pylons cast shadows and the vertical lines of Olympic rings – added in later – structure the tableau. Despite its size, the picture does not appear monumental, but understated, almost intimate – as a representation of a perceived, captured and reflected moment that cannot be repeated.
- Andreas Kühne
Micha Eden Erdész's artistic practice is remarkably diverse. It ranges from artistic research to working in various media such as painting, photography, video and sculpture. The different techniques stand for different ways in which one can deal with a lived reality: through haptic, visual comprehension, through intellectual understanding or even supernatural sensation. In the respective works, he creates new spaces of experience for different aspects of reality. He encodes them in a separate language that seems to be detached from references and thus forms its own language, its own mystery. This in turn invites a viewer to decipher it, offering a wonderful escape into the artist’s imagination.
- Angela Stauber
His latest work explores the wildness of the Heath, but also how our culture designs have shaped it.
- Anna Behrmann
There’s little danger of anyone failing to register the visual and emotional of the art in The Liminal Phase, an exhuberent exhibition at Highury Studios, Holloway.
- Alison Oldham
Micha Eden Erdész
uk: ++44 (0) 7840 134080
erdeszeden [at] icloud [dot] com
Dedham AONB
Suffolk, United Kingdom
Education
Diploma in Jungian Pyschology. Jung Centre, IE
Expanded Screenwriting as Poem Form. Emma Bolland, Poetry School, GB
Telematic Art and Performance: The Future in History. Habib William Kherbek, Berlin Arts Institute, DE
Master of Research in Arts Practice. CCW Graduate School, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London, GB
Master of Research Thesis - 'Immured by Intermedial light and gravity on the Sinskenfoor: ‘How can an Antwerp fair and its environs be understood to impart hegemony?' - Supervised by Dr. Maria Walsh and Dr. Paul Ryan
Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Art Practice. Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, GB
The Flemish Technique: Egg Tempera and Oil Paint. The Princes’ Foundation School of Traditional Arts, GB
Bachelor of Science in Architecture, Planning and the Built Environment. Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, GB
Bachelor of Arts [Hons] in Philosophy in Cultural and Community Studies. University of Sussex, GB
Awards, Residencies, Commissions
2021 High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Chelmsford, GB [residency, support-in-kind]
2020 Colchester Makerspace, Colchester, GB [residency]
2019 The Minories, Colchester, GB [support-in-kind]
2012 Postgraduate Bursary, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh [bursary]
2011 Newlon Housing Trust, London, GB [public commission]
2011-2010 Newlon Housing Trust, London, GB [residency]
2006 Arsenal Regeneration Team and Stadium Capital Holdings for ‘The Liminal Phase’ [bursary]
2005-2006 Florence Trust, London, GB [residency]
2005 Hungarian Cultural Centre, London, GB [commission]
2004 The Agency Gallery, London, GB [internship]
1998 Royal Institute of British Architects, London, GB [internship]
Selected Outputs
2021 ‘Sylphen Trill’, on-going installations in High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Chelmsford, GB [solo project]
2021 ‘Paraphase / Parasite / Red Cara-bouche’, on-going installations in High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Chelmsford, GB [solo project]
2021 ‘Joy and Disappointment’, Micha Eden Erdész and Angela Stauber, Kunstverein Ottobrunn, Munich, DE [2-person show] Supported by the Steiner Stiftung Foundation
2020 ‘The Colour of Pomegranates’, DAR - Digital Artist Residency [discussion panel] An event: The Colour of Pomegranates
2020 ‘The light place where you rest your head’, IAM Sendeanstalt [video] The light place where you rest your head
2019 ‘New Magical Realism’, The Minories, Colchester, GB [group exhibition curated by Micha Eden Erdész - Aleksei Kazantsev, Alex Mclean, Andrea Hanak, Angela Stauber, Anna Sokolova, Anton Cotteleer, Besmir Latifi, Elke Lutgerink, Evelien Gysen, Fia Cielen, Gemma Abbott, Jef Gysen, Micha Eden Erdész, Tim Dodds, Warre Mulder] Supported by the City of Munich and University College Colchester
2018 ‘Shared Art & Ideals ‘, The Minories, Colchester, GB [group show]
2017 'Don Salon', Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2017 'Float', Firstsite, Colchester, GB [group exhibition]
2016 'Ruins Constraints', 10 Interventions, Platform for Immaterial Matters, Tique Art Space, Antwerp, Belgium [solo project]
2016 'Sorcerer Won't Live/ Random Cabaret', Micha Eden Erdész / Jelle Keppens, Shoobil Gallery, Antwerp, GB [2-person exhibition]
2016 'Screenings in an Empty Place', 10 Interventions, Platform for Immaterial Matters, Tique Art Space, Antwerp Art Weekend, Belgium [group exhibition - Micha Eden Erdész, Anne Van de Star, Other Robots, Hantrax, Tereza Ruller, Karina Beumer, Curdin Tones, Edwin Deen, Vedran Kopljar]
2016 'Salonathon', Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2015 'Hearth and Heat', The Florence Trust, London, GB [solo exhibition]
2015 'Postcards to Nepal', House of Illustration, London, GB [charity exhibition]
2015 ‘Archway is the New Shoreditch’, Arbeit Studios, London, GB [open studios]
2015 'Salontology', Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2014 'Chelsea College of Arts Summer Show', University of the Arts London, GB [Masters exhibition]
2014 Erdész, M.E., Smart, S. ’Between Artists: A collaborative elucidation of the sensitive art practices of Micha Eden Erdész and Stephanie Smart', JAWS Journal of Arts Writing by Students, London: Intellect, no. 3. [text]
2013 'Stars in My Eyes', Schwartz Gallery, London, GB [group exhibition - Martyna Anna Benedyka, Alexandra Drawbridge, Ismail Erbil, Micha Eden Erdész, Robert Hitzman, Louisa Mahony, Antonio Marguet, Patrick Michalopoulos, Tyler Mallison, William O' Donnell, Marion Sagon, Karen Tang, Kazuya Tsuji]
2013 'Bloomberg New Contemporaries', Spike Island, Bristol, GB [group exhibition - Aisha Abid Hussain, Rebecca Ackroyd, Thomas Aitchison, Lewis Betts, Jason Brown, Fatma Bucak, Agnes Calf, Lauren Cohen, Patrick Cole, Menna Cominetti, Calum Crawford, Micha Eden Erdész, Mark Essen, Adham Faramawy, Ophelia Finke, Grant Foster, Archie Franks, Joe Frazer, Kate Hawkins, Adam Hogarth, Catherine Hughes, Antoine L'Heureux, Roman Liška, Lana Locke, Alex McNamee, Steven Morgana, Laura O'Neill, Hardeep Pandhal, Julia Parkinson, Joanna Piotrowska, Hannah Regel, Dante Rendle Traynor, Daniela Sarigu, Ferdinand Saumarez Smith, Yves Scherer, Simon Senn, Isabelle ZhiZhi Southwood, Josephine Sowden, Marlene Steyn, Matthias Tharang, Shelley Theodore, Esmé Toler, Sarah Tynan, Dominic Watson, Tom Worsfold, Tim Zercie, Maarten van den Bos]
2013 Erdész, M.E. ’At Least You Will Feel Neutralised by Magic Mirrors!', A Preparation of Something to Come [catalogue], Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University, pp. 15 – 17 [text]
2013 'A Preparation for Something to Come', Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2013 'Multidimensionburbia', Project Space, Edinburgh College of Art, GB [group show - Thomas Aitchison, Micha Eden Erdész, Jake Watts]
2013 'No Lemon No Melon', Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2012 'Defcon Salon', Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2011 'So Near/Far – New_Lon', Newlon Housing Trust, Emirates Stadium, Holloway, London, GB [commission]
2009 'Espace N De La Zone Ondulée', Galerie Martin van Blerk, Antwerp, Belgium [group exhibition - Atelier Solarshop, James Lee Byars, Frank F Castelyns, Micha Eden Erdész, Karin Hanssen, Joie Iacono, Céline Felga, G. Leddington, Kristina Sigunsdotter, Philippe Van Damme]
2008 MacBride Art, Antwerp, GB [solo project]
2006 'The Liminal Phase', Highbury Studios, London, GB [group exhibition co-curated by Micha Eden Erdész and Rebecca Jewell - Slobodan Trajkovic, Matty Small, Robert Currie, Xavier Pick, Sarah Strang, Micha Eden Erdész, Rebecca Jewell, Thorogood, Gerald Straub, Ian Johnson, Julie Cook, Balint Bolygo, Thomas Wilkinson, Thomas Wilkinson] Supported by Arsenal Regeneration Team and Stadium Capital Holdings
2005 'Summer Show', The Florence Trust, London, GB [group exhibition]
2005 'Micha Eden Erdész', Glen Gould Foyer, Canadian Broadcasting Centre, Toronto, Canada [solo project]
2005 'Winter Show', The Florence Trust, London, GB [group exhibition]
2004 'Endura', The Spitz Gallery, London, GB [solo exhibition]
2004 Wakes', Hurwendeki, London, GB [solo project]
Publications
Behrmann, A. (2015) 'They’ll never control water on the Heath: Anna Behrmann talks to an artist whose installation reflects the changing landscape of Hampstead Heath, including the controversial dams project, London: Ham and High, July.
Coomer, M. (2013) 'Five things we learned from this year's Bloomberg New Contemporaries: The graduate showcase is always a reliable art trend barometer. Here's what we gleaned from the class of 2013', TimeOut London. Available at: <https://www.timeout.com/london/art/five-things-we-learned-from-this-years-bloomberg-new-contemporaries>
Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2013. [catalogue] Texts by Sacha Craddock and selectors Ryan Gander, Chantal Joffe, Nathaniel Mellors.
Watts J. (2013)Multidimensionburbia: Meditations on Shopping Centers STAXTON FOLEY [online] Available at: <https://staxtonfoley.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/multidimensionburbia-mediations-on-shopping-centres.
Florence Trust 2005-2006. [catalogue]
Oldham, A. (2006) ‘World of Liminal Moments Deserve a Second Look: A Uniquely Temporary Exhibition in Highbury Celebrates What is Gone in an Instant', London: Ham and High, October.
Work in the collection of the Embassy of Hungary, London and Newlon Housing Trust, London, GB.
2021 High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Chelmsford, GB [residency, support-in-kind]
2020 Colchester Makerspace, Colchester, GB [residency]
2019 The Minories, Colchester, GB [support-in-kind]
2012 Postgraduate Bursary, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh [bursary]
2011 Newlon Housing Trust, London, GB [public commission]
2011-2010 Newlon Housing Trust, London, GB [residency]
2006 Arsenal Regeneration Team and Stadium Capital Holdings for ‘The Liminal Phase’ [bursary]
2005-2006 Florence Trust, London, GB [residency]
2005 Hungarian Cultural Centre, London, GB [commission]
2004 The Agency Gallery, London, GB [internship]
1998 Royal Institute of British Architects, London, GB [internship]
Selected Outputs
2021 ‘Sylphen Trill’, on-going installations in High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Chelmsford, GB [solo project]
2021 ‘Paraphase / Parasite / Red Cara-bouche’, on-going installations in High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Chelmsford, GB [solo project]
2021 ‘Joy and Disappointment’, Micha Eden Erdész and Angela Stauber, Kunstverein Ottobrunn, Munich, DE [2-person show] Supported by the Steiner Stiftung Foundation
2020 ‘The Colour of Pomegranates’, DAR - Digital Artist Residency [discussion panel] An event: The Colour of Pomegranates
2020 ‘The light place where you rest your head’, IAM Sendeanstalt [video] The light place where you rest your head
2019 ‘New Magical Realism’, The Minories, Colchester, GB [group exhibition curated by Micha Eden Erdész - Aleksei Kazantsev, Alex Mclean, Andrea Hanak, Angela Stauber, Anna Sokolova, Anton Cotteleer, Besmir Latifi, Elke Lutgerink, Evelien Gysen, Fia Cielen, Gemma Abbott, Jef Gysen, Micha Eden Erdész, Tim Dodds, Warre Mulder] Supported by the City of Munich and University College Colchester
2018 ‘Shared Art & Ideals ‘, The Minories, Colchester, GB [group show]
2017 'Don Salon', Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2017 'Float', Firstsite, Colchester, GB [group exhibition]
2016 'Ruins Constraints', 10 Interventions, Platform for Immaterial Matters, Tique Art Space, Antwerp, Belgium [solo project]
2016 'Sorcerer Won't Live/ Random Cabaret', Micha Eden Erdész / Jelle Keppens, Shoobil Gallery, Antwerp, GB [2-person exhibition]
2016 'Screenings in an Empty Place', 10 Interventions, Platform for Immaterial Matters, Tique Art Space, Antwerp Art Weekend, Belgium [group exhibition - Micha Eden Erdész, Anne Van de Star, Other Robots, Hantrax, Tereza Ruller, Karina Beumer, Curdin Tones, Edwin Deen, Vedran Kopljar]
2016 'Salonathon', Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2015 'Hearth and Heat', The Florence Trust, London, GB [solo exhibition]
2015 'Postcards to Nepal', House of Illustration, London, GB [charity exhibition]
2015 ‘Archway is the New Shoreditch’, Arbeit Studios, London, GB [open studios]
2015 'Salontology', Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2014 'Chelsea College of Arts Summer Show', University of the Arts London, GB [Masters exhibition]
2014 Erdész, M.E., Smart, S. ’Between Artists: A collaborative elucidation of the sensitive art practices of Micha Eden Erdész and Stephanie Smart', JAWS Journal of Arts Writing by Students, London: Intellect, no. 3. [text]
2013 'Stars in My Eyes', Schwartz Gallery, London, GB [group exhibition - Martyna Anna Benedyka, Alexandra Drawbridge, Ismail Erbil, Micha Eden Erdész, Robert Hitzman, Louisa Mahony, Antonio Marguet, Patrick Michalopoulos, Tyler Mallison, William O' Donnell, Marion Sagon, Karen Tang, Kazuya Tsuji]
2013 'Bloomberg New Contemporaries', Spike Island, Bristol, GB [group exhibition - Aisha Abid Hussain, Rebecca Ackroyd, Thomas Aitchison, Lewis Betts, Jason Brown, Fatma Bucak, Agnes Calf, Lauren Cohen, Patrick Cole, Menna Cominetti, Calum Crawford, Micha Eden Erdész, Mark Essen, Adham Faramawy, Ophelia Finke, Grant Foster, Archie Franks, Joe Frazer, Kate Hawkins, Adam Hogarth, Catherine Hughes, Antoine L'Heureux, Roman Liška, Lana Locke, Alex McNamee, Steven Morgana, Laura O'Neill, Hardeep Pandhal, Julia Parkinson, Joanna Piotrowska, Hannah Regel, Dante Rendle Traynor, Daniela Sarigu, Ferdinand Saumarez Smith, Yves Scherer, Simon Senn, Isabelle ZhiZhi Southwood, Josephine Sowden, Marlene Steyn, Matthias Tharang, Shelley Theodore, Esmé Toler, Sarah Tynan, Dominic Watson, Tom Worsfold, Tim Zercie, Maarten van den Bos]
2013 Erdész, M.E. ’At Least You Will Feel Neutralised by Magic Mirrors!', A Preparation of Something to Come [catalogue], Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University, pp. 15 – 17 [text]
2013 'A Preparation for Something to Come', Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2013 'Multidimensionburbia', Project Space, Edinburgh College of Art, GB [group show - Thomas Aitchison, Micha Eden Erdész, Jake Watts]
2013 'No Lemon No Melon', Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2012 'Defcon Salon', Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, GB [group exhibition]
2011 'So Near/Far – New_Lon', Newlon Housing Trust, Emirates Stadium, Holloway, London, GB [commission]
2009 'Espace N De La Zone Ondulée', Galerie Martin van Blerk, Antwerp, Belgium [group exhibition - Atelier Solarshop, James Lee Byars, Frank F Castelyns, Micha Eden Erdész, Karin Hanssen, Joie Iacono, Céline Felga, G. Leddington, Kristina Sigunsdotter, Philippe Van Damme]
2008 MacBride Art, Antwerp, GB [solo project]
2006 'The Liminal Phase', Highbury Studios, London, GB [group exhibition co-curated by Micha Eden Erdész and Rebecca Jewell - Slobodan Trajkovic, Matty Small, Robert Currie, Xavier Pick, Sarah Strang, Micha Eden Erdész, Rebecca Jewell, Thorogood, Gerald Straub, Ian Johnson, Julie Cook, Balint Bolygo, Thomas Wilkinson, Thomas Wilkinson] Supported by Arsenal Regeneration Team and Stadium Capital Holdings
2005 'Summer Show', The Florence Trust, London, GB [group exhibition]
2005 'Micha Eden Erdész', Glen Gould Foyer, Canadian Broadcasting Centre, Toronto, Canada [solo project]
2005 'Winter Show', The Florence Trust, London, GB [group exhibition]
2004 'Endura', The Spitz Gallery, London, GB [solo exhibition]
2004 Wakes', Hurwendeki, London, GB [solo project]
Publications
Behrmann, A. (2015) 'They’ll never control water on the Heath: Anna Behrmann talks to an artist whose installation reflects the changing landscape of Hampstead Heath, including the controversial dams project, London: Ham and High, July.
Coomer, M. (2013) 'Five things we learned from this year's Bloomberg New Contemporaries: The graduate showcase is always a reliable art trend barometer. Here's what we gleaned from the class of 2013', TimeOut London. Available at: <https://www.timeout.com/london/art/five-things-we-learned-from-this-years-bloomberg-new-contemporaries>
Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2013. [catalogue] Texts by Sacha Craddock and selectors Ryan Gander, Chantal Joffe, Nathaniel Mellors.
Watts J. (2013)Multidimensionburbia: Meditations on Shopping Centers STAXTON FOLEY [online] Available at: <https://staxtonfoley.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/multidimensionburbia-mediations-on-shopping-centres.
Florence Trust 2005-2006. [catalogue]
Oldham, A. (2006) ‘World of Liminal Moments Deserve a Second Look: A Uniquely Temporary Exhibition in Highbury Celebrates What is Gone in an Instant', London: Ham and High, October.
Work in the collection of the Embassy of Hungary, London and Newlon Housing Trust, London, GB.