“The mission of artworks is similar to that of buoys: to help humanity navigate the world.” – an excerpt from Marko Rodics’ artist statement.
Marko Rodics is a visual artist born in Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary. At the centre of his practice lies the hypothesis of an “unprocessed past”: his conviction that, since the regime change, Hungarian society has still not truly confronted the decades of socialism. His artworks seek to make this historical absence visible in a sensitive yet critical way — by placing forgotten or suppressed collective memories into new contexts, shifting them, and revealing them anew.
Method and Artistic Vision
Rodics does not “create” so much as rearrange. His artworks are constructed from found and recycled elements: archival documents, socialist relics, fragments of posters, and industrial waste. These elements come together within a new, autonomous system, where they gain new meaning not only through their formal relationships, but also through the connections of significance established between them.
Each of his works functions as a kind of miniature ecosystem, responding to social and historical realities while also activating a self-reflective critique of the cultural institutional system.
Rodics’ environmentally conscious approach is present not only in his use of materials, but also in his way of thinking: rather than producing new objects, he is interested in reimagining what already exists.
Main Themes and Hypotheses
The unprocessed past: According to Rodics, the period before the regime change has never been truly processed on a social or cultural level. His works serve as memorials to this absence and initiate dialogue where there has previously been silence.
Censorship and self-censorship: Under the alter ego of the “Unknown Hungarian Artist,” Rodics reconstructs artistic gestures that were silenced or suppressed during the socialist era, at times interwoven with fiction.
Alternative history: His works often include fictional art objects that appear as if they could have been created during the socialist period — moving along the boundary between memory and imagination.
Selected Exhibitions
“Unprocessed” (2018) – Hidegszoba Stúdió, Budapest: neon-lit portraits of Kádár, illuminated objects made from propaganda prints, and an installation sewn from plush fabric in the shape of the Hungarian Parliament.
“I Love Cuba, but It Hurts” (2023) – Havana residency: during this project, Rodics examined the relationship between Cuban and Hungarian socialist memory, working with recycled elements of Hungarian propaganda.
“Political Portraits” (2025) – Start Galéria Budapest: a multilayered imprint of the past, our present, and our future, presented through Rodics’ portraits of Kádár.
Why Is Marko Rodics’ Art Relevant Today?
Rodics’ works are critically sensitive: they do not formulate manifestos, but objects that awaken questions. These objects do not decorate, but activate — memories, structures, and reflections that social discourse often sweeps under the carpet.
Within contemporary international art discourse, which increasingly focuses on archives, alternative forms of history-writing, and questions of post-socialist identity, Rodics’ works resonate strongly. Not only within the Central and Eastern European context, but also in any society where the silencing of the past continues to shape the mechanisms of the present.
For Collectors and Curators
Rodics’ works speak to both local and global audiences. His objects are visually distinctive, historically dense, and deeply critical in spirit.
They are recommended for any exhibition context in which social memory, ideological reconstruction, or post-socialist aesthetics are brought to the foreground.
Contact and Representation
Marko Rodics is officially represented by Start Galéria Budapest.
For exhibition, collector, or publication inquiries, please contac
📧 E-mail: angelika@startgaleria.hu
📞 Telefon: +36 30 913 77 72