Hungary currently holds the rotating presidency of the Visegrad Group, which is what inspired the creation of SoundWeaving V4 Edition. Textile artist Zsanett Szirmay, reflecting on the relationships between the Visegrad Group countries and their shared cultural heritage, created this textile installation featuring motifs from Hungarian, Slovak, Czech and Polish cross stitch embroidery. The exhibition will travel across the Visegrad Group countries and be displayed in several locations.
The patterns and motifs are transformed into melodies with the help of a special music box, and illustrate the bonds between the Visegrad Group countries that are built on common values. This is technically achieved by musician and composer Dániel Vikukel using the punch card comb music player.
The exhibition series was commissioned by the Public Foundation for the Research of Central and East European History and Society as part of Hungary's 2017-2018 V4 presidency, and is organised by Hybridart Management. Since 2005, Hybridart has been working within the field of contemporary visual art with the objective of venturing beyond classical forms of the art scene and bringing Hungarian and international contemporary art and design closer to the wider public.
Zsanett Szirmay completed her studies as a fashion and textile designer at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in 2017. She is characterised by her bold experimentation and integrative thinking, and as she plans her projects, she devotes great attention to respect for traditions and combining innovative experimental materials. The SoundWeaving project is conducted in this same spirit.
She has been a member of the Hungarian Electrographic Art Association since 2013, and of the Studio of Young Designers Association since 2014. She regularly puts on exhibitions at the annual Heimtextil fair in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2015, she won the Lajos Kozma Applied Arts Scholarship, which she put toward developing the SoundWeaving project.
SoundWeaving and its second instalment, SoundWeaving Middle East Edition, have toured several innovation and post-digital design fairs in Europe and the Middle East, and the installation has been featured in numerous international design magazines, including Milan's Domus, Wallpaper, Design Milk, the Hungarian Design Yearbook, Book of Design, and on BBC Radio.
In 2017, Szirmay participated in Budapest Design Week's Smart Design contest with an audible jacquard textile, an experimental smart material that she is still developing. Her next project is SoundWeaving 6.0, commissioned by the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Pergamonmuseum.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest, Hybrid Art Management Kft.