Ghost Keeping

In his artworks, István Csákány frequently reflects on social transformations and their political, economic and cultural repercussions. Based partly on his own experience of life as a manual or building worker, his art explores the different conceptions of work: as it relates to traditional crafts, to industry and also to the situation of the artist. He uses the figure of the worker, who is either absent or modelled on the artist himself, to refer to the end game of modernity, but also to empty spaces and to the new constellations that might be sparked in the near future.

The installation Ghost Keeping, which was created in 2012 for Documenta 13 in Kassel, consists of a full-scale sewing workshop meticulously recreated in wood. Several figures, consisting only of dark, empty costumes float nearby like ghosts. At first sight, the installation looks like a snapshot in which the artist has visually recreated an archetypal craft. Yet the absence of people and the title, Ghost Keeping, make it all too clear that this attempt to stem the disappearance of traditional manufacturing is doomed to fail.