525

The work 525 explores the personal meaning of patriotism. Through an open call, I invited people to anonymously share what patriotism means to them and what makes them think of Hungary with affection. I placed the 525 responses inside ceramic sunflower seeds and arranged them in a large sunflower head.
During the exhibition, visitors could take a seed with them or break one open on site with a hammer to discover the personal story inside. Each decision left a trace on the work: as the seeds were removed, the image of the sunflower gradually changed.
I had originally planned to fix the remaining seeds in the sunflower head at the end of the exhibition. By the time the exhibition closed, however, not a single seed remained in place. The final form was therefore shaped entirely by the visitors’ decisions: the empty sunflower head and the broken ceramic shells preserve traces of their participation.