The final shape of the prize is based on the text and the act of narration; it is defined by the speciality of the Hungarian slam. I found the unity of the written text and the production in the word bubbles in comics because these motives show the place of the text and the speech plot. The reaction to the text clarity and the youngish wording actually supported my shape searching. I reacted on the liveliness and on expressing liveliness with a dynamic, moving object. I found the transparent glass to be the most expressive way for the clarity of the Hungarian slam community, for sharing free thoughts, for keeping the freedom of speech and for expressing the sensitive and honest moments on stage.  I thought the seriousness of the noble material in the light slam style was reasonable because hard work takes to the glorious moment of victory, so it is necessary to express the appreciation in some ways the winner deserves.  

 

During the graduation process I carried out my spatial word bubble concept in many different ways for the suggested solution of the trophy. In my first approach I took Márk Süveg's interpretation into consideration commented on the slam, so I assigned the reflection as well to the bubble.

 

According to Márk Süveg (Said) the slammer's message  usually becomes authentic when the manifestation is honest. The twice champion defined for me the criteria of a good slam. His experience is that the man always undresses on the stage because feelings and thoughts come up from his own internal. In the meantime he feels if he held a mirror towards the audience. The message reaches the desired effect or let's say it hits really hard when more and more people can see themselves in that mirror. During this time the experience of the feedback comes. Self revelation needs a little bit of courage but slam is not going to be sentimental but it stays an impertiment genre.

 

Things near the trophy project a reversed picture on the surface of the object because of the mirror area in the inside part of the rounded form. I felt harmony between the poetry slam and the optical game of the object, the contact with the surroundings, the reaction, the reversal picture projected on the surface. However I thought that this solution was closer to the sparkling-shining prize-like objects therefore I continued designing the idea of the original spatial word bubble.

 

 

I could imagine a bigger and more spectacular appearance of the prize which is handed over in theatre situations. This prize is also good to make keeping a good distance from commerce possible. The solid glass bubble which is bigger than the one in the first version would have been too heavy to be a prize. I could see the solution in creating an object with a hole inside it. That is why I designed a text shape hole inside the transparent word bubble. So at first sight we can guess that there is something inside the object but in fact there isn't because it is only a negative form. I, of course, hid the mouth of the hole skillfully from the initiated eyes. 

 

My hands were not tied down considering the text of the trophy, actually I enjoyed total freedom. Beyond a certain point I judged the new appearance of the poetry slam to be unexcited and too spoon-fed. Instead I selected texts from typical word bubbles such as "ZZZZZZZZZ" or "BUMM!" or "AAAAAAA" or "BANG!" I found "BANG" to be the best choice because poetry slam is a bit quipper poetry so "BANG" and poetry slam really match well. There is often criticism of society, a kind of quip style, flip and a certain kind of text style in slams that is why slam and an object with a delicate humour fit well. 

 

 

I used colours bravely because in my opinion bright colours are close to the light, wild, youngish style of slam. The text and the gag-style object are more effective with colours. The 'here and there' bubbly appearance of the melted glass is very good for the full image and this helps the move from the prize-like character of the trophy to the plastic art. The form of the same objects is always different in its fine details because of the casting technology, so there will never be two which are exactly the same. It is exactly the same with the winner's achievement, it cannot be compared year after year because it is always decided by the given moment. I think this kind of expression is much closer to the real appearance of the performing genre. On the other hand the quality of the handcraft gives a new rank to the object by which the counter value given for the achievement harmonises with the winning production.

 

Connecting the sharing of the honest, private, internal thoughts of the individual appearance and the occasional impertinent expressions of an opinion made me use the pink colour. I felt certain delicacy and sharpness in pink considering the domestic audience could have initiated only male champions so far.  At this object I modelled the word ‘BANG’ in a state as if it exploded from a starting point and it can be read only from one side, but it gives an exciting sight when you look at it from more points of view because the letters move from each other in the space in a rhythm.

 

 

The performances of the team slam feel more like a theatre performance. A team is much richer just like a collective production of two people. I tried to express this with a colour of an intended, striking uranium green and with differences in the shape. I took over the star-like explosion, which often goes with the word ”BANG”, from the world of comics. I distinguished the team and the individual prizes not only in their colours but also in their inside world. 

 

The Poetry Slam lBudapest eventually didn’t like the version of the colourful word of ‘BANG’. Looking at the objects I didn’t feel this to be a failure at all, because my pieces of work are also good as individual products due to their values of plastic art. They were parts of the HU Glass 2014 exhibition. 

 

http://www.ujmuveszetfolyoirat.hu/2015/01/fenyterek/

 

http://artportal.hu/magazin/kortars/hu-glass-2014-uvegek-es-missziok

Horváth Kristóf (Színész Bob)/ Kristóf Horváth

Budapest 2014, Trafó - Kortárs Művészetek Háza / Trafó - House of Contemporary Arts,

Photo by Erika Perszlényi