BUDAPEST—It might be a cliché, but all artists are usually passionate and impulsive. But 24-year-old Hungarian performer, Andres Koczka, has reached the perfect balance: he puts all his motivation into art but he also is down to earth and has been working for five months in Copenhagen as an economist.
Andres in Heroes Square (Budapest)
Despite his young age, Koczka has come a long way to get where he is right now but says he has always had the support of his family. He started in a dance group at age 16 and he kept on going through the rough way of art always “as a hobby”. This hobby started to became a passion when Koczka decided to move a step forward and travel to Greece to meet a fire juggler which would become one of his main performances around Hungary for the next years.
“Performances and installations with the combination of new media and visual art. We create spectacular shows with dance and contemporary circus, providing new experiences for everybody”.
This is how Koczka defines his work on his website. Effectively, it has nothing to do with traditional art. In the performances, Koczka takes advantage of his long experience and creates a new contemporary concept of art. Each of his performances is a mixture of bodily expression with elements like fire, sound or light. The result of this stunning combination is not only about physical effort, it also involves a deep trip into the viewer’s consciousness where illusion and sometimes magic take part.
The way Koczka talks about his work says a lot about the importance that art has in his own life.
“This is what you like so you don´t need anything else; you have many ideas, many dreams, you enjoy doing it,” he says.
He even had time to stop for one year because of an accident which made him “very sad as all (his) good memories are connected to art”.
But love for art didn´t stop him from being realistic about how hard it is trying to build a life around art. That’s why Koczka has combined his performances with his studies in business at Corvinus University.
“I didn´t even think that it would be possible to make a living out of art,” states Koczka with an ironic smile. That´s why, he says, he tries to take advantage of both sides of his occupation. “When I work on art I enjoy but when I work on business I have to think a lot and analyze everything”.
Koczka has always been aware that being an artist in Hungary means to struggle in the business.
“You have to be professional. You have to put your life only on that track and nowhere else,” he says.
The circus company where he started his career didn´t receive a lot of money from the government but did from some fans. “It was always a problem to find support.”
Denmark is not about survival
Lately, a lot has changed for Koczka. He received a business-related job opportunity in Copenhagen and has been living there for the past five months. But this big change hasn´t stopped him from continuing to perform and grow as an artist. He has had even more performances in Denmark than in Hungary and his view about art in northern countries is positive.
Even if he is a foreigner, he has more facilities to develop his projects as “part of the Danish government budgets support art.” But there is a difference between the arts of both countries, says. In Denmark, art involves an important “conceptual part, where viewers mind plays an important part while Hungarian art is about creating performances and training.”
While Koczka’s friends still struggle in Hungary, he´s planning to live in Denmark.
“I want to have strong backgrounds, be professional and get to be known here.” But Koczka doesn´t regret his Hungarian roots and says he wants to take advantage of them as “I’ve been trained in Hungary”.
Koczka currently has an upcoming exhibition in Kiel.
“As soon as I receive my equipment I’ll start working on new projects,” he says, explaining that his new performances contain new ideas. “My plan is to create an interactive performance with new media and object manipulation.”
Some may think that Koczka is not a real artist who dedicates all his life to art. But his smile and his look when he talks about what art means to him or shows, with great pride, the videos of his recent performances says everything about the huge part that art fills in his soul.
If you are interesred in Andres and his performances visit: www.kockaart.com
