Zsófia Keresztes

Zsófia Keresztes (b. 1985, Budapest) is a sculptor and installation artist who lives and works in Budapest, Hungary. She studied painting at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, graduating in 2010, though her practice soon expanded to include textile and paper objects, leading to the multidimensional sculptural language she is recognised for today.

Keresztes creates large-scale sculptural works and immersive installations that straddle the boundaries between virtual and real identities. Her works are characterised by their pastel hues of light blue, beige, coral, and pink, evoking both actual and imagined bodies with a sensual yet otherworldly presence. Despite their monumental scale, these sculptures maintain an openness and porousness, linking disparate forms into precarious chains full of associative potential and structural insubordination. They transform sites into imagined worlds populated by part-objects and bodily attachments, reflecting her interest in digital aesthetics, psychological references, and the aesthetics of trash.

Her stylistic language combines elements reminiscent of fictional tribal cultures spanning across ages, Art Nouveau’s intricate mosaics, and the dreamlike distortions of Surrealism. This hybrid visual vocabulary underpins her exploration of sensuality, vulnerability, fragmentation, and the dualities of contemporary existence.

In recognition of her distinctive vision, Keresztes was chosen to represent Hungary at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022), where her installation garnered international acclaim. Her solo exhibitions include KÖNIG GALERIE, Berlin (2023); Ludwig Museum, Budapest (2022); Venice Biennale, Hungarian Pavilion (2022); Elijah Wheat Showroom, Brooklyn, New York (2020); and Karlin Studios, Prague (2020), among others. Her work has also featured in significant group exhibitions at Pera Museum, Istanbul (2023); Umetnostna Galerija Maribor, Slovenia (2023); Centre Pompidou-Metz; Baltic Triennial 14 (both 2022); the 34th Ljubljana Biennale (2021); and the 15th Lyon Biennale (2019).

Over the past decade, Zsófia Keresztes has become one of the most internationally known and exhibited Hungarian artists of her generation, transforming sculptural practice into a poetic encounter with intimacy, digital identity, and collective memory.