At her first solo exhibition at acb, Rita Süveges (1986) debuts with her new series of velvet paintings and a monumental metal sculpture connected to this cycle. In addition to exploring retrofuturism—visions of the future which were projected from the past—the starting point of her velvet works is light itself. On the nearly monochromatic surfaces of her paintings, Süveges composes gradually unfolding images from the interplay of light and shadow, brightness and darkness. The exhibition’s title refers to the fact that sunlight—the primary force shaping life on Earth—takes approximately 8 minutes to reach our planet, which span of time hasn’t changed in our solar system for millions of years. Süveges previously explored speculative interiors of spaceships and space stations in her 2023 painting series entitled Infrastructure, which won the Esterházy Audience Award. In her newest works, these techno-scientific environments open onto dense forest panoramas, which are projected back into the Carboniferous era.

The debut of Süveges at acb follows her solo exhibition Weather Spectre. From Magic to Geoengineering at the Hungarian National Gallery, which won the TÓTalJOY Prize in 2023. Süveges was awarded the Smohay Award in 2020, and was a recipient of the Derkovits Scholarship, she also has been nominated multiple times for both the Esterházy and Strabag Awards. This year, the artist has participated in several international group exhibitions at Bunkier Sztuki in Krakow, Display in Prague, nGbK in Berlin, Paris-B gallery in Paris, and Budapest Gallery. Her works are held in several public collections, such as the Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, the Municipal Picture Gallery – Kiscell Museum, Budapest and the King St. Stephen Museum in Székesfehérvár. Süveges has also taken part in numerous international artist residency programs, including Cité des Arts in Paris, ISCP in New York, MeetFactory in Prague, and MQ AIR in Vienna.