18.09.25 - 30.09.25
Anton Cierny
Anton Čierny (b 1963) is a sculptor, performer, and video artist. In addition to his artistic and teaching activities, he is also involved in curating and organizing exhibitions.
In the early stages of his career, he created materially oriented, object-based, and processual works. Later, he began working with performance and time-based media. His focus lies on socially engaged themes, site-specific interventions, and actions. He explores the memory and history of specific locations, as well as the impact of land economization and political decisions on the environment and on the identity of local communities.
The region in Slovakia where he grew up was strongly shaped by coal-mining activity, which became the foundation for several of his key performative video works.
At Velferden, in collaboration withSilvia Herianová, he realized a performative site- specific project (for video) at Sandbekk titled Floating Aside. The project focuses on the residues of mining activity — not only their impact on the environment, but also their ambivalent presence as residual objects of prosperity, as a phenomenon reshaping the landscape (millions of tons of material), and as an influence on the visual culture of (white) architecture.
Rather than aestheticising the site, the work sought to re-layer and reframe it — to absorb, add to, and subtly modify what already existed. The resulting intervention suggested a new visual order, evoking the idea of “cleaning” not as erasure but as a metaphor for gradual healing and re-programming of the place.
Here's what Anton says about his stay at Velferden :
“The place spoke to me immediately, even in rain and wind. It challenged my perception and reshaped my ideas. I kept asking myself: how can I stay critical of industrial damage while acknowledging my unsettling attraction to the place? The project Floating Aside emerged from this paradox. Velferden is such a friendly and generous environment. I could move about the area freely, use the workshops, and feel supported at every step. For this, and for all the kindness and openness I encountered, I am deeply grateful. The whole stay was a truly enriching experience.”
Photo 1 © Hanna Biørnstad
Photos 2–5 © Anton Čierny and Silvia Herianová