The Time of the Totem or messages from an extended present | A selection of works by Alexandra Dementieva

Be it a sculpture offering alternative modes of communication; an installation that fuses the traditional aesthetics, materiality and tactility of wall tapestries with the technology and virtual space of augmented reality (AR); or a recyclable LED-strip panel piece that dissolves national borders from the distant perspective of the International Space Station—Alexandra Dementieva’s works presented in Budapest explore the possibilities and forms of communication, representation, meaning, and interaction within specific cultures and societies, as well as across cultures, historical periods, and even universes.

All of the works maintain a historical relationship with traditional media (such as sculpture, tapestry, panel painting, and the now-classical media of film and video). However, while Dementieva employs these traditional forms in conjunction with cutting-edge digital technologies, her focus is not on experimental exploration of their latent potential, but rather on their natural use as already established visualization tools— employed as a next level of representation.

In different ways and at varying levels of involvement, several of the works invite the viewer to participate in interaction. The messages woven into the wall tapestries of the Missive series, for example, can be deciphered using an application, while in the installation titled Chronoscape, the viewer standing before the work becomes an agent: their presence “accelerates” time until their image fragments and ultimately disappears altogether. The themes addressed are serious, touching upon fundamental questions of existence and survival. For this very reason, it is all the more significant that alongside a scientific and philosophical approach, Dementieva’s works are characterized by an elegant irony and subtle humour.

Born and raised in the Soviet Union, and living and working in Belgium since the late 1980s, Dementieva was brought up by her biochemist grandfather at a dacha near Moscow. From a very early age, her sensitivity was shaped by the natural sciences and an ecological worldview—by the everyday experience of science, society, and the environment as an interrelated system. Reflection on these ideas, as well as observation and exploration of the processes and interactions in this ecosystem, has defined the focus of her attention since childhood. Her professional practice as both an artist and a curator spans numerous countries. She is one of the founders of the iMAL media and digital arts centre in Brussels, established in 1999.

Most of the works to be shown in the four spaces of Inda Gallery have been exhibited widely abroad – in the year 2025 alone they were shown in New York, Paris, Mexico City, and Montreuil among others. As a curator, her most recent exhibitions include Symbiosis: Art in the Age of AI at the Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery in New York, held from January to the end of March 2025. The exhibition—also reviewed by Artforum—featured, alongside the artist-curator, Anna Frants, Peter Friess, Aernoudt Jacobs, Eunsu Kang, William Latham, the distinguished art theorist Lev Manovich, and Koen Theys. Dementieva is furthermore a regular participant of international festivals and conferences on digital art, and the organiser of a monthly art-movie presentation in Brussels.

Opening: 3rd of February, Tuesday 6 pm

Opening speech: Zsolt Kozma, curator

On view: February 4 – March 11, 2026

Opening hours: Tuesday–Friday: 2-6 pm

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