Péter Szalay, who originally graduated as a sculptor, has since worked with a variety of media, such as objects, installations, lightboxes, performances, and video. His works are often working machines, created from simple materials and found objects or their components. His art uniquely combines the DIY aesthetics of Eastern European conceptual and neo-conceptual art with state-of-the-art technological advances.

In all of Szalay’s fundamentally intellectual works, the meaning-generating function of material realisation (function, use of materials) is emphasised, which provides an important dimension to their interpretation. The themes of his work are extremely varied, ranging from gazing in awe at the metaphysical content of simple physical phenomena to reflections on contemporary social, cultural and artistic phenomena. His critical attitude is also evident in the irony that often appears in his works, which at times takes the form of linguistic, at others visual games and gags.

Péter Szalay graduated from the Department of Sculpture at the Faculty of Music and Visual Arts of the University of Pécs, and was the only Hungarian exhibitor at the 3rd Moscow International Biennale For Young Art in 2012. His works have been included in the 2013 and 2015 Bookmarks exhibitions, as well as exhibitions at the Hungarian National Gallery, the New Budapest Gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Dunaújváros, Trafó Gallery and Karlin Studios in Prague. In 2017, he presented a solo exhibition at Art Cologne in Cologne. He has been nominated for the Visual Arts Prize of Unicredit Bank’s Leave Your Mark (Korszakalkotók) programme in 2018 and the Future of Emerging Europe Awards 2021 for his artistic achievements. His public art work “Prism”, presented in the District 9 of Budapest, has received enormous coverage and has also been covered by the international press, including The Guardian, Deutsche Welle, Artnet, and the BBC, among others. His works can be found in the collections of the EPO (European Patent Office), the Ludwig Museum in Budapest, the Hungarian National Gallery and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Dunaújváros, as well as many private collections.