In "Vain Endeavour“, Jáno Möckel moves a golf course from his studios district to the ground floor of hinterconti. Not an ordinary golf course, but rather the rotten remains of a 17-year-old topgolf course, abandoned months ago and allowed – between move-out and demolition – to develop a life that seems dystopian but is a multifaceted life of its own.
At topgolf, players hit golfballs into the field from stacked and side-by-side lying cabins. It is thus a relatively low-maintenance multi-level golf that allows many people to play in a comparatively small area. Close to the city and less exclusive. However, the leisure offer, which is also aimed at interested peolple without club membership, found its building site only as a temporary rental area. In line with the city's transformation plans, it is moving further out and is thus exemplary for numerous upheavals currently taking place in the district and neighboring areas. So Jáno Möckel's empathy for the place is no coincidence. The reality of studios in buildings that are temporarily rented out for interim use shows parallels to the golf course, which remains in its pre-demolition stage until further notice.
With a smile, Jáno Möckel declares the wasteland to be his metier – self-authorized loans run through his work. For months, the course has been disassembled, materials dismantled, equipment smashed and walls sprayed. What is devalued as a "place of neglect" (daily press) also offers a rare, if only temporary, free space in this city. It does not become immediately clear in the exhibition what was worth picking up and for what reason, it is advisable to take a look at the many detailed and narrative scenes in the supposed tear down chaos. With great dedication to the largely cost-free, partially demolished found objects, Jáno Möckel celebrates the love for trash and mixes accurate effort with progressive decay. Some of the remnants find a second life in new connections. Refitted and upgraded, new images emerge, icons that take the pathos of the golf course with a wink, but focus on its wear and tear and formerly incidental details.
The degree of intervention varies from the found readymade to the specially made new pieces from Möckel's studio. More or less arranged coincidences. Freshly casted from concrete, wax and rubble from the golf course, the multimaterial golf balls are the secret protagonists of the scenery. They lie scattered all around the room.
–Alex Hojenski
