For me every work that I do and every invitation to collaborate on a film is another challenge, because each job is different. Primarily because of the literary material that serves as a starting point, but also not incidentally because of the person of the director with whom the creative relationship is primary.

While of course I have a stand-alone visual idea after reading the script or textbook, it is very important to be able to subordinate this to the director’s concept. In any case, it is a very finely tuned collaboration in which, no matter how strong my visions are, I am the “eye” of the director. I must try to express his inner world through my own eyes. To translate into pictorial language what I think the director wants to see. Ideally, ideas, inner images meet and inspire each other, building production.

Filmmaking is basically a genre with roots in realistic representation, so fantasy can often come to fruition in quite small things and I always have to think in terms of practical implementation. If the situation calls for a bomb funnel - I’m just saying something from the top of my head now - then I’ll immediately think about what, where, who will make it, how much it will weigh, who will take to the scene, how long before it can arrive there, how much time does the technical team and special effects team needs? Plus, nowadays you now need to know about what part of this that is cheaper and more easily made from 3D post-production.

So, a lot of things are connected in the design process, and then during filming, I’m a constant channel of communication, partly in the “captivity” of the director, the production manager, and the time.

Because the stage in the theatre bears much more abstraction, the directors usually give designers a freer hand in the field of visual representation and the creative work is also born in a more closed world, both physically and figuratively.

A peculiarity of the genre is that while the film developed from the representation of reality, the theatre was much more built on the imagination of the audience. Perhaps this is due to the fact that although theatrical set design is also an applied genre, here too the designer goes after the director's idea, the realization of visual depiction still requires a different kind of dialogue. The theatrical scenery does not have to last for one recording, it must also be able to serve the needs of a regular structure, it must be able to withstand the breakdown of itself and the toll of acting.

As a visual artist, I also make pictures, which helps me to keep the harmony between the different works, where I don't feel pushed into the background, as realistic depiction requires more humility when creating the visual world of a film, a theatrical opportunity provides less autonomy, not to mention material frameworks, which always determine the direction of the imagination soaring.

The best thing, of course, is that somehow these genres can meet. Therefore, one of my most recent works is now the most important to me, because Bence Vági, the founder and director of the Recirquel company, invited me to a theatrical work inspired by my paintings. It was a real encounter and collaboration where my personal world could appear, serve as the medium for the piece, in addition to having to solve a ton of technical issues during the execution.

I use discarded, used iron, wood, aluminum, slate, etc. boards for my paintings, which is actually a love of material and respect that also determines my work as a set designer. It is based on and also provides ample opportunity for me to create the harmony of “garbage” and personal feelings as a sovereign imprint of my inner world.

The official website of Péter Klimo: www.peterklimo.info