Ivan Örkény is a digital media artist residing in New York. His techniques include Game Development, 2D, 3D and Stop Motion animation, 3D printed sculptures and CGI prints. He specializes in Emerging Technologies, Video Art, and Installation. He was born in Budapest, Hungary. He moved to the United States to study film and animation. He received his bachelor’s degree from Bard College, and then went on to earn his MFA graduate degree from Columbia University. His work has been shown at WRO05 International Media Art Biennale, Poland; Artists Support Witness, New York; LOOP Video Art Festival, Barcelona; (HACS) New Media Festival, Miami; Art Forum, Berlin; Laviola-Bank Gallery and numerous film and animation festivals.

Latest Work:

Wormwood / 2020 (Unpublished - In-Production)

Animation and Game developed by Ivan Örkény

The project Consist of two larger computer generated animation projects, and up to five smaller animations, supporting sculptural elements, prints and an immersive game element developed on Unreal Engine 4.

The animations are all about the aftermath of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster and its effect on the region from the perspective of a sole survivor, a crow. The surrounding Wormwood Forest transforms into the Red Forest due to the high absorption rate of radiation and is subsequently felled and rendered into a graveyard housed within a womb-like matryoshka doll. In one animation, this desolate, radiation-ridden environment provides a carefree playground for the character at first, but eventually it turns into a burial-site filled with memories consuming the bird itself. Other animations deal with scientific experimentations on an albino crow (one of the few mutations in birds that have actually been recorded in the area), and how its cognitive and problem solving capabilities were altered by the fallout. Modern-day folktales have developed based on superstitions and biblical apocalyptic references around the tale of the shape and color shifting Wormwood Forest. The inanimate tragedy becomes a processable human struggle through the imaginations of the victims. The project was conceived before the Fukushima disaster, but has gained even more urgency through it. Changes in public opinion and governmental policies have been reflecting a shifting attitude toward atomic energy. The project is not intended to condemn the use of nuclear power, rather to focus how local communities and natural environments have adapted to the uncontrollable aspect of the splitting of the atom.


Collaborative Game Development with Alexander White

Memory Pond / 2018 (iOS,Android - Published on iTunes and Google Play Store) Collaboration with Alexander White / Multimedium Inc.

NightFlower / 2019 (Unpublished - In-Production) Collaboration with Alexander White / Multimedium Inc


L'esprit de L'escalier

2013 (2D,TRT:00:08:00, HD 1080p30)

Official Selections: DCIFF Washington, DC Independent Film Festival 2013, Blue Plum Animation Festival 2013, California International Animation Festival 2013, Busho International Short Film Festival (Panorama Section) 2013, Filma Oveido International Short Festival 2013, GOIAF Golden Orchid International Animation Festival 2013, Animazing Spotlight International Animation Festival 2014, Animac Int. Animation Festival (Open Screen Section) 2014. Broadcasts: KAZV-TV Central Valley, U S A June 2013 (Broadcast TV)

Treppenwitz

2012 (3D, HD 1080p30, TRT:00:12:36)

Official Selections: California International Animation Festival 2012, Golden Kuker - Sofia 2012, New York No Limits 2012, CinemadeMare - Rome 2012, Cyprus International Film Festival - Corinthia 2012, Official Nominee / Best Experimental Animation – AniMazing Spotlight Animation Festival 2012, Animasyros International Animation Festival 2012, Roseville Animation Festival, 2012, 10th International Animated Film Festival TINDIRINDIS 2012, Animac International Animation Festival, Lleida 2013, Athens Animfest International Animation Festival 2013, Citrus Cel Animation Festival 2013, NAFF Neum Animated Film Festival 2013, Filma Oveido International Short Festival 2013, New Filmmakers Festival, New York 2013, GOIAF Golden Orchid International Animation Festival 2013. Broadcast: KAZV-TV Central Valley Cal. 2012.

Terms & Cond. Wormwood