Context of Space: The Contemporary Hungarian Scene

The project Context of Space. The Contemporary Hungarian Scene has been prepared jointly by the Dominik Art Projects Foundation and Bunkier Sztuki in Krakow. This is an opportunity to become acquainted with the multi-strand achievements of Hungarian artists over the past few decades, as well as to trace the influence of the masters of the neo-avant-garde on the young generation of Budapest artists. Context of Space sets out to bring closer to the audience the specific climate of Hungarian art, which – following modernism and the characteristic strong influence of rationalism which accompanied it – has been relentlessly governed by down-to-earth solid thinking processes. At the same time, it has not been without sensitivity towards socio-political problems and events. The project aims to present a broad spectrum of the Hungarian art scene through the exhibitions Minimal Movements and Joy and Disaster as well as projections of films from the legendary Balazs Bela Studio.

The exhibition Minimal Movements is an attempt to illustrate minimal transpositions in space and to define movement, understood not only in its physical, but also social sense. What the artists presented (Miklos Erdely, Tibor Gayor, Dora Maurer, Vera Molnar) have in common is a rational approach to art, rooted in the artistic and theoretical activities of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. The title of the exhibition has been borrowed from the series of works by Dora Maurer Studies of Minimal Movements.

Joy and Disaster is the second part of the project. In their works, the artists (Emese Benczur, Tamas Kaszas, Szabolcs KissPal, Adam Kokesch, Timea Oravecz, SZAF, Little Warsaw) presented in this exhibition take on board the complexity of socio-political issues which preoccupy the young generation. The project demonstrates the multiplicity of artistic stances vis a vis contemporary challenges. This is also an artistic attempt to define the artists place in the commercial world, as well as his take on politics, economy or the consumerist society. What these stances share is the social context of art and the artists determination to stay in close contact with his surroundings.

The exhibition is accompanied by the showing of selected films from Balazs Bela Studio. The Balazs Bela Studio, which started as a discussion club in the 1950s, in time became a promoter of independent, experimental cinema, skilfully avoiding the attention of the authorities. A turning point in its history came with the intervention by Gabor Body, who invited the collaboration of film makers who were usually engaged in other forms of artistic activity. As a result, for a few decades, the Balazs Bela Studio boasted the position of the most significant experimental film centre in our part of Europe, a position shared with the Workshop of Film Form in Lodz As for the films of Miklos Erdely, Gabor Body, Dora Maurer and Andras Szirtes, which we will show at Bunkier Sztuki, all made in the 70s –these are now classics of their kind.

EMESE BENCZUR, GABOR BODY, MIKLOS ERDELY, TIBOR GAYOR, TAMAS KASZAS, SZABOLCS KISSPAL, ADAM KOKESCH, DORA MAURER, VERA MOLNAR, TIMEA ORAVECZ, SZAF, ANDRAS SZIRTES, LITTLE WARSAW

Organisers: Dominik Art Projects Foundation Bunkier Sztuki Contemporary Art Gallery

Context of Space
The Contemporary Hungarian Scene
Minimal Movements / Joy and Disaster
Kuratoren: Adam K. Dominik, Zsolt Petranyi

Künstler: Emese Benczur, Gabor Body, Miklos Erdely, Tibor Gayor, Tamas Kaszas, Szabolcs Kisspal, Adam Kokesch, Dora Maurer, Vera Molnar, Timea Oravecz, SZAF , Andras Szirtes, Little Warsaw