Category Archives: Hungarian art

ARC Poster Exhibition, Budapest

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ARC‘s exhibition of billboards at Ötvenhatosok square below the park asked artists to address the theme “…with good cheer and prosperity” from the line “God bless the Hungarians with good cheer and prosperity” from the national anthem.

Given the economy, it’s not surprising that many responses are not very happy (although I still have a lot I want to try to decipher through Google Translate). They do offer very interesting insight into the Hungarian mind and situation. The explanatory text also mentions how the free expression exemplified here would have been unimaginable 20 years ago.  (And if you, as an American like myself, might be tempted to dismiss this with an offhand ‘so what’, check out this article about current Czech politics and libel from The Economist.)

Message to God, Németh Adreinn, Farkas Júlia, Koncz Gabriella, Szabolc András, Sebestyén, Eszter

In memoriam TV Teddy, Peter Szabina

Dare to Dream, Megszűnt könyvtár

Mentality, Szabo Julcsi

Statue erection game, Kovács István Haykovats

Viktor Orbán Petting Zoo, Kovács Ambrus

Ki a magyar?

Welcome to the Hungary 8-bit version

 

New Online, and Physical, Location

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Changes. That is what is up, and I’m not just referring to the seasons. I moved Art Ravels over to WordPress, and hopefully you will find that the redirect from www.artsravel.blogspot.com is working. The new permanent address of the blog is www.linneawest.com/blog. I hope you’ll bookmark it, or add/update it in your reader of choice. There’s a link under Subscribe on the left that allows you to follow the blog via RSS, feed reader, or email.

View of Pest from the Buda Hills

I am writing this from Budapest, where I will be living for the upcoming year. As I mentioned earlier this summer, I have been awarded a grant to research contemporary Hungarian art. I am beyond excited and, as you can imagine, this means I’ll be writing more about art in Hungary and Europe and less about New York City. I also have started a personal blog about the experience here: www.ayearinbudapest.wordpress.com. I’d be thrilled to have you follow me there as well.

I’ve lived in New York since 2006 (except for one long hiatus) and have blogged here since 2008, so these are big changes, but definitely ones I feel good about. Thanks to all you who have read, commented, and followed me! It’s been a pleasure reading your blogs and following your thoughts and life changes as well. I hope you’ll stick with me during this next part.

Photographer Eva Besnyö at the Jeu de Paume

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There is a great article on Hyperallergic about the Eva Besnyö exhibition at the Jeu de Paume in Paris right now. Besnyö was a Hungarian photographer who worked from the 1930s onward and died in 2003. This exhibition is the first to bring together her work from her early years in Berlin, her later years in the Netherlands, and her continued trips back to Hungary.

Although she come of age with other famous Hungarian emigre artists such as Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, György Kepes, and Robert Capa, she has not gotten the same amount of recognition. Eva Besnyö (1910–2003): The Sensuous Image is up at the Jeu de Paume through September 23.