Detail, Traveler’s cup 2

This diverse collection of artwork, often related to book arts or Budapest, come from artists all over the world. The Hungarian Multicultural Center’s “Library Thoughts 2” is up at MAGYAR ÍRÓSZÖVETSÉG at Bajza utca 18 in Budapest through September 28. Relating to foreigners’ interactions and reactions to a city that is new to me as well, I enjoyed seeing how others interpreted their experiences. The photograph above shows a statue of St. Stephen (Istvan) on Fisherman’s Bastion, which is on the Buda hills overlooking the Danube and Pest, in the background.

Joo Yean Woo, Traveler’s cup (1, 2, and 3)

Joo Yean Woo’s photographs are meant to examine how the act of collecting can be a more creative process, documenting and archiving experience in a more personal way. Perhaps a good thing for me to be thinking about during my time here.

Xu Yun, Homage to Franz Liszt

Detail, Homage to Franz Liszt

Two other works I liked, Xu Yun’s installation and Marlene Alt’s series of Baroque medallions, responded to Budapest’s Baroque heritage. Homage to Franz Liszt hangs from an ornate chandelier. The transparent sheets feature Liszt’s music as well as the decorative emblem of Hungary, what might be thought of as quintessentially Hungarian symbols, while Alt’s blank clay tiles in different colors have their gilt rubbed off much the way buildings here show their age. They deal with a long artistic heritage, as the title Portraits, Nudes, Heaven, Earth suggests, and refer to the opulent frames that usually hold traditional works of art.

Marlene Alt, Portraits, Nudes, Heaven, Earth