TÓT, Endre
artist
(5 November, 1937, Sümeg)
1965: Mural major at the Fine Arts College of Budapest. During the beginning of his career, in the 1960’s, he produced paintings in the style of L’arte-informel, or Tachisme, relatively unknown at the time in Hungary. He later went on to prepare works in the pop– and minimal-art style. He participated in industrial-planning exhibitions during the period ranging from 1968 to 1969. Around 1970, 1971 he abandoned painting, and devoted, in effect, the rest of his career, to the unraveling of the ideas of Nothing/Zero, Rains and Gladness. From the 1970 onwards new mediums arose in his works such as telegrams, postcards, newspaper advertisements, polo, Xerox, type, film, posters graffiti, illuminated signs, actions, art books, and so on. His first conceptual work on European and American avant-garde, written to A. B. Olivia, was published in 1970. As soon as 1971, he introduced himself at the Biennial in Paris with his new conceptual works, shortly after which he became a regular participant at international exhibitions. It was around this time that he began exchanging letters with the artists of the international avant-garde scene. According to J.M. Poison’s catalogue entitled Mail Art Communication – A Distance-Concept (1971) he joined in the history of mail art in it’s very “opening days”. Among his mail partners were artists such as B. Vautier, Gilbert & George, D. Roth, J. Armleder who broke through with neo-geo, G. Brecht, D. Spoerri, Cosey Fanny Tutti, and K. Friedman and his dog. Many critics consider his works published by the DuMont publishing house of Cologne, in the book entitled Aktuelle Kunst in Ost Europa, as the first Eastern-European concept works of art. The Howeg publishing house of Switzerland published the stamp-sheets entitled Zero-Post, which are considered the first art stamps in the history of mail art. In 1976 Tót, at the invitation of J. Armleder, visited the Ecart Gallery in Genf, which was at the time operating as a mail art center. He was one of the first artists to be present in Europe with his art books including: Meg nem festett képeim /My unpainted paintings/; The States of Zeros; Semmi sem semmi / Nothing ain't Nothing; 1972: Nothing; Incomplete Informations, I. A. C., Oldenburg; 1974: Zero-Texts (1971-72); Night Visit to the National Gallery; Zero-Post, Rainproof Ideas (1971-74); 1979: TÓTalJOYS; 1981: Very Special Drawings; 1990: Evergreen Book. Many of his books have since then been exhibited in a number of galleries throughout Europe, among others at the Georges Pompidou Centre (Livres d' Artistes). The Bibliotheca of Paris purchased all of his books in 1998. In 1978 the DAAD filmed and published in writing his street action entitled TOTalJOYS. He cooperated in a number of projects with B. Vautier, who is an important artist to this very day since he was exhibited in the Hors Lieux Galary in Strastbourg thanks to Vautier’s invitation. His street actions have also become classics of the genre, for instance in 2000 the Whitechapel Art Gallery of London invited him to reconstruct two of his street demos, which were reported on in numerous papers such as The Times, The Independent, and the Financial Times. The humor and irony encountered in his action and mail-art works is what connects him to the style of the Flux. He was the sole Eastern-European participant in the traveling exhibition entitled Flux in Germany from 1962 to 1992, organized by R. Block. As a conclusion of his painting period (at the beginning of the 1970’s) he prepared works, which served as the antecedents to his return to painting in the 1980’s and 1990’s and the aesthetics of absence (i.e.: Meg nem festett képeim /My unpainted paintings/, A világ legcsodálatosabb képei /The most wonderful paintings in the world/, Múzeumlátogatás /Museum visit/, Éjszakai látogatás a National Galleryben /Night visit to the National Gallery/) which constituted the mentality of this period, found in pictures such as Blackout, Katagolizált /Categorized/, Távollévő képek /Absent paintings/. In his works, produced at the time, he formulated the ideals of the 1970’s. In his works of absence, he not only reflected upon the dispersed spectacle and the crisis of painting, but also upon the institution of the museum itself. Lehman Ulrike and Weibel Peter selected a number of his absent paintings to be included in their book entitled The aesthetics of absence (1994). One of his absent paintings has been on exhibition in the Ludwig Museum of Cologne since June of 2000. Tót, within the framework of the aesthetics of disappearance, attempted to depict the emptiness and absences he encountered. The titles of the two retrospective exhibitions (Semmi sem semmi /Nothing ain’t nothing/, Műcsarnok 1995, Ki fél a semmitől /Who’s afraid of nothing?/ Ludwig Museum, Cologne) both referred to his artistic program of depicting absence /nothingness (by means of new mediums). Another dominant program of Tót, alongside that of absence and nonexistence, was embodied by a number of works based on self-representation and self-reference (Örülök ha… /I am delighted if…/, Önarcképek /Self-Portraits/). Within the scope of his newest, erotic works, he continues to examine the same philosophical problems: the depiction of the absences and the nonexistent. His different ideals on the world-wide-web have inaugurated him as a forerunner of web-design, digital mediums and hypertext.
One-Man Shows:
1966 • Builders’ Technical Club, Budapest
1968 • Ferenczy Museum, Szentendre (HU)
1972 • Fluxus West, San Diego (wandering exhibition in California)
1974 • Galerie Ecart, Geneva
1975 • Israel Museum, Jerusalem • Retrospect Exhibition, Galerie St. Petri, Lund (SVE) • G. Akkumulatory, Poznań
1976 • Galerie Inge Baecker, Bochum • G. "A", Amsterdam
Galerie Ecart, Geneva
1977 • Galerie Bama, Paris
1978 • Galerie "A", Amsterdam • G. Suburgata, Reykjavik, Iceland
1979 • Galerie René Block, Berlin • Galerie "A", Amsterdam • G. St. Petri, Lund (SVE) • Art Something, Amsterdam
1980 • Galerie Magers, Bonn • G. Orez Mobiel, The Hague
1981 • Artothek, Cologne
1987 • Ausstellungstraum Edition Hundertmark, Cologne
1989 • Municipal Picture Gallery, Budapest (cat.) • Galerie Alfred Kern, Cologne
1991 • Galerie Ucher, Cologne • Kölnischer Kunstverien [with M. Kippenberger], Cologne
1992 • Galerie Berndt, Cologne
1993 • Galerie Wassermann, Munich • Gallery of Szombathely, Szombathely (HU) • Artpool, Budapest
1994 • Galerie Paszti-Bott, Cologne
1995 • nothing ain’t nothing (retrospektive, cat.), Műcsarnok, Budapest • Stamp Art Gallery, San Francisco
1997 • Galerie Hundertmark, Cologne • Fabrik Café, Cologne
1998 • Verlag IL/ASA - European, Cologne
1999 • Who's Afraid of Nothing? Abwesende Bilder/Absent Pictures, Museum Ludwig, Cologne • Who’s Afraid of Nothing?, Museum of Contemporary Art /Ludwig Museum, Budapest • Long Live Love, Szinyei Salon, Budapest
2000 • Es lebe die Liebe, Schöder und Dörr Galerie, Cologne.
Selected Group Exhibitions:
1965-1970 • Ferenczy Museum, Szentendre (HU)
1968 • Iparterv I., IPARTERV, Budapest • Studio '58-68, Műcsarnok, Budapest
1969 • Iparterv II., IPARTERV, Budapest • Art of Szentendre. Hungarian Art of the Twentieth Century. Csók Gallery, Székesfehérvár (HU)
1971 • 6 Künstler aus Ungarn, Galerie Grichenbeisel, Vienna • VII. B. de Paris (Envois Section), Parc Floral de Paris
1972 • Aktuelle Kunst in Ost-Europa, Studio DuMont, Cologne • Galerie Krauthammer, Zuerich • Galerie Katakomba, Basel • Trans Art 3 Communication, Inhibodress Gallery, Sydney (AUS) • FLUXshoe, British Tour
1973 • An International Cyclopedia of Plans and Occurrences, Anderson Gallery, Richmond (USA)
1974 • Artist's Stamps - Stamps Images, The Simon Fraser Gallery, Burnaby (CA) • Recycling 1975, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem • Vargen Exhibition, Moderne M., Stockholm
1976 • The Artist and the Photograph, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem • Artist's Books, I.C.E., London (and British Tour) • Timbres et Tampons d'Artistes, Cabinet des Estampes, Geneva
1978 • L'Estampe Aujourd'hui 73-78, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris • Mona Lisa im 20. Jahrhundert, Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg • Artist's Books, Centolibri d'artista cento, Palazzo Strozzi, Florenze
1979 • FBK, Messehalle, DAAD-Stand [D. Iannone-nal és B. Vautier-vel] • Lisbon International Show, G. de Belém, Lisbon • Testuale, Le parole e le immagini Rotonda de via Besana, Milan • Books by Artits, National Gallery of Canada
1982 • Artists' Space, New York
1984 • Internationales Künstlergremium-Ausstellung, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel • Expanded Mail-Art / Expanding Mail-Art, Wiener Secession, Vienna
1985 • Livres d'Artistes, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris • Meisterwerke der Ungarischen Moderne, Schloß Plakenwarth, Graz
1990 • Vincent zuliebe- van Gogh zu Ehren, Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel • Art Creating Society, The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
1991 • The Sixties. New Tendencies in Hungarian Art, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
1992 • Art of the Twentieth Century (1970-90), Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest • Bücher über Bücher, Neues Museum Weseburg, Bremen • Amerikanische & Europäische Pop Art, Galerie Inge Baecker, Cologne
1993 • Mit dem Kopf durch die Wand, Statens M. for Kunst, Copenhagen • Variations on Pop Art – Chapters from the Hungarian Fine Art, Ernst Museum, Budapest • Mit dem Kopf durch die Wand, Kunsthalle Nurenberg • Recent Acquisitions, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
1994 • Thinking - About Art, Galerie Berndt, Cologne • Fluxbritannica • Aspects of the Fluxus Movement, 1962-1973, Tate Gallery, London • Zwischen ZeitRaum II. Tendenzen mitteleuropäischer Kunst in der 60 bis 80er Jahren, Galerie Schüppenhauer, Cologne
1995 • Fluxus in Deutschland, 1962-1992 (wandering exhibition)
1999 • Die Zeit in der Zeitgenössischen Kunst, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel.
Actions:
1972: I'm glad if I can stamp in Warsaw too, G. Foksal, Warsaw
1973: After 1/2 a minute I shall say something, G. Adres, Łódż
I'm glad if I can type zeros. FLUXshoe, Blackburn Museum, Blackburn (GB)
I'm glad if I can stamp. FLUXshoe, Blackburn Museum, Blackburn
FLUX-chess [David Mayor-ral], Blackburn
1974: TÓTal questions by TÓT [international mail art action with G. Brecht, D. Higgins, P. Restany, W. Vostell etc.], Budapest
1975: I'm glad if I can xerox, Expanded Media Festival, Student Cultural Centre, Beograd
1976: I'm glad if I can stamp (stamping on Cosey Fanni Tutti’s bottom), Hackney, London
1977: I'm glad if I can say sentences, one after the other (Close Radio, 20. October, 22:00 pm ), California (USA)
1978: Some Nullified Questions for You (International mail art action), Budapest and Galerie "A", Amsterdam
I'm glad if I can ask you questions (International mail art action), Mamelle Art Center, San Francisco and Studio 16/a, Torino
1979: I'm glad if I can type zeros [Ben Vautier: Event in a Hotel room], Hotel Steiner, West-Berlin
I'm glad if I can say sentences, one after the other, Hotel Steiner, West-Berlin
I'm glad if I can ask you questions, International mail art action, Galerie René Block, West-Berlin
Ich freue mich, wenn ich auf Plakaten werben kann, FBK (DAAD stand), West-Berlin and Bonn
TÓTalJOYS, street action, West-Berlin
On est heureux quand on manifeste, Camps Elysées, Paris
We are glad if we can demonstrate, demonstration, Amsterdam
Ich freue mich, wenn ich auf der Mediawand werben kann, West-Berlin, Kurfürstendamm
1981: Zero-demo, street action, Viersen
1982: Zero-Demo, WPA Building, Washington
1987: Zero-Fassade, East-European Cultural and Postgraduating Centre, Cologne
2000: We are glad if we demonstrate, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London.1
Films:
1972: One Step
1973: I'm glad if
1975: I'm glad if I can take one step
1976: TÓTalJOYS
1979: TÓTalJOYS
1979: I'm glad if I can say one sentence after the other.
Written Spaces and Wall-Drawings:
1978: DAAD Galerie, West-Berlin
1979: Galerie René Block, West-Berlin
1982: Artists' Space, New York
1984: Museum Fridericianum, Kassel
1986: Ausstellungsraum Edition Hundertmark, Cologne.
Bibliography:
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