Subversives in Trafó | Over the Rainbow – A Show by András Böröcz / 12th Contemporary Arts Festival | Pop City Trash – Photographs by Hubertus von Hohenlohe | It was just a glitch | Made in Hungary 1880-2010 – 130 Years of Hungarian Design | Budapest Stream – A Goup Exhibition of Contemporary Painters

REVIEW:

Erika Baglyas: Subversives in Trafó

Having left the show named California, I sat down briefly on a bench in the park smelling of urine alongside Trafó and wondered why the building was so different from so many others. Not just because it had been built in an old-fashioned, exacting fashion but also because the events it hosted were for the most part progressive in nature.
One of the most exhilarating recent exhibitions is on in its basement, one that also speaks about the utopias of promise and hope. It looks as if curator and head of the institution, Áron Fenyvesi wanted to prove with California that there was a place for Hungarian critical art – even though the pundits thought otherwise.

Four rather neglected neo-conceptual artists, Sándor Bodó, János Fodor, Tibor Horváth, and Csaba Uglár have put together their broad media textures to say something best summed up by János Fodor’s video-installation named “Trying to Break Out”.
Tibor Horváth dares to touch the text of the controversial new constitution by having a professional fairy tale teller read out its entire text in enchanting tones. In another of his works, hitting sensitive nerves, he describes in childish writing on huge pages of a school copybook why he dislikes his Jewish, Gipsy, Gay and disabled acquaintances.
Texts prevail at the show. To be read from right to left right at the entrance, János Fodor’s lead letters read this philosophical truth both general and particular: More or less / less for more for less… He also pays tribute to Hungarian national sentiments by presenting a semi-transparent black block that translates English directly into ancient Hungarian written in a runic alphabet.
Csaba Uglár’s „Alien Stream of Consciousness” projects countless fractal numbers voiced over by a pseudo-meaningful flow of text read out impassively – apparently warning of an imminent takeover by artificial intelligence.

To the left, there is a simple and clean-cut row of letters indexed by numbers. It takes while for us to understand that what Sándor Bodó has done he has dissected the names of all the people who have been in space and re-arranged the letters of their names into a new alphabetic order indexed by numbers.
The social actions of civilians and artists have gained momentum lately. Not only does California deal with the cynical, pseudo-Romantic utopia of a beautiful future seen from a plain present, it also re-affirms fundamental human rights by voicing a marked critique of pseudo-science, pseudo-nationalism, and manipulation at large.
Trafó Gallery
13 May – 19 June

PREVIEWS:

Over the Rainbow – A Show by András Böröcz / 12th Contemporary Arts Festival
28 May – 25 September
Showroom of Székesfehérvár’s King Saint Stephen Museum
Graduating first as a painter, András Böröcz is noted for his witty, skilful sculptures. He has made sculptures from bread, eggs, corks, but even better-known are his figurines carved out of pencils. He has lived in New York City since 1986. Some of the inspiration for his present show comes from his own family traditions. He has chosen a Torah pointer (Yad) as his staple theme for his latest wood carvings, a utensil used while reading the Torah instead of actually touching its pages.

Pop City Trash – Photographs by Hubertus von Hohenlohe
28 May – 31 July
Hungarian National Museum
Born as prince in 1959, Hubertus von Hohenlohe has met and photographed such celebrities as Lollobrigida, Audrey Hepburn, Andy Warhol and many others. His present show merges two of his previous shows devoted to seedy city neighbourhoods, i.e. „Urban Jungles”, and the theme of garbage named „Elegantly wasted”.

It was just a glitch
2011. 5. 27. – 2011. 6. 17.
Chinese Characters Contemporary Art Space
Glitch art creates works of art by spoiling/deforming traditional pictures, videos, or music, breaking away from them and raising new meanings. Along with Hungarian artists, foreign exponents of glitch art have also submitted their pictures, videos, and installations.

Made in Hungary 1880-2010 – 130 Years of Hungarian Design
26 May – 22 June
FUGA – Budapest Centre of Architecture
Outstanding products of Hungarian industry are presented on 80 illustrated posters compiled by professor of design Gyula Ernyey. Included are such well-known pieces as Rubik’s cube or the tea-set manufactured by the Zsolnay Factory in the 1880s for the Rothschilds.

 
Budapest Stream – A Goup Exhibition of Contemporary Painters
26 May – 30 June
Judit Virág’s Gallery and Auction House
Under-40 painters have both applied and been invited to this show surveying trends in contemporary Hungarian narrative and figurative painting. The show wishes to express diversity above anything else. Paintings here also reflect the effects made on a traditional art form by recent photography, videos, installations, and performance art.