Kontakt Dunaújváros (2008)
Kontakt … works from the Art Collection of Erste Bank Group
6 May–13 June 2008
Institute of Contemporary Art, Dunaújváros
Curators: Dóra Hegyi, Walter Seidl, Franciska Zólyom
Following three years of research-related work on conceptual art movements in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe since the 1960s, the Kontakt Collection embarked on its third presentation at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Dunaújváros. This exhibition featured a selection of works centering on the question of how political art managed to generate visibility in public spaces strictly controlled by governmental structures that paid minimal respect to interventionist art practices. Controlling public space through state organs has always given rise to questions about regulations that need to be violated—not necessarily with violent force, but via the intellectual means inherent in artistic production. Thus, the quality of the exhibited artworks lies in their subtle and intricate formulation of a reality that has been in need of change on various social and political levels.
The display of the collection in Dunaújváros reflected the quandary of art that had been hidden from public representation and, at the same time, had tried to enter public space by way of performative gestures. This time, exhibition architects Six/Petritsch chose a twofold system of architectural intervention to reflect the history of the exhibition’s artworks. On the one hand, a system of grey, seemingly transparent curtains prevented the works on exhibit from being viewed from the outside; on the other hand, a variety of posters distributed both inside the café and outside the Institute of Contemporary Art testified to the need for public representation. The notion of the archive was addressed via the posters, which offered information on the artists and works as well as on the discussion process going on during the period of the exhibition. With this intervention, Six/Petritsch demonstrated the need of the works to come into contact with each other via the collection, but more importantly, they also triggered the audience’s contact with a public space that conveys the intrinsic value of art as an important tool of communication.
Vasmű út 12, 2400 Dunaújváros, Hungary
6 May–13 June 2008
Institute of Contemporary Art, Dunaújváros
Curators: Dóra Hegyi, Walter Seidl, Franciska Zólyom
Following three years of research-related work on conceptual art movements in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe since the 1960s, the Kontakt Collection embarked on its third presentation at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Dunaújváros. This exhibition featured a selection of works centering on the question of how political art managed to generate visibility in public spaces strictly controlled by governmental structures that paid minimal respect to interventionist art practices. Controlling public space through state organs has always given rise to questions about regulations that need to be violated—not necessarily with violent force, but via the intellectual means inherent in artistic production. Thus, the quality of the exhibited artworks lies in their subtle and intricate formulation of a reality that has been in need of change on various social and political levels.
The display of the collection in Dunaújváros reflected the quandary of art that had been hidden from public representation and, at the same time, had tried to enter public space by way of performative gestures. This time, exhibition architects Six/Petritsch chose a twofold system of architectural intervention to reflect the history of the exhibition’s artworks. On the one hand, a system of grey, seemingly transparent curtains prevented the works on exhibit from being viewed from the outside; on the other hand, a variety of posters distributed both inside the café and outside the Institute of Contemporary Art testified to the need for public representation. The notion of the archive was addressed via the posters, which offered information on the artists and works as well as on the discussion process going on during the period of the exhibition. With this intervention, Six/Petritsch demonstrated the need of the works to come into contact with each other via the collection, but more importantly, they also triggered the audience’s contact with a public space that conveys the intrinsic value of art as an important tool of communication.
Vasmű út 12, 2400 Dunaújváros, Hungary