SUMMARY 2004/5-6
Readers can first read an interview titled ‘‘From Vieksniai to South-East Asia’’, with Normantas Paulius photo artist born in Lithuania but permanently living in Nyíregyháza. In the interview Paulius gives a vivid description of the Soviet Union in the sixties and seventies, of the Lithuanian photographing arts, and he flashes a couple of typical pictures of South-East Asia. ‘‘For long I’d like to live in Darjeeling close to Sándor Csome Kőrösi’s grave’’ – he says. ‘‘But I could also imagine to be a hermit in a monastery in North Thailand, besides I could go on photographing, or do research work, or start a journal or learn languages. I don’t want to live too long amid harmful destructive energies like those you are surrounded by in Vilnius, Paris or Budapest; in Europe I am totally tired and exhausted by night.’’Someone who wants to write about László 2 Hegedűs, is not in an easy position, Gábor Pfisztner maintains in his article ‘‘Absurd illustrated history…’’. ‘‘Who is László 2 Hegedűs? He is illustrator, painter, film maker and photographer at the same time. H2L. He is a new molecule in close link with himself, which preserves all characteristics typical to him (consistent), a separate part in the universe, becoming an organic part of nature, of the whole of universe, of the Whole. And as good and reliable molecules are, it is able to give signals, to leave impressions, traces behind.’’Gábor Pfisztner presents Gergely Szatmári assistant professor of the Visual Communication Faculty at the Hungarian University of Applied Arts in two ways: In an interview ‘‘The responsibility of making decision’’, he asks Szatmári about the university training of photographers. In another article ‘‘In the grip of struggles’’ he analyses Szatmári’s diploma thesis. Since it is a visual artistic form, the task what Szatmári undertakes, is a contradiction, Pfisztner points out, namely ‘‘to visualize something not perceptible, visually not conceivable, not sensible. He wants to visualize struggles of the spirit embedded in a much wider system of relationship between the culture in question and the tradition.’’Szilvia Tóth’s pictures are on show at the Nikon Gallery. ‘‘Maybe, she is the closest to the unconscious searching gesture of surrealism, and yet she visualizes the unconscious, dream-close state on her pictures with extreme consciousness. The act of reading private dreams worth for analysing links her works closely to the grotesque. And at this stage we have come full circle. In the daydreaming societies grotesque raises one of the gravest problems i.e. clinging to a kind of reality while admitting it to have many aspects’’, Gábor Pfisztner concludes in his short essay ‘‘Yesterday, today and for ever…’’.It is not the first time that Fotóművészet reports on István Soltész all-round photographer who likes experimenting. In the interview by Sándor Bacskai he is talking about one of his abilities not so widely known, namely his hobby of designing hand-made wooden cameras: ‘‘Someone’s pictures won’t be good just because he makes them using his hand-made device; nevertheless it hints at a mentality different of the usual. I enjoy all ways of photographing, I would not like to let any of its elements or actions go out of my hands.’’Zsófia Somogyi reports on the series ‘‘The New Painting’’ by Elina Brotheus Finnish photographer. ‘‘There is an unusual identity between the two kinds of work: both the boundless landscapes lacking narrative elements, even visually less and less interpretable, and the interior spaces reduced to a few important lines radiate the same basic feeling: the freedom from objects from identifiable ‘earthly’ elements, the existence without ties and bounds.’’In ‘‘Changing Budapest’’ Zsuzsa Demeter presents the photo archive of BUVÁTI (Budapest City Planning Bureau). Photographers working for the photo laboratory of the company that used to exist from 1950ies to 1992, assisted the architects with documentary street photos and architectural photos. More than forty thousand photos were made over that period, and the archive is preserved in the Kiscelli Museum. A research work dealing with the oeuvre of László Moholy-Nagy will be made in co-operation between the Hungarian Photographic Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts of New-Mexico according to the conception of photo museo-logists Magdolna Kolta and Steven A Yates. The results of their work will be made public at a retrospective exhibition, in a book and on a bilingual interactive website in 2006. In ‘‘Bácsborsod–Chicago’’, Zsuzsanna Kemenesi reports on some stages of the work. The photo-technological section of our journal starts with Endre Schwanner’s comprehensive study ‘‘From Leica I to Nikon F6’’. The technology of photographing has made a long way over the160 years of photography. By now, in 2004, it can be taken for certain that electronic digital photography would sooner or later take the place of silver-halides. At the beginning of this new era in the history of photographing technology our correspondent surveys the main milestones of that period starting with Leica. The prominent specialist makes the Reader acquainted with his personal experiences and opinion of the devices he has seen and worked with during his photographer career.In the latest issue of Fotóművészet József Rák demonstrated the main development trends of digital photographing. This time, in ‘‘DigiTrend 2’’ he scrutinizes digital lenses with his usual thoroughness and profound expertise.Zoltán Fejér reports on photokina 2004 as part of his series ‘‘Roaming Europe’’. Increasingly more emphasis has been given to the digital photo at the exhibition in Cologne, as well. ‘‘At the Agfa press conference one journalist question inquired about the future of photographic material for use explicitly by professionals. The laconic response was since there has been a drastic drop in the use of materials used not by amateurs, decision on the production of certain types of material would be made later, depending on the market demand. Indeed, tradition can still be a decisive factor in purchase for awhile, the question is how long?’’ Title of the article is ‘‘Disappearing rainbow’’.‘‘A significant photo historical collection has got out of the store-boxes and plastic bags, from cabinets, out of the apartment's walls’’ – Ferenc Markovics welcomes a selection of parts of the ‘‘Bajtai-collection’’ exhibited in the Mai Manó Ház. The owner of the collection, Lajos Bajtai, 70, sums up the essence of the work/hobby of many years, in an article: ‘‘Once I gave the title: Should we collect or we should not? to one of my articles. By now, I am closer to the right and definite answer than ever before, but I still have got doubts. Making my collection public, and its favourable reception have put my most of my doubts to rest. Therefore, I can more and more resolutely profess – Let's collect.’’In ‘‘Bookshelf’’ Péter Timár reviews six books and photo-albums: Andy Warhol: Red Books, Mitra Tabrizian: Beyond the Limits, Robbert Flick: Trajectories, Arthur Elgort: Camera Crazy, Gareth McConnell: Photoworks Monograph and Nigel Shafran: Edited Photographs 1992–2004.
