SUMMARY– 2021/2

János Áfra
Vulnerable Bodies, Liberated Objects - Talking with photographer Tamás Varga

Tamás Varga is primarily known to the public, interested in photography, as the reinventor and apostle of the collodion technique in Hungary. However, János Áfra's interview also reveals how the almost 30-year-old man's love of photography began and how his experimental spirit has led him to explore other ways. Tamás Varga takes pictures, both documentary, colour or even moving images. As an example of his dedication to image making, here is a sentence about his relationship to collodion photographs: "The light is imprinted directly to the photosensitive emulsion poured onto your plate, drawing the picture and finally the raw material is the identical with the result."

Balázs Gáspár
"Those Who Raised Their City from the Ruins are Also Building a Dream" - The Only Budapest City Album of the Rákosi Era

Corvina Publishing House published a Budapest album in spring 1956 entitled Budapest, The Hungarian Capital in Pictures, edited by János Reismann. Although it was obviously produced for propaganda purposes, the book itself is also interesting because the individual imagery of the photographers, commissioned by the publisher, reflects how the city felt after the war and before the events of 1956. Balázs Gáspár's article introduces the reader to the circumstances of the book's creation, analysing the editorial work of János Reismann and, just as importantly, the contemporary reflections on the book.

Kata Benedek
Co-llaps & the Rupture Rapture. Interview with Hajnal Szolga

Born in Pécs, based in Berlin. Hajnal Szolga continues her fictive narratives into post-human scenarios. In her interview, Szolga gives a conceptual introduction to her approach to the post-apocalyptic and post-Anthropocene photographic storytelling of the World in the age of catastrophes. Struggles with the matter. Stories without protagonists. Futures without perspective

Edit Barta:
Is Photography a Cure?

The Capa Center's Cure exhibition coincided with the COVID pandemic. But this fact and the series of the artists invited by the curator (Judit Gellér) show that this question was in the air even without COVID. Edit Barta analyses the series of each invited artist in detail in the study. The introduction also places photography in a much broader intellectual context as a possible therapeutic/self-therapeutic tool. In the editor's opinion, this was one of the most exciting exhibitions in recent years, thanks to its curator's clear questioning and the artistic focus.

Kata Benedek
An Interview with Hajnal Szolga

Photographer Hajnal Szolga is based in Berlin. Kata Benedek's interview reveals how environmentalism, general alienation and a constant sense of collapse are linked in the works of the artist, who came from Pécs. The conversation also reveals how Hajnal Szolga reinterprets the concept of narration and what she considers as narrative artworks.

Andrea Bordács
Time Has Stopped and Now it Will Stay That Way - The World According to Ildi Hermann

Inda Gallery organized an exhibition of Ildi Hermann's works this spring. The exhibition was curated by Zsófia Somogyi and Gabriella Csizek. The curators selected works that had never been shown in public before by Ildi Hermann. Andrea Bordács's article focuses on the connections between the series and she aims to show what makes her works indisputably individual through these connections.

Andrea Bordács
Women's Friends, Women's Friendships - Photo Series by Ági Vedres

Ági Vedres' series, Les Amis Des Femmes [Women's [Male] Friends], is not concerned with women's male friends, but with the objects (objet [masculin]) and gestures (geste [masculin]), characterizing female figures in everyday life. In addition to interpretation of friendship, regardless of gender, Andrea Bordács's article also looks at what might have led Ági Vedres to take examples from a period far from our time of how a particular veil or headgear characterises the women who wear it.

Gábor Ébli
Light time – Photo based works in the Irokéz Collection

Owner of acb Gallery, Budapest, former businessman Gábor Pados has been active in the field of contemporary art for over three decades now. Initially acquiring works from artist friends in exchange for informal financial support, more recently he has been collecting art on a large scale, from the neo-avant-garde to current works, with photo-based positions all over. His Irokéz Collection has been exhibited severally, accompanied by three catalogues so far.

Zsuzsa Farkas
Hungarian Private Collectors - Talking with Zoltán György Fejér

Zoltán Fejér is primarily known to the majority of Hungarian readers as a historian of technology. Zsuzsa Farkas' interview gives us an insight into what kind of special works have appeared in his collection during his long career.

Zoltán György Fejér
The Portrait Pantheon of László Csigó

In this article, Zoltán Fejér gives an admittedly subjective portrait of the life and works of László Csigó. The article is made more complete by László Csigó's photographs of Hungarian intellectuals of the period, and shows the traditions of Hungarian portrait photography.

Csanádi-Bognár, Szilvia Csanádi
Images of the Self Overlaid on Each Other

Zopán Nagy's works were shown in several exhibitions recently. In this article, Szilvia Csanádi-Bognár explores the works in the context of the relationship between image and text. She explores five concepts: structuralism, temporality, self-representation, the frozen image and nostalgia. Szilvia Csanádi Bognár does not only analyse the works and unravels the messages of the layering of images, but also places Zopán Nagy's works in a broader context at the same time.

Zsófia Somogyi
Go Blue, Get into the Picture!

The exhibition entitled Go Blue, Get into the Picture!Go! curated by Gabriella Csizek was organised to support people with autism and featured works by contemporary artists. The curatorial concept itself was also different from the usual for such an exhibition, with images on the wall that primarily address the viewer with the need to decipher the message. Zsófi Somogyi's article discusses the works of the invited artists about how they have captured the concept of the unspeakable, and why we may feel, that we have to decipher their works.