SUMMARY– 2024/2

Tünde Balogh: Photographers in Szarvas
Tünde Balogh's article provides insight into a lesser-known aspect of Hungarian photographic history - the photographic life in small Hungarian towns. The article analyses the material of the János Tessedik Museum in Szarvas. It is important because it gives us an understanding of how photography developed in Hungarian towns like Szarvas, how photography services emerged, what services were offered, and when photography became a significant part of the visual culture of the town.

Edit Barta: Parallel stories - Dezső Szabó: Landscape
Barta edit's article is in connection with the publication of Dezső Szabó's new book Landscape. The merit of the article is that it goes beyond the presentation of the material in Landscape. Edit Barta examines the material of the book in the context of of Szabó's entire body of work, revealing many interesting, intriguing and logical connections.

Gábor Ébli: Ica’s pics
Since the 1990s, the Institute for Contemporary Art – Dunaújváros (ICA-D) has been an active, laboratory-like proto-museum of discursive new media art from, and beyond, Hungary. Exhibited severally, its collection features iconic photo-based works of the era.

Gábor Ébli: Photo wallpaper - Post-war selection from the collection of Queenie Rosita Law
Entitled Present eye looking to the past, the second exhibition from Q Contemporary founder Queenie Rosita Law’s private collection showcases works by East European artists reflecting on the Cold War and its current aftermath with a photo composition each on the two floors of the magnificent building highlighting new directions.

Zsuzsa Farkas: A Master in the Obscurity of Oblivion - The visiting cards of János Tiedge
Zsuzsa Farkas' article sheds light on the work of a single photographer. János Tiedge was one of the photographers who worked in downtown 19th-century Budapest. His career offers insight not only into life in Budapest at that time but also into life in the Monarchy.

Balázs Gáspár: From a summer in Balaton to feminist criticism, or the journey of a photograph from Ferenc Haár to Barbara Kruger
Balázs Gáspár's writing was inspired by a photo that happened to pop up. His article is an account of an iconographic investigation, with a picture of Barbara Kruger at one end and a work by Ferenc Haár at the other. The article is also thought-provoking in that it highlights very clearly the meaning-making power of context.

Zita N. Kovács: Zsolt Szabó Isparomar - I exist
Zsolt Szabó's Isparomar series was presented at the Türr István Museum in Baja in spring. Zita N. Kovács provides insight into the works, the circumstances of the series' creation, and Zsolt Szabó's world through her analysis.

Gábor Pfisztner: Abstractum - Can a photograph be abstract, and if so, how?
The Budapest Photofestival 2024 has chosen a collection of photographs to be displayed in an exhibition at the Kiscelli Museum. The selection criterion focused on the abstract nature of the works. In his essay, Gábor Pfisztner discusses how the concept of "abstract" can be interpreted in the context of photography based on what he observed at the PRO FORMA exhibition.

Mihály Surányi : Two section
In this text, Mihály Surányi writes about two exhibitions. The first one was selected from the collection of the Hungarian Museum of Photography, and the second was organized on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Fotófalu.

Olivér Tóth: "I believe that photography can make people think" - Interview with Zoltán Molnár
Zoltán Molnár is a distinctive figure in Hungarian contemporary photography. His series "65 mm" was presented at the FUGA during the Budapest Photo Festival. Olivér Tóth interviewed Zoltán Molnár on the occasion of the festival, providing an insight into the most important stages of his life's work, of which the "65 mm" series is only one part.

Ági Vedres: Road to the high mountain - The mysterious beauty of unknown pain - Exclusive interview with Eldad Rafael
Ági Vedres interviewed Israeli photographer Eldad Rafaeli on the occasion of his exhibition at the Portuguese Photography Centre in Porto.