Film Festival in Budapest
From the 13 to 21 of April the 19th Titanic International Film Festival in Budapest that is projected in four art cinemas in the city, including the Urania movie theater will be held. This event brings together filmmakers, national and international artists, producers, and film lovers to enjoy the latest creations and to participate in the competition.
The first Festival was held in 1994, but it took several years to transform into a competition and only in 2006 it was structured as such. So every year films are divided into categories and themes. The festival lasts 10 days and the prize awarded to the winning film is known as the Breaking Waves, which was designed by Luca Görömbe. In addition, they give € 10,000 to the winning film director.
While this festival is new to the circuit of this type of worldwide activities, it stands out to develop an interesting proposal that accommodates emerging and established filmmakers of all levels and all types of film, leaving the door to creativity open. This edition had to deal with financial problems, which have been exacerbated by the economic crisis in Europe, and therefore this year it will be more modest, but the same spirit as the previous festivals remains intact.
Despite its youth, the Titanic International Film Festival in Budapest has won wider international notority. The 2011 edition was won by the Swedish film Savage by Martin Jern and Emil Larsson and produced by Dansk AB Kalle
The festival starts with the premise of giving film the place it deserves in Hungarian society, because music, dance, theater and festivals have their own part of local culture, therefore also attracting public from across Europe. The essence of its foundation was to motivate society to go to the movie theaters and give it them an important place in their leisure activities, both in a cultural and fun context. Also, it generated a dynamic resurgence of local film production that motivated investment in film production.
This year 2012 the festival has called on Budapest society to attend and enjoy the best of international cinema, but especially to reunite themselves with Hungarian cinema. In its manifesto the festival organizers say that this show will focus on Hungarian cinema, without ceasing to be a showcase for international cinema. Their proposal is to revitalize creation and to bond local filmmakers with the local and international audience.
The basis for the 2012 contest states that films submitted to contest should not have been previously screened in Hungary, only expecting fiction films which are longer than 70 minutes
For more information:
http://www.titanicfilmfest.hu/2012/index_en.php
Nancy Guzman
Enjoy spring renting apartments in Budapest and attend this wonderful film festival productions to learn more about Hungarian and emerging international cinema.
Opus Magnum. The work of NATALIA LL
Until the 18th of March, the Ernst Museum in Budapest exhibits Opus Magnum by the Polish artist NATALIA LL. With this retrospective exhibition they pay tribute to the conceptual artist who for 40 years had worked in political feminist art, producing important works in the shape of paintings, drawings, performances, photographs, videos and installations.
NATALIA LL is one of the most famous Polish avant-garde artists. Her experimental art work together with the theory thrown onto various texts has brought her to be a pioneer in various art fields, even making works altering her own body.
Lach Lachowicz, the real name of NATALIA LL, was born in Zywiec, Poland, in 1937. She studied in the Fine Arts School of Wroclaw between 1957 and 1963. In the early 70s she was part of the art collective Permafo, together with artists such as Zbigniew Diuback, Antoni Dzieduszycki and Lachowicz Andrzej, with whom she created an avant-garde contemporary art gallery.
In the 70s, amid the rise of feminist political ideas, she joined the feminist international movement, quickly becoming an outstanding representative, making exhibitions on feminist art in Poland, introducing thought on the role of women in society and its representations through performances.
In the late 60s, influenced by the literature of the Marquis de Sade and Georges Bataille, she worked on the investigation of erotic photography and made three works based on it, Intimate Sphere, Velvet Terror and Intimate Photography. With these works she defied the dominant moral rigidness.
In the early 70s she questioned the role of image in society and developed a series of photographic works under the title Consumers Art. Through them she explored the meaning that consumer changes have and submerged herself in a series of post art on the photographic representations of the images that are impossible in photography. Many works came out of this investigation, among them Artificial Cycle.
In the late 70s she discovered the potential that video had, despite it being an expensive technique that was difficult to handle for a non-professional, and she made the works Register Time and Memories.
The 80s were difficult in Poland. The Trade Unions came up strongly in the country and they managed to stop production in most of the country, which meant the implementation of the martial law and, with it, the ethical revaluation in society. This brought NATALIA LL to move her investigation to philosophical and religious subjects. In this period she began a work process with her own body, deconstructing her figure in the work Fear of panic among others.
In the 90s, after the fall of socialism and the opening of the discussion of the origin of evil, she made interesting works such as Sphere of Panic and various other notable works.
For more information: http://www.mucsarnok.hu/new_site/index.php?lang=en&t=630&curmenu=201&kovetkezo_collapse=0
Nancy Guzman
Theres nothing like romance on the shores of the Danube. Rent apartments in Budapest and live the dream atmosphere that this cold-fractured city has.
Art Galleries in Budapest
Art is one of the major markets throughout Europe. With the global economic crisis and the various ways of resistance to problems such as racism, anti-immigration laws, feminism, etc, the production of contemporary art today is overwhelming. This is not new, plus getting profit from the current economical situation is possible if you have an artistic and conceptual radical nature. Thus, institutions, collections, artists and museums are rewarded.
On one hand the artists create projects and works that go hand in hand with the policies of the galleries and museums. Similarly, the galleries and museums receive recognition and cultural capital, and then the institution sponsors these artists, in their radicalism. The institution on the other hand, ensures payment to the artists, who ultimately complete the financial wheel, also being recognized officially by the institution. The museum or gallery purchase souls without a doubt. But this is information for artists. If youre seeking the best art in Budapest, don’t hesitate to visit the following places:
Műcsarnok Kunsthalle, one of the most important institutions of modern and contemporary art in Budapest. Open since late nineteenth century, this area has been the focus of art in Hungary and a key player in the formation of the canon of Hungarian art.
Polgár, opened back in 1987, this gallery also began to make considerable auctions since 1995. Polgár is centered above all in classical art, furniture, utensils made of different materials, porcelain, paintings and jewelry. For knowledgeable and lovers of the relics.
Acb, this gallery has existed since the 90s, and currently supports the work of new artists, especially from experimental trends and on various media such as video, photography and installation. The most recent young Hungarian art can be found here.
Kieselbach is another important impressionist art gallery, focusing on Hungarian art and other art oddities of Budapest. They also have pieces of abstract art, art deco, and art nouveau, among others. This gallery also works as auctioneer.
Art Mission, opened back in 1990, this gallery exhibits mainly contemporary art from renowned figures of art made in Hungary.
While these galleries are routed to the acquisition of important works of art, just as their spaces and exhibitions, which can give you a better perspective of the art made in Hungary and other countries. Budapest is a city full of attractions for scholars and art lovers as well as young artists. Probably, a city will be even better positioned in the market pendulum of the always modern and contemporary art in the coming years. Make sure to explore the libraries, squares, churches and monuments around the city center. More than a pleasant surprise awaits you in the Hungarian capital.
Alexa Ray
Get apartments in Budapest and visit its important museums and galleries. Budapest offers a diverse cultural and intellectual life, and if youre an art lover, you will have the opportunity to appreciate it to its full extension.
Marcell Nemes in Budapest
Until the 19th of February of 2012, the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts holds the exhibition El Greco to Rippl-Rónai, which gathers the collection of Marcell Jánoshalmi Nemes. With this exhibition they attempt to pay a tribute to the patronage of the Hungarian art collector who became a legend in the world of art in the beginning of the 20th century.
The exhibition was titled El Greco to Rippl-Rónai because it shows the broadness of the contained works in this important collection. For that theyve selected 120 objects, among which we can find works by great Italian and Dutch masters, works of Hungarian artists, china, medieval sculptures and other objects of decorative art from different times, catalogues and documents belonging to Nemes.
Marcell Jánoshalmi Nemes was born in Jánoshalma, Hungary, in 1866. His becoming of one of the most important patrons and collectors in Hungary and Europe was full of speculations. This meant that his figure become one of the most controversial ones of his time, which made him into a legend, because he opted to finance young Hungarian artists and artists from other nationalities, buying their works so they could carry on their perfectionist studies.
During his life he donated various works of his collection, such as the valuable work by El Greco Mary Magdalene in penitence and another by Ádám Mányoki, Ferenc Rákózi, which is considered a work of heritage in Hungary of huge value, a gem of Hungarian arts, to the Hungarian Museum of Fine Arts.
His generosity wasnt limited to his country. Numerous institutions such as the Munich Museum, the Berlin Museum, the Louvre Museum and the Prado Museum also received donations. Also, various Hungarian institutions, such as the Applied Arts Museum, received donations, and he contributed in a generous way to the foundation of the Kecskemét Photography Gallery, to whom he gave 80 works of his private collection on Hungarian painting in 1911.
Based on this singularity of Nemes, the exhibition is made up by works of his collection belonging to various national and international museums, as well as parts of his collection that are found today in the hands of private collectors. With this, they try to enhance the wealth of the collection and remember his visionary view on art and its preservation for future generations.
In the exhibition we can find works by important 19th and 20th century Hungarian artists, among them works by József Rippl-Rónai, Mihály Munkácsy, Pál Szinyei Merse, Károly Ferenczy, János Vaszary, Béla Ultz and Károly Kernstok among others.
József Rippl-Rónai was born in Kaposvár, Hungary, in 1861. Despite his pharmacy studies, he moved to the Art Academy in Munich to study painting and then moved to Paris to study the same subject with Munkácsy. Among his greatest painting theres My Grandmother and the portrait of the great Hungarian pianist Zdenka Ticharich.
For more information: http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/articleview?mi_layout_id=29.30&mi_article_id=964
Nancy Guzman
Its always pleasant to spend a few deserved relaxing days in Budapest, a city full of romance, art, history and a culinary offer of the highest quality. For these and thousands more reasons, rent apartments in Budapest now and enjoy the beginning of 2012 so you can start the year with positive energy.
Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Amadinda and Gabor Presser in Budapest
Next year will be better, or so they say. On 2012 there are thousands of sensational speculations that have been there for two or three years. Among many, that the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world for the beginning of 2012. Thats not happened nor will it happen. Maybe, something that the calendar was right about was in the change and the end of many ideas that weve had on reality and its structure, on the inconsistent way in which capitalism hasnt been able to control its networks and, from the United States to Europe and back, due to the bad handling of investments of many thousands of people, as well as political abuse against the working rights of many people, weve reached a global crisis.
The word crisis is today one of the most widely used in global language. This can be translated with some Google and seeing the results on social networks. Inadvertently, the social networks have unleashed a wave of text and information exacerbating the crisis from a problem which was essentially economical. And its not about dis-informing, of living in denial about whats happening or turning ones back on things, but more about understanding that the essence of the problem is in the language, and therefore we have to be alert towards other things such as music, art or travelling. There are ways of getting rid of the problems, which arent necessarily expensive and totally accessible.
The New Years Eve parties are usually a moment of excess around the world. We believe that, getting ridiculously drink and dancing, we will leave behind a year which hasnt gone according to plan with our wishes. But a party is a party and it can happen on any day. Maybe the best thing to do to celebrate and say goodbye to the year gone by is to pay attention to music and see what it says to us, which new options it offers us and think a bit about it. Being drunk and dancing is very easy, but listening to beautiful melodies is more important.
For that, the concert of Amadinda and Gábor Presser on the 31st of December is an option to unwind from the noise of the party and enter another musical dimension. Amadinda is a unique percussion band who began their career in Budapest in 1984, and since then present compositions of contemporary Hungarian music in different formats, from the most traditional to the most minimal. Gábor Presser is another experimental musician who remains classic. He makes electronic compositions of classical and modern pieces. This concert is a chance to get to understand that the frontiers of traditional and improvisation are very light and, on the contrary, can go hand in hand in such an important place like the Palace of Art in Budapest.
It will undoubtedly be a night of the best contemporary Hungarian music. Recommended for fans of international contemporary music and experimentation. For more information visit the following website: http://mupa.hu/en/
Alexa Ray
Get apartments in Budapest and enjoy this fabulous concert to send the year off.
Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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The Golden Age of American Rock Posters in Budapest
Until the 31st of December, the Kogart Gallery in Budapest exhibits From San Francisco to Woodstock – the Golden Age of American Posters 1965-1971. The Kogart Gallery remembers the music festival which marked an era and a way of resistance towards the society of consumption in the 20th century, through posters which shaped the psychedelic art trend, concentrating in the products of the area of the San Francisco Bay.
The posters mark, in a majestic way, a time of great social transformations which shaped art, music and politics, and generated a unique aesthetic in all the social fields. In those years, San Francisco, California, was an effervescent place full of activities which changed the everyday life of the city and its surroundings with the Beatnik and Hippy culture, as well as with more radical movements such as the Black Panthers who fought for civil rights and social change.
The graphic work which these exhibited posters show not only have the historical interest of remembering a time and the Woodstock Festival, but in them they have the signs of a new visual art current, which are linked to Central European traditions. The exhibition also contains other items of that time, such as original documents of the manuscripts which were made for these projects, sketches and the tools used for their making.
The Woodstock Festival, whose complete name was Woodstock. 3 days of Peace & Music, was the music and art rock festival which shined the light the most on the hippy movement and their ideals of pacific co-existence and rejecting the Vietnam War, where thousands of people died every day. This took place on a farm in Bethel, in Sullivan County, close to New York, on the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th of August 1969. The initial project was to carry it out in the town of Woodstock, Ulster County, New York, but the local conservative population opposed the idea of the festival taking place where men and women of dubious reputation would attend, who would sleep together and as a group. From there it got its initial name but, in the end, Sam Yasgur convinced his father Max Yagsur to facilitate the lands of his property.
The festival, full of passivity, only had three deaths, but none of them product of violence, and it gave birth to two children full of the spirit of love and peace.
On its great stage, they sung against the war and in favour of the revolution, they paid tribute to Latin America, the burned American flags in disgust due to their imperialist politics, and the most important rock icons of all time shone, such as Joe Cocker with his t-shirt which shaped fashion, Jimi Hendrix, who made the most impressive guitar solo ever playing the American anthem and imitating war sounds with his strumming, and Joan Baez with her songs of social protest, amongst over a hundred artists.
The documentary on Woodstock. 3 Days of Peace & Music, directed by Michael Wadleigh and edited and produced among others by Martin Scorsese, reached the cinema screens around the world in 1970, causing a real furore among the young population. For this documentary, the director obtained the Oscar for Best Documentary.
For more information: http://kogart.hu/kogart/en/index.jsp
Nancy Guzman
This exhibition is a great way to remember the golden age of the 60s, so rent apartments in Budapest and relive those times where the dream for world peace seemed to be within reach.
Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Wamp in Budapest
To talk about design in todays day and age is to be aware of what is really going on in the field of aesthetic exploration and production and marketing means. All of it is linked with one another: dont expect that the new t-shirt that youve bought in the kitschiest shop in your city has nothing to do with any new conceptual agenda or relation with the newest in political complaints or new ways of production which are environment-friendly. Many designers, today go for green trends, an option which as well as helping the planet with its immediate corrosion and destruction, works as an even more seductive factor for the product youre about to consume; and its more than obvious, dont let them fool you: behind any attempt of political correctness theres also a catch to get more money out of you so that others make more money.
The ease that design production is made with these days, thanks in the same way to quicker and more efficient means of production, makes that many young people can show their work and that theres a larger variety of new possibilities. Despite that quantity doesnt mean quality, whats true is that among more range of choice regarding fashion, accessories, objects, music or home decoration, there are better options of finding the right gift or fetish. In other words, as well as being a very good option so that thousands of creative people gather, Wamp is also one of the best places to find the most unusual and special Christmas gift, which will surely delight the person receiving the gift, because they will have a unique stylish item, and especially because it will be the latest in Budapests world of design.
And so, Wamp is more than a market, its a designers exhibition, a space of action, an emerging community of new talents in Budapest. Wamp presents itself once or twice a month during the year. This way, the best in design is available for citizens, tourists, curious people and everyone who is passing by or lives in the beautiful city of Budapest. This way, Wamp is the perfect meeting place for creative people from around the world, as well as the trend setters who search for the cutting edge in European fashion.
Wamp presents the best in graphic arts, photography, painting, sculpture, ceramics, home textiles, fashion, accessories, jewelry, furniture and gastronomy. Some of the names you have to remember when visiting Wamp are, MÍO Design, Gera Noémi, Muka Viktória, Kaintz Regina, Czeizler Zsolt, Földi Klára, Ligeti Miklós, BringaBag, Becker Judit, Csekő Etelka and MUSU among others. For more information on Wamp visit the following webpage: http://www.wamp.hu/
Alexa Ray
Get apartments in Budapest and be part of its vibrant cultural life as well as the unmissable Wamp Market, where youll definitely find what you were looking for in new fashion, design and accessories. Highly recommended for artists, designers, art critics and, of course, trend setters.
Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Franz Liszt in Budapest
Until the 31st of December, the Palace of Arts in Budapest exhibits “The Many Faces of Liszt” as part of celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Hungarian musician Franz Liszt. This exhibition makes a journey through his life and travels through photographs and an interactive map designed by the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest. For this, the National Archive has cooperated by providing photographs and archival materials for the exhibition.
Franz Liszt was born in Raiding, on October 22, 1811, while that territory was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He began studying piano with his father and continued in Vienna, where he was the disciple of the pianist, Karl Czerny and studied composition with the Italian Antonio Salieri. In 1823 he moved with his family to Paris, a place that allowed him to begin his career as a musician and concert pianist. Taking advantage of his stay in in Paris, he followed lessons in composition with Ferdinando Paër, famous in his time by composing operas in Italian. He also took classes with the theorist and composer Anton Reicha.
His virtuosity in music, especially on the piano, took him to be one of the most important concert performers of Europe during the nineteenth century. It was said that his mastery over the piano and the quality of his performances led him to create advanced sounds, drastically changing the classical music and its interpretation.
As a composer he became the most prominent of the New German School and composed varied piano rhapsodies and concerts. His compositions notoriously influenced the twentieth century music.
But Liszt wasn’t only a pianist, composer and director; he also devoted his time to teach more than four hundred students. As a composer, he created nearly 350 works, wrote and collaborated on eight volumes of text, not including his correspondence with musicians and artists of his time. He made nearly 200 paraphrases and transcriptions of other piano composers.
Liszt was one of the most innovative musicians of the nineteenth century, being demonstrated in the creation of complex nuanced chords that surprised critics of his time, because of his break with musical traditions. For this, he explored new musical paths with his technique of thematic variations. We can appreciate them in the Sonata in B minor, 1853, as the simple beginning notes that are being transformed to give the work a strength tone. This technique influenced dramatically in the work of Wagner and Strauss. His compositions for piano required a difficult technique, which gave the instrument a completely new sound.
All these qualities of his work, made Liszt to be one of the most famous musicians of his time and thats what this exhibition is, a full tribute held in Hungary to one of the most important men in music history.
For more information http://mupa.hu/en/program/the-many-faces-of-liszt-photo-exhibition-2011-10-08_10-00-elocsarnok
Nancy Guzman
Music is always a good stimulator to senses, so if you want to assist to the tribute to one of Hungarys most important musical artists of the nineteenth century, rent apartments in Budapest and come to the Palace of Arts.
Translated by: Hans
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Rita Ackermann in Budapest
The 18th of November, the Budapest Ludwig Museum opens the exhibition of works by the Hungarian artist Rita Ackermann. The exhibition is curated by Kata Oltai, who has organized it around her latest works which are juxtaposed with some of her early works, within the space given to the Museum of Hungarian artists who have so far been not very well-known.
Rita Ackermann was born in Budapest in 1968. She studied Fine Arts in Hungary. In the late 90s she moved to New York, where she lives and works today. She started her career as a painter and then evolved to complex visual arts, influenced by trends and discussions on art in the United States and her studies at the School of Art in New York. Her complex works reflect her own transformations and became one of the favorites of the underground of New York at the end of the twentieth century.
Her works, interestingly combine different art languages. Music, image and plastic, which adds a variety of languages and particular expressions, typical of the youth or certain social classes that give her a sense of wholeness and content on the world around New York, as a summary of all cultures.
Her series of drawings and collages with pieces of poetic texts reflect the search for answers from a youth that lost its generous dreams for humanity and is now plunged into drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex, almost like a collective suicide. She is not looking to respond to the existential anxiety with her work. Rather there are only questions, not interpretations or social criticism. Those tasks are left to the viewer, looking respond to and interpret the uncertainties about his/her generation.
Her perspective and story focuses on fertility and pornography. They are diametrically opposed to contrast the procreation and pleasure, in socioculturally terms they are decoupled. Ackermann tries to betray the location of a generation immersed in a society, which is constantly bombarded with messages about pleasure, but when people dare to do what the messages say, thy get punished by the law. This was reflected in her most interesting work Escorpionun, which juxtaposes images and texts.
This is the first stage of work, which opened the way to the stage where Ackermann examines art and the historical process contained and expressed through art, focusing on traditions and concepts of European painting, in contradiction to the U.S. . An interesting look that goes to the debate with the history of art.
Ackermanns work at the Ludwig is an interesting exhibition to appreciate, this symbolic imaginaries of the Hungarian artist, because all of them are her vision of two worlds, the origin and the arts and everyday life.
For more information http://ludwigmuseum.hu/site.php?inc=kiallitas&kiallitasId=764&menuId=44
Nancy Guzman
The Danube, wide avenues, culture, romance and coffee is what you need for this fall. Just rent apartments in Budapest and come to enjoy the best moments of your life.
Translated by: Hans
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József Szolnoki: Homeopathic Reality in Budapest
Until the 31st of November, the Ernst Museum in Budapest exhibits the interesting exhibition Homeopathic Reality by the Hungarian conceptual artist József Készman. The exhibition explores the transience and the changes, aspects which have marked the memory of Hungary due to the great changes which theyve experimented in the last twenty years.
The exhibition explores through this word which defines a type of medicine, the social and political acts of Hungarian society. Homeopathy is a term which comes from the greek word homolos, which means similar, and pátosz which means suffering or harm. Homeopathy is based on curing illnesses with something similar to what caused the illness, and it has a deep holistic meaning, curing body and soul. A thesis argued by allopathic medicine, especially because its principle is that the patient receives every time concentrates dissolved in water, which will make a bigger impact on the damage.
The work of József Készman is based on this logic and it looks to promote comprehension in a similar way as homeopathic truths. His work tries to confirm the cultural and relational impacts aided by an investigation on the audience, where he explores onirical movements which he then puts into images in his videoart.
József Szolnoki, known as Szokó, is an important Hungarian artist who works with multimedia. He currently lives in Cologne and is a member of the Hungarian art team Kaos Camping.
In his work, he refers us to his childhood expressing the relevant things from that time of his life, which completely defined him, his angst to explain how he became into a communicator first and and then into a party member in the very same week. Confusion and angst are what his questions on coexistence of ideological systems different to the souls and minds of the people express.
Szolnoki looks for the essence and mystery of identity in his work Homeopathic Identity, looking at the Hungarian society as a body which has amplified all the relations with harm derived from the cultural influences which he has lived through in this process of changes which took place in the 20th century, and which are finally the cause of the appearance of identities.
Therefore, just like in homeopathy, Szolnoki proposes that the cure to all pain is to inoculate all that produces harm dissolved in an infinitesimal way, to manage to recover the health and soul of society. This deep work on social pain and angst where memory plays an important role, takes the spectator to get to know the spirit of Hungary.
A great conceptual proposal brought to you by Szolnoki in this exhibition, where he constructs and deconstructs formal language to give meaning to his aesthetic proposal, which has many political art codes.
For more information: http://www.mucsarnok.hu/new_site/index.php?lang=en&t=590&curmenu=106
Nancy Guzman
Hungary and its magic always motivate us to go and visit it. So if you have time and want to enjoy a rest in the stressing final days of the year, remember that you can have a great time in apartments in Budapest with views to the Danube, in one of the most exciting cities in Europe.
Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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