Contemporary art and politics at the Ludwig Museum in Budapest
Budapest is the ideal place to reflect on the role of art and politics, and the Ludwig Museum, in its permanent collection exhibition, showcases the intersection of contemporary art and politics.
The exhibition reflects on the social and political utopias, mines cultural memory and explores the limits of creativity in public spaces, and above all, the complex role that the artist plays in society.
These reflections are especially fraught with complex questions in the former eastern bloc, as any history of art will be wrapped up with questions of censorship, propaganda and authorship. The different conceptual bases for art due to the repressive political climate mean that certain “apolitical” forms, such as abstract art, took on a political cast during the Cold War. In this case, abstraction became a negation of the systematic ideals of Eastern Europe and a form of rebellious expression.
The exhibition rescues many works which had been obscured by political pressures to shed new light on them for visitors. This wonderful show collects work from about fifty artists both from Hungary and various corners of the Eastern and Western European world.
Among the new acquisitions at the Ludwig, you will find work by Kaszás Tamás and István Csákány.
International artists featured include we can find the radical ideas of the Czech audiovisual artist Faroki Harun, or a work of the Barcelona artist Antoni Muntadas, entitled “Media Monuments Budapest” or omnipresent irony in the work the Croatian artist Mladen Stilonovic.
The Ludwig Museum specializes in contemporary art after the collectors Irene and Peter Ludwig, who made a donation of 70 works. It is the only museum of its kind in Hungary and is located in the magnificent Palace of Arts t on the Danube. Its design and size are optimal for a lovely and educational trip through contemporary Eastern European art.
The show located on the third floor of the building and will remain open until February 27th of next year and can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm.
Walk around Budapest and attend this exhibition that traverses the metamorphosis of culture and memory to better understand the city, its history and especially major changes in the last 30 years.
Nancy Guzman
Relax in a thermal bath, see art, think deep thoughts and enjoy your time at apartments in Budapest
Translated by: salome antigone
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Gustav Klimt exhibit in Budapest
The era of the Viennese Secession, led by the legendary Gustav Klimt, is undoubtedly one of the most exciting and inspiring periods in the history of Austrian art. Although it was a very short period, its rich artistic legacy influences younger generations of artists to this day. You could say it began on April 3, 1897 with the official formation of the association of Austrian artists and ended officially in June of 1905 when the group disbanded, marking the end of this avant-garde movement.
As you can see in the reductive reinterpretation above, Klimt continues to have a profound influece on artists and designers today. The art of the Viennese Secession, known for its very sensual and aesthetic opulence, was like all other avant-garde movements, one which sought to usurp and dismantle the artistic paradigms which existed at the time, and inaugurate a new era in art. Its ideology was total art, which embraced not only art, but also architecture and design.
Salient features of the Secession, in particular in the work of Klimt, included a degree of abstraction and lack of depth in painting, inspired by the art of mosaics of Byzantine art, as well as a marked eroticism. These elements did not find him favor with critics of the time.
The exhibition “Nuda Veritas. Gustav Klimt and the early years of the Viennese Secession 1985 – 1905 ” organized by the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, collects 200 works of art by the famous artist, including drawings and graphics printed from the Albertina in Vienna and other works from private collections.
More information: http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/aktualitasok
Heloise Battista
Inaugurated on September 22nd, the show is focused on the radicalism of the Viennese Secession and its complexities. You can visit this fantastic exhibition until January 9th, 2011, if you rent apartments in Budapest .
Translated by: salome antigone
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Martin Munkacsi exhibit in Budapest
Munkácsi Martin was a pioneer of photojournalism, who paved the way for one of the most important visual cultures of our time. His biography reads like a Hollywood story, of the American dream come true. Born in Hungary in 1896, he was a huge success in Germany and the United States in the 30´s and 40´s, becoming the highest-paid photographer of his time.
He started as a sports event photographer, then worked with the legendary Lazlo Moholy-Nagy for such renowned German magazines as Uhu, Koralle and Die Dame. But like many artists, intellectuals and geniuses of his time, he fled to the U.S. when the Nazi party took power in Germany in the 30s, and was sponsored by Harpers Bazaar magazine in New York.
Here his work began to revolutionize the field of fashion photography. He emphasized composition and editing of images. Mythical figures of cinema and public life such as Katherine Hepburn, Leslie Howard, Fred Astaire and the iconic Marlene Dietrich posed in front of his lens. However, with the rapid transformation of the medium after the 40s and a major shift in aesthetic patterns, magazines gradually began to lose interest in his work, until finally the star photographer fell into oblivion.
The exhibition “Martin Munkácsi: Think while you shoot” which opened on October 7th at the Ludwig Museum in Budapest, after passing through Hamburg, Berlin, New York, San Francisco and Moscow, rescues the groundbreaking work of the photographer from obscurity, to commemorate the great achievements that he contributed to photojournalism.
Heloise Battista
Rent apartments in Budapest , and get into the glamorous world of Munkácsi until January 9, 2011.
Translated by: salome antigone
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