SRIAT! - Social Responsibility in Art Today

“SRIAT: SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ART TODAY!”

A PROJECT INITIATED AND REALIZED BY IGOR METROPOL ASSOCIATION 24. OCTOBER – 17. NOVEMBER, 2012, AT VARIOUS VENUES IN BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

PROGRAM OVERVIEW & PARTICIPANTS: “AN APPEAL FOR AN ALTERNATIVE” - DISCUSSION

24. October, 6.30 PM, at the Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art (Library) PARTICIPANTS: Miklós Erhardt (Vienna/Budapest), Lilla Khoór (Budapest), Thomas Kilpper (Berlin), János Sugár (Budapest), Moderated by: Szilvia Nagy (Budapest)

“SRIAT” - WORKSHOP AND PRESENTATIONS

24. October – 5. November, at temporary project space (Bartók Béla út 29, Budapest), Workshop leader: Thomas Kilpper PRESENTATIONS: 25. October: Inside Out - Miklós Erhardt presenting his project about homelessness 29. October: FreeDoc - Gabriella Csoszó presenting her photo project about demonstrations

“AT WANG’S” - EXHIBITION

5. November – 17. November, at Bartók Béla út 29, Budapest Exhibition opening: 5. November, 7 PM ARTISTS: Thomas Kilpper | Mike Ainsworth | Laura Arena | Gábor Erlich | Judit Kis | Esztella Levkó | Bence György Pálinkás | Davor Paponja | PR Group (Csilla Hódi and Virág Bogyó) | Aubrey Ramage Lay | József Sós | Dia Zékány

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TABLE OF CONTENTS: Program Overview & Participants

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About the project

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“An Appeal for an Alternative”: The Discussion

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Short Bios of the Participants

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A Collective Process: The Workshop

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At Wang’s: The Exhibition

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Imprint

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ABOUT THE PROJECT The project “SRIAT: Social Responsibility in Art Today” created a platform in order to reflect on the different roles of artists within society, the assumption of a certain social responsibility of artists, and the potential of transferring criticism into artistic practise. Due to the current political situation in Hungary, the engagement with this topic seemed more urgent and relevant than ever before to the organizers. By inviting and gathering international artists, the project enabled the exchange of different perspectives, and also encouraged young people to deal with the role of the artist in society and their impact on socio-political processes.

The discourse took place in three different formats: a public roundtable discussion with artists and curators, a workshop and an exhibition as resulting event. The centre point of the project has been the practice-oriented workshop held by the Berlin-based artist Thomas Kilpper.

We invited him because of his background as a knowingly critical, socially and politically engaged artist, who had several times taken the opportunity to confront a wide public with his critical work, for example on the 54th Venice Bienniale. Kilpper’s experience in process-based, collective work with heterogeneous groups as well as his interest in the Budapest scene encouraged the organizers to realize a workshop with young artists, who are still studying in Budapest.

Based on an open call, artists, students and scholars had the opportunity to apply for participation in the workshop. A jury consisting of representatives from all partner organisations selected 12 applicants from Hungary and abroad, who then formed the workshop group. The workshop was held for two weeks, having scheduled meetings on a daily basis. The beginning was marked by intense discussion, and group decisions on how to proceed with the workshop, which methods to apply, and which specific questions and topics to deal with. In the following documentation, more detailed descriptions of the different stages of the project can be found.

The whole project had a strong collaborative focus, which was applied not only to the workshop and its participants themselves, but to the whole implementation of the project. Initiated by Igor Metropol, the project was organized in partnership with the Intermedia, the Art Theory and Curatorial Studies Departments of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest, as well as the Ludwig Museum for Contemporary Art in Budapest. The input of volunteers and supporters of the project was a great confirmation of the necessity of the project.

Igor Metropol would like to thank once more all participants, volunteers, partners, supporters and visitors for their input and commitment!

KATJA MELZER & NÓRA LUKÁCS

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“AN APPEAL FOR AN ALTERNATIVE”: THE DISCUSSION As a starting point of the project, Igor Metropol invited artists Miklós Erhardt, Thomas Kilpper, Lilla Khoor and János Sugár to a public roundtable discussion, moderated by curator and cultural anthropologist Szilvia Nagy, hosted by the Ludwig Museum Budapest.

The title “An Appeal for an Alternative” was inspired by Beuys’ idea that art should assume an active role in fostering societal change.

Although his view reflects the institutional critique symptomatical for the 1970s, its basic assumptions resurface from time to time within the current art discourse; most recently exemplified by a critical stance on contemporary politics, society and economics.

All participating speakers have a history of engaged art, and each of them have been working with different approaches. The main point of the discussion was the possibility of transforming criticism into artistic practice, and how this figures in their respective, individual works.

The means of the Beuysian “social sculpture” were put in a contemporary context. Furthermore the different roles of artists, and the assumption of their responsibility for the community have been highlighted, in consideration of the local and European circumstances.

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SHORT BIOS OF THE PARTICIPANTS MIKLÓS ERHARDT

THOMAS KILPPER

* 1966, lives and works in Budapest and Vienna Since his graduation from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in the late 1990s, his work – interventions in public space, photo, video, mixed media installations – has been evolving around the overlaps of the social/political/artistic fields. Between 1998 and 2006 he was working in the Big Hope project group with Scottish artist Dominic Hislop and from 2003 also with German artist Elske Rosenfeld.

Big Hope did a series of participation-based social documentary projects and was widely exhibiting in Europe and beyond. Their first project Inside Out – snapshots by Budapest Homeless was included in the exhibition After the Wall – Art and Culture in Post-Communist Europe in Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1999), while the last one, Commonopoly, was presented in Hamburger Bahnhof (2004) and in the Iasi Biennial, Romania (2005). Erhardt’s work was included in exhibitions in Apex Art New York, Galerija Skc Belgrade, Le Fresnoy in Lille, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, at Manifesta 7 and Wiener Secession. From 1998 until 2000 he worked in the Budapest-based Balázs Béla film studio as a curator and producer. He has translated books by Noam Chomsky, Guy Debord and Jacques Rancière into Hungarian; lectured art theory in the Umea Konsthogskolan in Sweden and since 2008 has been associate professor at the Moholy Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest where his programs primarily focus on the relation between engaged art and design.

*1956 lives and works in Berlin Kilpper is known for his critical artistic approach. In his works, he strongly questions the current models of societies, and the development of socio-political systems. Kilpper’s works are often participative and site-specific, using not only found materials and media (e.g. the floor as printing plate), but also involving the historical means and context of a location.

Selected solo exhibitions and projects include: Pavilion for Revolutionary Free Speech within the exhibition: Speech Matters - Danish Pavilion, Giardini, 54th Biennale di Venezia, 2011 / State of Control - former GDR State Security (‘Stasi-’) HQs, Berlin and Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Berlin, 2009 / “A Lighthouse for Lampedusa!”

(2008 - 2011) - Dispari & Dispari, Reggio Emilia, Italy.

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LILLA KHOÓR

JÁNOS SUGÁR

* 1978 lives and works in Budapest Employing varied media, including video, sound, photography and found materials, Lilla Khoór creates site-specific installations, often exploring Hungarian national identity within the wider European context, specifically investigating the status of female identity within these geographies. With a strong research base and a critical approach, Khoór examines how people deal with the mythologies and narratives of history, creating works that both use and alter scientific methodologies. The artist’s recent solo shows include: 3rd Drawings and Sketches Meeting, Labor Gallery, Budapest, Hungary (2011); Instant, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miskolc, Hungary (2011); Election Observers 1990-2010, Óbudai Társaskör Gallery, Budapest, Hungary (2010); Flowers of Our Lives, Centre of Contemporary Art, Torun, Poland (2008); As Bring Collective!, Vienna, Austria (20018); !Revolution?, Kunsthalle, Budapest, Hungary (2007)

* 1958 lives and works in Budapest János Sugár studied at the Department of Sculpture of the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. During his studies, between 1980 and 1986 he was actively involved in the exhibitions and performances of Indigo, an interdisciplinary art group led by Miklós Erdély.

Sugár has participated in national and international exhibitions since the mid 1980s. In 1992 he exhibited at the documenta IX, Kassel, in 1996 Manifesta I, Rotterdam. He completed an Artslink residency at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1994, and in 1997/98 a four-month, and in 1999 a three-month fellowship at Experimental Intermedia in New York. His films were screened in 1998 at the Anthology Film Archives in New York.

SZILVIA NAGY * 1979 lives and works in Budapest Szilvia Nagy is a curator and cultural anthropologist. After graduating from Cultural and Visual Anthropology (2003), she studied Anthropology and the Visual Image (Birkback University, London) and Photography (London College of Communication). She co-funded the Miskolc Institute of Contemporary Art (M.ICA) in 2008 where she curated exhibitions, workshops, public art projects and public programs until 2012. Szilvia Nagy started her studies at ELTE University, Faculty of Humanities, Doctoral Program in Film, Media and Contemporary Culture in 2010. Her PhD research focuses on the socio-cultural function in the art space, and progressive/inclusive museums.

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A COLLECTIVE PROCESS: THE WORKSHOP Based on an open call, 12 participants from Hungary and abroad were selected to collaborate with Thomas Kilpper in a think-tank format. SRIAT’s aim was to provide a time frame and a free space for experimentation around an array of relevant issues. Responding to the question what are considered as the most problematic social issues, the group of young artists came up with topics similar to the ones which are regularly discussed in the Hungarian media: freedom of speech, domestic violence, nationalism vs. identity, centralized power contra democracy in the cultural field, homeless people’s rights in cities, etc. The aim was to research and develop different strategies of artistic involvement of these commonly selected issues as a group, in a form of a democratic and collaborative artistic process, which is based on an open discourse.

The workshop started with a field study in Budapest on 23rd October, the National Holiday of commemorating the Revolution of 1956. On this day traditionally several demonstrations by diverse political and civil groups take place in public spaces throughout the city area. The theoretical discussions of the group have been supplemented by presentations by Hungarian artists Miklós Erhardt and Gabriella Csoszó, who both shared their approach to social-politically engaged art by introducing a relevant project of theirs. Furthermore a group of volunteers conducted and presented researches on different topics, supporting the artists in deepening their knowledge about everyday politics, which have been dealt with and discussed.

The workshop and the resulting exhibition took place at “Wang’s”, a location that served as a Chinese restaurant until recently in the newly emerging cultural street of Bartók Béla út. The project room’s particular aesthetic was based on temporal aspects of the place as the signs of the previous use were significant.

The facade and the shop window went through several changes during the workshop, through this mirroring a constant relation to the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Notably Gábor Erlich and Mike Ainsworth were creating comments on and wordplays of the commercial design in public advertising by changing the given structure to “kínai gyros büfé” (Chinese Gyros Buffet) or using slogans as “végkiállítás” (Endexhibition).

Step-by-step the interior of the space has been transformed into a labyrinth or also referred to as a shelter through collaborative approaches, using the interior design and the wooden wall cladding of the formal restaurant. The labyrinth was filled with ironic objects, books, expired canned food and in other context previously used artworks and posters gathered by the participants during their time together, but served also as an intimate site for personal conversations, while on a transparent projection screen we can see the sound- and video installations, intervention documentations and the performances on a display. The place has been continuously transformed during the workshop.

Therefore this environment should be understood as a true project room, as the trace of a two-week long process.

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In addition to addressing specific local features of the project space, the participants explored various politically or culturally charged sites of Budapest. The protests of October 23 served the workshop group as a field study for investigating large-scale social procedures within the Hungarian capital, while their actions targeting a number of recently erected figurative public statues can be read as artistic micro-interventions into the city’s visual fabric.

According to the (non-academic) observations of participants from abroad, Budapest hosts remarkably a lot of old-fashioned, slightly kitschy figurative bronze statue erected recently: like the “Little Prince” on the Danube Promenade, the “Gendarme” in front of the Basilica or the life-sized Roosevelt-statue on Szabadság tér.

Following the initiative of Thomas Kilpper the nightly interventions defamiliarizing known elements of our environment became the main common activity of the group. By using ephemeral materials such as transparent stretch-wrap or cardboard, these temporary interventions called ‘one minute sculptures’ or ‘guerilla-sculptures’ are addressing actual social and political issues like the banning of bin-diving or censorship in the media.

by the American artist Laura Arena, translated and re-interpreted a poem of his own grandfather, and performed it on the same spot, where the grandfather had been arrested for doing the same during the revolution of 1956. Referring to the special setting of the exhibition Judit Kis started examining the culture of Chinese gastronomy in Hungary, with the help of her friend SongTao Wang.

Inspired by the strong symbolism of the pigeon or the dove in most cultures, the artists decided to purchase some of these birds that were sold at the local Chinese market as food, and following an old Buddhist custom, released the birds. This journey is documented in their video work. In her video Dia Zékány also deals with a newly erected, symbolic public sculpture of Budapest: In form of a prayer, she asks the turul-bird, a symbol of nationalist Hungary, for advice.

During the workshop, the participants have been constantly painting on the restaurant’s walls, turning the surfaces into a visual documentation of the discussion in the form of open diary constantly updated by the participants. These murals were mostly little comics commenting on current political events.

The collaborative work served as a kind of visual diary for the group’s brainstorming sessions. During the opening night though, the artists whitewashed unnecessary comments in a performative action. Besides the collaborative approaches, also personal statements or artworks done by temporary artist-duos emerged during the workshop, mostly resulting in sound- and video installations, performances or mural paintings such as the ones by Aubrey Ramage Lay and Davor Paponja. The actress Esztella Levkó invented and recorded a performance in cooperation with the intermedia artist Bence Pálinkás, which dealt with the common stereotypes of national identity. József Sós, supported

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AT WANG’S: THE EXHIBITION

The public exhibition displayed the results of the workshop including the works of young artists and students realized in collaboration with Thomas Kilpper. The project space itself represented the process of the past two weeks and hosted several artworks and sketches that have emerged during this time.

Displays with video works were hidden in corners of the “bunker”, while documentations of the interventions in public space were integrated into a kinetic installation occupying the central space.

Made out of discarded cassette and videotapes, the display system itself incorporated the DIY-strategies of political and civil activism. On the opening night the participants introduced a video work, created by collecting random video-strips and gluing them together for a new moving image. Using this magnetic media instead of celluloid tape, the content of these strips stayed invisible, generating connotations of observation and blind censorship.

Motivated by the project’s setting in an old Chinese restaurant, the participants wanted to engage with the idea of Chinese cuisine in Budapest. On the opening night of the exhibition, connected to the video of Judit Kis, its protagonist SongTao Wang cooked a traditional Chinese soup for the visitors. This soup would normally be cooked with dove flesh. In resonance with a belief in the political nature of food, and also the formative powers of eating together, the soup-without-doves is the meeting of cultures.

In addition to the soup, there was food served prepared from ingredients found on the street, collected on the initiative of the PR Group, an artistic cooperation of Csilla Hódi and Virág Bogyó.

As a result of their research into the area’s dumpster-diving possibilities the two of them have been campaigning for a freegan lifestyle and against the recent governments’ ban on dumpster diving for a while now. The visitors were enabled to enjoy their meals and drinks from recycled plastic waste.

During the opening night some of the artists, dressed in protective clothing and the stretch-wrap used on the public sculptures during the interventions, started to whiten their own sketches on the walls of the exhibition space. The gesture of covering the murals and creating a white cube exhibition space can be understood as an act of self-criticism or self-censorship: motives of pure activism have been deleted.

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Project team / Realization

Igor Metropol is a non-profit organization located in Budapest, founded in 2011 by people from different creative sectors. Its aim is to foster the visibility of contemporary culture from Hungary abroad and to strengthen international relations. Working project based the members’ interests range from contemporary pop/electronic music to visual arts and pop-cultural phenomena in general.

Contact: info@igormetropol.org | www.igormetropol.org Partners and support: Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest ifa – Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art Budapest NKA - National Cultural Fund of Hungary

Text and Photo Credits: Máté Bartha | Dia Zékány | Igor Metropol

Design: Dezső Gyarmati

2013

Nóra Lukács (Igor Metropol, Project Manager) Katja Melzer (Igor Metropol, Project Manager) Szilvia Nagy (Project Assistance) Júlia Laki (Translations, Proofreading) Ágnes Czirják-Patakfalvi (Volunteer) Anna Foitl (Volunteer) Olga Sára Kelenhegyi (Volunteer) Viola Lukács (Volunteer) Fanni Tihanyi (Volunteer) Zoltán Kékesi (Department for Art Theory and Curatorial Studies, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest) Szabolcs KissPál (Intermedia Department, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest) Allan Siegel (Intermedia Department, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest) Workshop participants Thomas Kilpper (Workshop leader) Mike Ainsworth Laura Arena Gábor Erlich Judit Kis Esztella Levkó Bence György Pálinkás Davor Paponja PR Group (Csilla Hódi and Virág Bogyó) Aubrey Ramage Lay József Sós Dia Zékány