Vasarely Go Home

10. March 2012. – 29. April
MegnyitóOpening: March 9, 2012, 7:30 pm
MegnyitjaRemarks by: Sasvári Edit
The video and the installation investigate two closely related events, which took place in Budapest on October 18th, 1969. Opening that day, Victor Vasarely, internationally renowned artist of Hungarian origin, had a large retrospective exhibition at the Mucsarnok/Kunsthalle, which was one of the first and biggest official appearances of abstract art in Hungary.

Hungarian avant-garde art (comprising abstract art) of that time was at best tolerated by the official Cultural Policy, which on the other hand tried to re-establish active contacts with established artists of Hungarian origin living abroad. So the Vasarely exhibition was met with a good deal of expectation and criticism alike from the local artistic scene.

The second event took place also during the exhibition opening at Mücsarnok as János Major – one of the most interesting (and most mysterious) members of the new Hungarian avant-garde – held a one-person protest . He had a small sign in his pocket reading: “Vasarely Go Home”, which he showed only to friends when no one else was watching.

Fogarasi’s video consists of a href=”http://vasarelygohome.museoreinasofia.es/eng/watch_videos.html” target=”blank”>interviews with artists and other participants of the cultural scene active at that time in Budapest, who talk about the cultural and the political context of the exhibition and the action.