Little Hungarian Pornography

Twenty five years ago a literary work was published that gave a remarkably subtle and enjoyable description of the decades of kadarism. The work of Péter Esterházy, A Little Hungarian Pornography portrayed the absurd-like mechanism, grieves and delights of the “existing-socialism” in a relative way for many of us. It was about the Regime which corrigibility a part of the Hungarian intellectuals have been thinking for decades already. About the Regime, that was scolded by all in circles of friends but was dared to dream of its end by a few that time. Five years after the publication of the novel, the Regime fell.

A new Regime came into existence. More precisely: we have experienced the last twenty years in Hungary as the period of establishment and consolidation of the new Regime. It is different than the old one basically, however its mechanisms sometimes seems the same absurd as it was at the previous case. Most of our former expectations were not proved.

The new Regime did not become more justice and people neither became happier. However, you can decide, we can decide of our fates and its boundaries are defined by the law and not by the absolutism of politics any longer. And we also have the liberty to think about it differently. The “different-thinking” became a constitutional right in Hungary.

The last twenty years, the period of establishing the new Hungarian democracy have been muddled and scandalously hard. What has happened in this country? What has happened in this Regime? Is there any possible answer that ignores the conjugate logic of ambivalence but still acceptable for many? Who knows? Perhaps yes. If we cannot trust in one true interpretation, probably there are valid and alterative responses. Not necessarily in political speeches, rather in works of art. The artworks in the exhibition reflect to certain determinant Regime-specific phenomena of the last twenty years.