Wanted Artworks 1967–2017

What has changed in the position of young artists during the 50 years since 1967? Who are more inspirational: close friends or Great Artists? How does one build networks? What does leaving Hungary mean? Among other issues, the exhibition Wanted Artworks is seeking answers to these questions through the early works of Gábor Altorjay.

Altorjay’s works created prior to his 1967 defection to West-Germany are in the centre of the exhibition: mainly drafts of happenings and samizdats, poems and personal letters. These pieces are excellent proofs of the consequent critical artistic attitude beyond the well-known Lunch happening, which was already significant in the early years of creation. The exhibited manuscripts and documents illustrate the classical question of the original and the copy, the contrast between the commercial and the market value in a peculiar way.

The context of the displayed works is not the traditional east-west dichotomy, but the artist’s social network and its conscious development. According to Altorjay, besides the individual’s will, this is the most important factor in the creative process: an affiliated network of friends that gives inspiration, knowledge and security even against the prevailing authority.

An exhibition about politics, utopianism, friendships and individual determination.