Exhibitors: László Békési, Petra Inez Combarro, Lili Cseh, Balázs Csepregi, Koppány Ágost Erős, Norbert Kotormán, Gergő Kovách, Tamás Melkovics, Barna Péli, Ádám Szabó
The BAGUDA association was founded in 2021 as a collaboration between ten sculptors. They borrowed their names from a barely known, remote Indian settlement, which is a real place geographically, but in their case the borrowing of names takes on a metaphorical meaning: the place, barely marked on the map, seems to reflect their own creative position – which reveals jointly sought, but individually autonomous positions from the present of contemporary Hungarian sculpture.
BAGUDA’s exhibitions are not created along predefined curatorial concepts. The artists come to each exhibition with new works – works that reflect on current issues, material experiments and formal ideas. Collaborative thinking and ongoing consultation is an important part of the preparation for their exhibitions: the sculptors share documentation of the works in the planning phase, just as installation is a collective process. The emphasis is not on aesthetic unity but on polyphony.
The members of BAGUDA are not united by any stylistic tendency, but rather by a deep and critical relationship with classical sculpture. In their works, plastic form, historical quotation, material presence are not imitated but reinterpreted as references.Relief and the body raised into space, emptiness and mass, weight and translucency, all function as a specific vehicle of meaning.
BAGUDA is one of those exceptional formations of contemporary Hungarian sculpture that builds on both communal collaboration and autonomous creative presence.The approach of its members is defined by a duality of experimentation and commitment to tradition; in their work, these aspirations are interwoven into a multifaceted, mutually reinforcing network of formal and conceptual reflections.In their work, plastic form, historical quotation and material presence are not imitated but reinterpreted as reference.
The dramaturgy of this exhibition is based on two distinct entities. A monumental round table in the outer hall of the gallery becomes a space for collective reflection: each artist has placed an object on it, so that the delicate balance of communal and individual positions is physically enlivened. In the interior exhibition space, wall sculptures and medium-sized sculptures are placed. The arrangement of the works also reflects the performative dimensions of sculpture: the movement between objects, the proximity of materials and the relationship of the body to the sculptures itself creates a narrative.
Mónika Zsikla