The performances by András Böröcz and László Révész in the 1980s were among the legendary events of that era. The artist duo, who originally trained as painters — which is why their contemporaries referred to the events as “the painters’ theater” — developed a language full of irony, humor, and playfulness that uniquely blended performance with theater and painting. In addition to photographic and video documentation of the performances, the small-scale exhibition demonstrates how the motifs appearing in the shows continued in Böröcz and Révész’s individual works in painting, sculpture, and experimental film.
The exhibition presents Böröcz and Révész’s performances through surviving documents and related artworks: on display are pages from the artists’ portfolios created between 1977 and 1987, enriched with collage elements and accompanied by documentary photographs by György Makky, as well as a selection of the artists’ works on paper and sculptures in which the motifs of the performances appear and recur. The exhibition also features a site-specific installation by András Böröcz that reflects on the sets of the performances, as well as footage of the actions, much of which has never been seen before.
Painters András Böröcz (1956) and László László Révész (1957–2021) met during the admissions process at the College of Fine Arts; they were also members of the INDIGO group, led by Miklós Erdély, which encouraged experimentation. Largely in parallel with their INDIGO years, between 1977 and 1990 they created their joint performances, in which the atmosphere of the scenes — which loosely followed one another in content — was shaped by music, visual art tools, and media diversity — painted sets and costumes, projected footage, and live-recorded film interludes — created the atmosphere of scenes that loosely followed one another in content.