Imagined Communities, Personal Imaginat

Following the previous exhibitions of the Private Nationalism Project (Prague, Košice, Pécs, Cracow, Bratislava), two Budapest institutions will now host the project’s closing exhibition, entitled Imagined Communities, Personal Imaginations. The exhibition, which is based on Edit András’ comprehensive curatorial concept, will be on view at the Budapest Gallery and the Kiscell Museum – Municipal Gallery. It showcases works by 39 socially committed contemporary East-Central European artists who address questions of imaginations concerning the nation, phases in the formation of national identities and the issues raised by nationalism.

The title of the exhibition is borrowed from the influential book Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, by political scientist and historian Benedict Anderson. In his book (which has been published in Hungarian as well), Anderson defines nationalism and nationality as cultural products of an imagined political community, the individual members of which, despite the absence of face-to-face relationships, share strong attitudes and beliefs about their own people and other peoples. The exhibition aims to shed light on the subject and content of national imagination and assumes that nationalism in any form has a more visual nature than other political currents: nationalism presents itself in a plethora of vivid images, symbols and myths, to which dreams, fantasy and imagination also contribute.

In the first part of the exhibition, the works on view at the Budapest Gallery address the various phases in the formation of the nation concept and present numerous manifestations of national imaginations, while the works displayed in the church nave and oratory of the Kiscell Museum present alternative imaginations of the nation. The exhibiting artists participate in the contestation of the meanings of the ‘imagined communities’ as active and critical citizens. From within and from outside of the nation they create an imagined space on the margins of the dominant culture, offering (re)interpretative and critical possibilities and alternatives.

The Private Nationalism Project is an initiative of the Approach Art Association based in Pécs.

Exhibiting Artists:
Erika BAGLYAS (H) | BORSOS LŐRINC (H) | Daya CAHEN (NL) | Mária CHILF (H) | András CSÉFALVAY (SK) | Lajos CSONTÓ (H) | Marcell ESTERHÁZY (H) | Gábor GERHES (H) | GLUKLYA (Natalya PERSHINA-YAKIMANSKAYA) (RUS) | Tibor HORVÁTH (H) | Sanja IVEKOVIĆ (HR) | C.T. JASPER (PL) | Joanna MALINOWSKA (PL/USA) | József R. JUHÁSZ (SK/H) | Nikita KADAN (UA) | Matej KAMINSKÝ (SK) | Nemere KEREZSI (H) | LITTLE WARSAW (András GÁLIK, Bálint HAVAS) (H) | Szabolcs KISSPÁL (H) | Tomasz KULKA (PL) | Alban MUJA (KOS) | Ciprian MUREŞAN (RO) | Csaba NEMES (H) | Ilona NÉMETH (SK/H) | László NOSEK NAGYVÁRI (H/USA) | Mara OLÁH (H) | Adrian PACI (AL/I) | Dan PERJOVSCHI (RO) | Martin PIAČEK (SK) | Michal MORAVČÍK (SK) | Karol RADZISZEWSKI (PL) | Mykola RIDNYI (UA) | Martina SLOVÁKOVÁ (SK) | SOCIÉTÉ RÉALISTE (Ferenc GRÓF, Jean-Baptiste NAUDY) (H/FR) | Gökçe SÜVARI (TR) | József SZOLNOKI (H/D) | Bálint SZOMBATHY (H/SRB) | Mark THER (CZ) | Jaroslav VARGA (SK)