Out of the Museum and into the Street Hungarian contemporary art after 2010

15% power 29% public space 56% resistance

When the Iron Curtain fell in Hungary in 1989, the potential of revolutionary upheaval of which Hungary had in the past had ample – think 1848, 1956 – also seemed exhausted. Until, that is, Viktor Orbán and his national-conservative Fidesz party came to power in 2010, since when they have been pushing through ruthless reforms to rebuild the state, constitution and society in a manner which brooks no dissenting opinion, let alone criticism or contradiction. Meanwhile, the new rulers’ attacks have also reached the institutions of visual art, for example Budapest’s arts centre / Műcsarnok and the Ludwig Museum. The artists’ resistance has formed above all in the Szabad Művészek / Free Artists initiative. The exhibition curated by Adele Eisenstein for the Pavelhaus is now showcasing the latest works from this setting, contrasting them with oppositional works from the days of the communist regime.

Exhibition openings

Curatorial dialogues