On 1 May 2017 an exhibition entitled “With the Eyes of Others: Hungarian Artists of the Sixties and Seventies” opened in the Elizabeth Dee Gallery in New York. At the official opening of the exhibition, which was realised with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Hungarian Cultural Center in New York, Hungary was represented by Minister of State for Cultural and Science Diplomacy István Íjgyártó.
This is the first time that an exhibition encompassing Hungary’s Neo-Avant-Garde period has been held in New York, featuring over 100 works by 30 artists. The exhibition, with occupies both floors of the Elizabeth Dee Gallery, paints a comprehensive picture of the era, which grasps the unique texture of non-official art. Hungarian artists had no regular access to the institutions, publications or contacts of the western world’s art capitals, and accordingly its status of living on the semi-periphery bestowed upon Hungarian Neo-Avant-garde art a unique look, language and attitude. The exhibition includes works by, amongst others, László Lakner, Gyula Gulyás, Ilona Keserü, Bálint Szombathy, Tamás Hencze and László Beke.
The exhibition also includes works from the Budapest ArtPool archive, in addition to which Columbia University is devoting a seminar to Hungarian artistic life in the sixties and seventies; an essay by the exhibition’s curator András Szántó and interviews with eye witnesses by Hungarian art historians Emese Kürti, Dávid Fehér és Nóra Winkler are all included in a richly illustrated publication.
Curator András Szántó lives and works in New York, and his writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and the Artforum and Museum Practice magazines. Mr. Szántó is the former director of Columbia University’s National Arts Journalism Programme, is a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, a former critic for the Washington DC Center for Arts and Culture and a researcher for Princeton University’s Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies. He has been supervising the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Global Museum Leaders Colloquium” since 2014.
The exhibition was realised with funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Hungarian Cultural Center in New York, and in collaboration with Gábor Padis and Orsolya Hegedűs (ACB Gallery), Margit Valkó (Kisterem Gallery), Attila Pocze (Vintage Gallery) and Katherine Kostyal (White Cube, London). The exhibition may be viewed at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery until 12 August.