Optimistic Exhibition: Miklós Erdély and the Hungarian University of Fine Arts (1946–2018)

Photo mosaic at a pub in Miskolc. The technique of photo mosaic was developed by Miklós Erdély.

Location: Barcsay Hall, 69 Andrássy út, Budapest 1062

Exhibited: 15 December 2018 – 25 January 2019

Vernissage: 6 pm, Friday, 14 December 2018

Opening remarks by Gábor Altorjay

Studying briefly, in the 1946/47 school-year, at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts to become a sculptor, Erdély would abandon the specific area of sculpture for practicing art in a number of diverse art forms, from poetry to photography, film-making and even architecture.

His departure did not end his engagement with the institution however. Erdély cultivated a lifelong friendship with former students becoming artists such as Béla Kondor and Sándor Altorjai, but he influenced younger generations of students as well. His person is linked to the creation of the Rózsa Circle artist group, together with Dóra Maurer the Creativity Exercises course, as well as the Indigo (Interdisciplinary Thinking) group.

His sudden death, a few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall would only bring a growing interest in his work as an artist labelled controversial, and not supported by the cultural policy of the Communist Party during his lifetime.

The exhibition is the closing event of a 3-month art research project at the Doctoral School of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts devoted to Miklós Erdély’s work, and coordinated by Péter Kőhalmi, János Sugár, Zoltán Szegedy-Maszák and Miklós Peternák.

#mikloserdely; #exhibition; #photomosaic; #artfromcentraleurope