Author: Krisztina Erdei

9. APRIL, 2020 – 23. AUGUST

online exhibition

Slow Life. Radical Practices of the Everyday is a group exhibition with an international scope, a commitment that reflects on today’s pressing global issues. The current logic of our world, the existing social & economic system and the market-consumer culture have caused serious environmental problems. The approach they are based upon is in crisis, and current practices cannot provide real solutions to excessive waste production and overconsumption, and to keep the exploitation of natural resources under control.

The slow approach represents a need to rethink existing structures and reorganize established practices in the fields of society, economy and everyday life alike. Its essence can be best expressed by consciousness and critical attitude, which bring forth more and more possible alternatives, from permaculture farming to zero-waste household, from voluntary simplicity to the concept of a no-growth economy.

The beginnings of the Slow Revolution date back to the 1980s, to the protest against fast-food restaurants, which drew attention to the importance of healthy, quality food from local source. Carlo Petrini’s gastronomic initiative has expanded into a global movement over the decades, spanning many areas from work to travel and from design to media consumption. However, the exhibition does not focus on the ‘slow living’ movements so popular today, some of which limit their activities to offering new products and services for sale. Rather, it presents alternative practices, everyday “revolutions”, gentle or even radical approaches that challenge the existing growth- and profit-oriented system, show a way out of the consumption spiral, or represent an attitude based on the momentum instead of a busy life-style. The broad spectrum of genres on display includes artworks based on critical thinking, while others offer utopic models for future challenges, or encourage us to change our art consumption habits, as well as the clichés of perception and reception in connection with art.

The aim of the exhibition is to highlight the environmental impacts and exploitative practices that have led to the current global environmental, economic and social problems. Our other main objective is to provide a broader platform for artistic positions, which emphasize sustainability and offer alternative lifestyles.

In the course of this five-month exhibition, many events, workshops and discussions will take place inside the museum and outside the city as well. Once a month, we will hold an interdisciplinary theme day to focus on most crucial issues (nutrition, fashion and clothing industry, zero-waste household), with the participation of experts in the field or in the form of practical, knowledge-sharing workshops.

Exhibiting artists:

Bartha Gabó | Benczúr Emese | Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan | Ursula Biemann & Paulo Tavares | Erdei Krisztina | ex-artist’s collective (Kaszás Tamás & Lóránt Anikó) | Manfred Erjautz | Horváth Tibor | Horváth R. Gideon | Oto Hudec | Kaszás Tamás | Koronczi Endre | Lakner Antal | Diana Lelonek | Mátyási Péter | Petra Maitz | Oliver Ressler | Schuller Judit Flóra | Szabó Eszter Ágnes & Syporca Whandal | Süveges Rita | Lois Weinberger | Zilahi Anna

It all started in 1956. Tóni wasn’t really a hero, he was just a university student who happened to be living in the dormitory of the Budapest University of Technology, the dwellers of which played a key role in sparking off the revolution. They were seen as a thorn in the flesh of the ruling party at the time. This became clear as soon as the Russians started to invade the country, so Tóni thought it was time to leave and – after staying in Vienna for a few weeks – he started a new life in Canada.

It’s never easy to emigrate – as a lot of Hungarian citizens have also now come to realize . If you don’t know your new country, its language, there’s no guarantee that you can make a living. For the family members in Hungary, Tóni was the rich Canadian uncle who brought Western chocolate to the kids and fancy cigarettes to the parents. From here, they couldn’t see his struggle to create a new existence, while from there, it was difficult for him to see how the members of the family he left behind came under scrutiny because of their defector relative. After many-many years, ultimately the family took the plunge and visited the emigrant uncle in Ottawa, bringing a few details to light.

Tóni’s first job in Canada was worm picking. For immigrants not speaking English, even today it is still one of the most obvious opportunities to make a living. Golf is popular among wealthy Canadians, golf courses occupy huge territories. At dusk, groups of people wearing rubber boots and equipped with headlamps and large tin cans swarm onto these fields to start hunting for fat nightcrawlers. Canadian earthworms are especially valued by anglers all around the world and are also used in large quantities by the beauty industry, so they are exported to almost everywhere in the world. And it’s a well-paid job: at the end of the 1950s, Tóni got 5 dollars for a box of nightcrawlers. It was tough and monotonous, but it was worth it. You could catch as many as 30,000 worms during a single night.

In my photo series, the early struggles of the (im)migrant blend with past moments, the pictures of the family visit, the remnants of Hungarian identity and Canadian traditions. In a little more than eight hours every day, the video keeps repeating exactly 30,000 times the same moment of the Niagara Falls, illuminating the details of the carefully constructed milieu. Recalling the headlights, the spotlight beam spells out a brighter future on the wall, while the Canadian giant nightcrawlers brought to Budapest take possession of the objects left behind by those friends of mine who have recently moved abroad.

Overcoming time and distance, the power of family bonds have survived unabated throughout these years, despite the marked differences in political views.

Utópia Áruház – Otthon vagy az iskolában? 

2019. 09 .26-30

Otthon Áruház, Rákóczi út 74.

Mit tud adni a művész és a művészet az iskolának, az oktatás területének? És fordítva? Mitől lesz produktív, ha egy tanár és egy művész egyenrangúan dolgozik együtt diákokkal? Hogy lehet sikeres egy művészeti-oktatási projekt mind a művészet, mind a pedagógia területén? Ki volt Celestin Freinet és mitől releváns a mai napig a pedagógiai rendszere? Hogyan kapcsolódik mindez a demokráciához, az önszerveződéshez, a közéleti neveléshez, a kritikai pedagógiához? Hogyan lehet jól felépíteni demokratikus, nyitott végű, kreatív tanulási folyamatokat? Mi tanulható egy ilyen tanulási folyamatban? Igaz-e, hogy nincs tanítás, csak tanulás? Mérhető-e a tanulás eredmény, és egyáltalán kell-e mérni?

A salgótarjáni csoport fókuszába a város szívében évek óta üresen álló, a hatvanas, hetvenes években fénykorát élő Karancs Hotel került. A város lakóinak emlékeiből, archív újságcikkekből, rokonok emlékeiből rekonstruáltuk Salgótarján egyik szimbólumának történetét.A Demolab többi műhelye mellett a csoportunk  kétéves közös munkájának eredményeit és dokumentációját mutatja be, köztük az egész várost felbolygató Éjszaka a hotelben című fényjátékot. 

Részlet az eseményről készült Index cikkből:

“A DemoLab a Demokratikus Ifjuságért Alapitvany programja. A lényege, hogy több (Magyarországon nyolc) helyen középiskolások egy pedagógussal és egy kortárs művésszel állnak össze, és a csapat együtt alkot valamit. Lássuk be, ez olyasminek hangzik, ami nagyon hasznos dolog a gyerekeknek, de rajtuk kívül egyáltalán nem érdekes senkinek. Salgótarjánban bebizonyították, hogy ez nem feltétlenül igaz.”

“A projekt egyik legfontosabb hozadéka az volt, hogy a középiskolás diákok megtanultak létrehozni valami jelentőset. Nem csak a művészi alkotásba kóstolhattak bele – bár abba is alaposan, hiszen rajzolniuk és fogalmazniuk épp úgy kellett, mint mondjuk kollázsokat készíteni vagy kerámiacsempéket. Ugyanakkor megismerhették azt is, hogyan kell végigvinni egy projektet. Ők tárgyaltak a főépítésszel, egyeztettek háztulajdonosokkal stb. Megtapasztalhatták, hogyan lesz egy egyszerű skiccből olyan alkotás, amire egy egész város kíváncsi. A fényjátékot például több százan nézték végig a helyszínen, és vagy 10 ezren a FB-streamen.” Zubreczki Dávid

A csoport tagjai: Erdei Krisztina,Virágos Erzsébet, Virágos Gergő, Plagány Petra, Kisbali Bence, Virágos Csongor, Tajti Bernát, Gasparova Nikola, Fejes Lolita, Kométh Kamilla, Praveczki Máté, Miklós Rea, Plavecz Krisztián, Tóth Dorottya, Gajdár Fanni

Six artists are in competition for the Award in 2019

More than forty applications have been submitted for the Leopold Bloom Art Award, aimed at supporting visual artists working in Hungary. We are now pleased to announce the six artists who have made it to the second round: Zsolt Asztalos, Sári Ember, Krisztina Erdei, Áron Kútvölgyi-Szabó, Zsolt Molnár and Kata Tranker. The winner of the ten thousand Euro biennial prize, established in 2011, will be announced in June at the Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art Budapest, where the finalists’ work will also be on display. Unlike other prizes in the visual arts, the goal of the Leopold Bloom award is to promote the international engagement of Hungarian artists. This year, the organizers have invited Paul O’Neill from Finnland, Noor Mertens from Germany and Gabriela Kotikova from Czech Republic to form the jury. The distinguished three-member panel will come to Budapest in June to familiarize themselves with the artists and the Hungarian visual arts scene more generally through a series of studio visits and personal meetings. Applicants had to submit an invitation from a foreign gallery as part of the application process, and the winner will be able to use the prize money to mount their exhibition.

Miért van évek óta zárva a hentes és mi lesz a helyén? Miért van szinte minden nap baleset a Víg és Bérkocsis sarkán és miért nem történik semmi ennek megakadályozására? Létezik-e még a víztornyot és a volt Nemzeti Színházat összekötő alagút? Hova szállítják a szelektált hulladékot? Hány darab kátyú van a Déry Miksa utcában? Hogyan közlekedtek a környék méltóságos kisasszonyai az 1930-as években? Miért nem lehet eseményeket tartani a választásokig a vásárcsarnokban? Miért szűnt meg a Kék Ló? Miért szünt meg a Práter utcai általános iskola?

Nyomozók: Erdei Krisztina és Herceg Éva,

továbbá Antal Noémi, Gajdos Edina, Marton-Fejes Adrienn, Otterbein Gréta, Magyar Kata, Erdei Krisztián, Wittmann Franciska, Ludányi Dóra, Palatinus Andrea, Sanja Andjelkovic, Kovács Brigitta, Rózsa Erika, Veres Hanna

Nyomozó irodánk a Rákócity eseménysorozat egyik programjaként a lakosságot foglalkoztató kérdésekre keresi a választ. Az iroda képviselője a lentebb megadott nyitvatartási időben várja kérdéseiket, problémáikat. A kerület és a környék bármilyen furcsaságával kapcsolatban állunk rendelkezésre, célunk hogy felgöngyölítsük az elvarratlan szálakat és kommunikációt kezdeményezzünk.

Az eredmények, szöveges és fotódokumentáció formájában az irdában megtekinthetőek nyitvatartási időben. A bizonyítékok nem titkosíthatóak és az információ áramlásának célját szolgálják. Az akták szabadon kikérhetők.

Törvénybe ütköző ügyekkel nyomozó irodánk nem foglalkozik!

Várunk mindenkit szeretettel!

A city is always a mosaic of sharply distinctive “social worlds,” or unique cultures, as Louis Wirth found upon organizing the urban sociology knowledge accumulated by the end of the 1930s. That is, one can only claim to know his or her own city if he or she is familiar with as many neighborhoods representing the various social worlds as possible. The history of the building complex standing on the corner of Illatos Street and Gubacsi Street, consisting of about 500 flats, goes all the way back to the housing market anomalies generated by World War I, but it actually started in 1937 and lasted until 2015, so it encompasses almost 100 years. The premises became known as the Dzsumbuj [the projects, or lit. the mess] already a few years after the construction was finished. All the similar housing projects used to be called like this, but somehow the Illatos Street building complex monopolized the name.

In 2005, Kinga Göncz, the minister of youth, family, social affairs and equal opportunities, Imre Ikvai-Szabó, the deputy mayor of Budapest, and Ferenc Gegesy, the mayor of the 9th district, signed a declaration of intent regarding the settlement of the Dzsumbuj’s situation. By this time, it was imperative to find some kind of a solution. The goal of the program they signed was to facilitate the social integration of the disadvantaged families living here and to reduce the stigmatization of the residents. According a contemporary report, “the Dzsumbuj, as a unique subculture, concentrates, preserves, and reproduces destitution.”

The media continuously reported on the protracted liquidation that took almost ten years. Based on the news, these last years were about the war between the squatters, the security personnel, the human rights activists, the employees of the local government, as well as the politicians, and the social workers. The Illatos Street 5/A building was demolished in 2009, the 5/B building in 2013, and the 5/C building in 2014. In order to refine the image suggested by the media, we carried out a joint research under the aegis of the A város peremén (On the Outskirts of the City) project with a small group of sociologists, anthropologists, and artists. The project aimed at contributing to the attenuation of the problems resulting from poverty and social inequality, with the help of interviews, photographs, and videos. The numerous personal stories have altered the homogenized image of the residents available until now, giving new accents to the earlier media narrative emphasizing deviation and poverty. The research of personal memories is not only important for resolving traumas, or for exploring the responsibility of the past in the evolution of today’s value system. It can also be an asset to a learning process that could aid future decisions. Thanks to receiving the Budapest Photography Grant, I could start working on exploring the situation of the residents who had moved out, and the environment in which they try to get by. In the images, we can see the different employment and health-related problems intertwined with various Budapest locations. At the same time, in the midst of the possibilities provided by the urban environment, I search for an answer to the challenges of the present based on the memories and experiences of individuals. For me, the project is about layers of social responsibility, about a process which facilitates the communication of people living in the same city, while it also approaches the solution to the problem, the approximation of the different interests via the toolset of arts, leaving the project open and maintaining a continuous reflective attitude.

This exhibition and book investigates the current situation of the former residents of the building complex that used to stand on the corner of Illatos Street and Gubacsi Street, from the days of moving out until today. It explores the ordinary, everyday life of a community already extinct.

Graphic design by ART-AND, Zsuzsi Medve

Text by Tünde Varga, Krisztina Erdei

Curated by Gabriella Csizek

Translation by Vera Bakonyi-Tánczos

Publishing by Orsolya Kőrösi, Robert capa Nonprofit Ltd.

The Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center cordially invites you and your friends to the opening of the exhibition Krisztina Erdei: The Birth of Venus and Other Stories on Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at 6:00 pm

Opening remarks by Szilvi Német art historian

The exhibiton will be on view until 24 March, 2019.

Krisztina Erdei’s exhibition titled The Birth of Venus and Other Stories is the result of a one-year work process enabled by her winning of the Budapest Photography Grant 2017. The 2017 grant was launched by the Municipality of Budapest in cooperation with the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, reviving an earlier tradition – started in 2000 and going on for 11 years – of supporting an outstanding photographer every year in capturing Budapest’s views and life along the artist’s own selected themes in the framework of a one-year project.

Krisztina Erdei’s entry titled A Dzsumbuj hűlt helyén (The Emptiness Left Behind by the Dzsumbuj) explored the everyday life of the members of Dzsumbuj’s eliminated community after they had moved out. This project had antecedents – Erdei as a member of a group including sociologists, journalists, scholars, and artists made several interviews with the former occupants, and took pictures of the affected sites of the 11th district as part of the A város peremén (On the Outskirts of the City) initiative.

Hence this is a long-term project, aimed at providing insight to the problems arising from poverty and social inequality, as well as at improving the image of Dzsumbuj, and the slums in general, and reducing the associated negative preconceptions. It is also intended to reveal common aspects in the various lives and living spaces of the people concerned, providing a basis for better understanding. In the course of this work, the activities of the participants – including Krisztina Erdei’s – had a genuine impact on the participants’ lives, with all the risks involved.

The building complex called Dzsumbuj was located on the corner of the Illatos Street and the Gubacsi Street from 1920 up until 2015, providing living space and home for a community for almost one hundred years. After moving out, the families continued their lives in their various new environments, which were mainly apartments offered by the municipality. The exhibition tells the story of this period, turning the gallery premises into an installation space by the photographic material depicting the experiences gained together, among other things.

Krisztina Erdei belongs to the group of socially engaged and aware photographers, who know and believe that photography can be used for presenting the truth of reality and could be a tool in their efforts to make the world a better place. (Gabriella Csizek, curator)

Free admission
January 22, 2019 – March 24, 2019
Every day 8 am – 7 pm
Closed on public holidays.
Capa Center – 8F Gallery
Curator: Gabriella Csizek

Presentation at Academy of Fine Art and Design Bratislava, Slovakia

More details: https://www.facebook.com/events/2262331067319011/

Krisztina Erdei: Lining up 

I.

On a meadow near Bratislava, two 19th-century superpowers Austria and Prussia fought for victory in the Battle of Lamač. Keeping the memory alive there is a reason for historical re-enactment every year. Each year, the event commemorates the final battle of the Austro-Prussian War that took place here on 22 July 1866. The re-enactment starts with the parade of soldiers in period uniforms along the streets of Lamač.

II.

There are a lot of memories exhibited about women working as telephone operators in the Post Museum of Budapest. The Geneva Congress, held in Switzerland from September 3 to 8, 1866. declared first time that women can work as professionals. The career of a telephone operator was one of the few technically oriented jobs available to women from the end of 19th century. In the early days of telephony companies used manual telephone switchboards and switchboard operators connected calls by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks. To connect people – this is what women did as a telephone operators and I would like to follow them in a symbolic way with my series.

A city is always a mosaic of sharply distinctive “social worlds,” or unique cultures, as Louis Wirth found upon organizing the urban sociology knowledge accumulated by the end of the 1930s. That is, one can only claim to know his or her own city if he or she is familiar with as many neighbourhoods representing the various social worlds as possible.

I met Venus during the A város peremén (On the Outskirts of the City) research project. In the past one year, several things happened to her that are difficult for me to process. Over the course of a few months, she lost her mother, and then her patron and her brother. She received a judicial order about her forced eviction from her new accommodation where she had moved after the Dzsumbuj. She tried she steadily looked for a job to escape financial insecurity. I helped Venus find the addresses for the job interviews with Google Maps, sending her the routes to each one. After almost a year, I realized that I had sent her almost fifty locations for auditions and job trials. There were places where she would show up only for the interview, and other places where she worked a few days or weeks. It is very complicated and rather intangible why she always needs to find a new place, why she needs to be born again and again. This is when I decided that I would visit all these diverse Budapest locations connected with Venus’s search for a job, for getting an opportunity to fit in, with a seashell inspired by Botticelli, under the aegis of the Budapest Photography Grant. The seashell was made out of old newspapers, pasteboard, resembling the A város Peremén (On the Outskirts of the City) project, which intended to refine the – mainly media-suggested – image of the Dzsumbuj. The series flashes images of the burdensome one year of Venus’s life, and the locations of her search for a job, parallel to each other. “Never give up!” This was the message Venus herself saw in this project when I told her about it. And what I saw behind the story was the effort, which somehow always gets derailed due to the external expectations requiring a continuance.

We were planning to prepare the photographs of the locations and the related documentary videos together, possibly as the basis for a music video of a future song of hers. After all, Venus only showed up on one occasion of the many, so the photographs you can see here present the scenes of a music video created for a silent song that was never recorded.

STÚDIÓ ’18 – SZALON
A jövőt végképp eltörölni

Az FKSE éves kiállítása a szervezet 60. évfordulóján
2018. szeptember 14. – október 5.

Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetem, Barcsay Terem (1062 Budapest, Andrássy út 69–71.)

MEGNYITÓ: 2018. SZEPTEMBER 13. (csütörtök), 18:00

**********

A Fiatal Képzőművészek Stúdiója Egyesület (FKSE) tagjai által létrehozott kiállítás a Stúdió rendszerváltás utáni, már egyesületi formához köthető periódusát vizsgálja. Az esemény apropóját egyrészt a Stúdió fennállásának 60. évfordulója, másrészt a rendszerváltás óta erősödő anyagi, strukturális és öndefiníciós válsága adja.

A 2018-ban, újra reprezentatív helyszínen megrendezett éves kiállítás egyik vállalása, hogy megmutassa, az elmúlt évtizedekben milyen célok formálták, milyen együttműködések és fordulatok gazdagították, vagy éppen csorbították az FKSE közösségének életét. A kiállítás és az eseménysorozat az egyesület tagságát aktivizáló, közös gondolkodási folyamat eredményeként valósul meg. A szalon koncepcióját, illetve az események fókuszait a következő kulcsfogalmak határozták meg: az érdekképviselet és a közösség viszonya, az együttműködés, a szakmai önszerveződés sajátosságai, a függés versus függetlenség kérdése és az önkéntesség és önkizsákmányolás fogalma. A nyár elején 35 fővel (junior és senior tagokkal) kezdtük meg a közös koncepció kialakítását.

Közös olvasmányélményeink és a találkozók tanulságaiból inspirálódva döntöttünk a zsűrizetlen szalon mint kiállítási forma mellett; egyrészt a tagság széleskörű mobilizálása érdekében, másrészt a minket körülvevő kultúrpolitikai környezetre reagálva. A kiállítás célja, hogy a Stúdió, vagyis mi, feltegyük magunknak a hogyantovább kérdését. Folytassuk?