OVER-VIEW
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In the past few years the Studio of Young Photographers has mounted group exhibitions in which we aimed at giving an outlook on the entire Studio, by presenting only a few pictures from each artist. The present series entitled Over-view breaks with this tradition and provides fewer artists with the opportunity for presenting their work, albeit more fully: instead of the Studio as a whole, it concentrates more on topical problems raised by individual artists. When we started working together, we immediately agreed that one of the greatest difficulties faced by contemporary visual culture in Hungary is the lack of communication, thinking together and the mechanisms of creating a project. Undeniably, it is quite hard for young artists and young theoreticians to begin their professional careers, and to present their work in an appropriate form, with an individual exhibition. In a few weeks we outlined the project Over-view, in which finally nine artists present their work in six galleries, in close collaboration with six curators. It was positive experience that we easily convinced six galleries to join the project. Our primary condition was that they be open towards photography as a genre, and towards working with a completely fresh artist, and it was also important to find places from both the non-profit and the commercial sectors. The galleries participating in Over-view are the Demo Gallery, the Faur Zsófi Gallery – Panel, the kArton Gallery, the Liget Gallery, the Lumen Gallery and Artbázis (as well as Nessim Gallery, at the beginning of the project). Curators were chosen through competition by the galleries and us, the project managers, from 19 applicants. Recognizing the interdependency between young photographers and curators, the princial aim for this competition was to call together a team of curators, which may develop a long-term relationship with the members of the Studio, thus enabling it to become, in due time, a meeting point not only for photographers but also for young curators. Artists for the series were chosen by the galleries and curators together, based on their synopses and presentations, from 50 applicants, all members of the Studio. The title Over-view refers to this very endeavour, which relies on wide-ranging collaboration between curators and artists. We emphasized, from the beginnings, that the exhibition mounted is merely a finishing act of the project. What is really important is that artist and curator should learn to tune in to a joint concept, to think in spatial terms, to solve problems that may arise, to communicate with the gallery. During the six months of preparation we also organized a collective presentation, where each artist gave an account of the work done thus far, or raised possible problems and questions. This provided an opportunity for all participants of the six exhibitions – artists, curators and the representatives of the galleries – to follow up on each other’s work. We hope that besides the usual group exhibitions this series will also continue in the future. Its complexity, however, demands much more serious support and patronage. The present exhibitions could only be realized through the committed work and selfless cooperation of galleries, curators, artists and organizers in the project. Our thanks are due to them all. Kata Oltai László Nánási |
Exhibitions in the FFS OVER-VIEW project: 24 November 2011 19.00 8 December 2011 12 January 2012 18 January 2012 23 February 2012 29 March 2012 |