The New York School Project -

Várfok Galéria - Budapest

Throughout the month of June, the Várfok Gallery will host a series of art events
and exhibition, featuring artists, poets, contemporary composers, and
jazz musicians, all aimed at evoking the spirit of the New York
avant-garde of the 1950s.

The New York School Project, conceived by art historian Krisztina Kovács,
the art director of Várfok Gallery, and poet/playwright Péter Závada, is
a series of interdisciplinary art programs. It aims to showcase the
work of New York School’s poets, visual artists, and composers,
inspiring Hungarian artists to create new collaborative works. The
project has brought together visual artists Márton Dés, Anna Nemes, Máté
Orr, and Anna Eszter Tóth; poets Dénes Krusovszky, Márton Simon, Anna
Emilia Szűcs, Kinga Tóth, and Péter Závada; and composers Máté Balogh
and Marcell Dargay.

The project seeks to present the vibrant creative collaborations and
camaraderie that characterized the New York art scene of the 1950s and
1960s. This era serves as both a fruitful artistic practice and an
effective survival strategy, which will be showcased to domestic and
international audiences.

While such lively interactions between creators of different artistic fields
were common in the Hungarian neo-avant-garde of the 1970s and 1980s,
exemplified by figures such as Tamás St. Auby, Miklós Erdély, Péter
Halász, Tibor Hajas, János Szirtes, and the Orfeo group, today, poets,
painters, and musicians rarely meet.

The New York School Project aims to reignite social relations, fostering
collegial interest and solidarity, and ultimately promoting a sense of
well-being among artists. Echoing Susan Sontag’s closing line in her
famous 1964 essay „Against Interpretation” — „In place of a hermeneutics
we need an erotics of art.” — the New York School Project emphasizes
artists’ curiosity, openness to each other, and the joy of free creation.

The exhibition in the Project Room, the interdisciplinary space of Várfok
Gallery, one of Hungary’s most distinguished art galleries, will feature
uniquely illustrated poetry books, poetry-inspired paintings and
ceramics, sound poetry installations, and contemporary music and poetry
video works. Accompanying events will include jazz and contemporary
music concerts, performances, improvisations, and readings.

Participating artists:

Márton Dés, Anna Nemes, Máté Orr, and Anna Eszter Tóth (visual artists)
Dénes Krusovszky, Márton Simon, Anna Emilia Szűcs, Kinga Tóth, and Péter Závada (poets)
Máté Balogh and Marcell Dargay (composers)
The Rezervátum Orchestra and the JAP trio (jazz bands)

Grand Opening:

Saturday, 1st June, 2024, 16.00-18.00: Grand Opening of the New York School Project

- Opening of the Exhibition in the Várfok Project Room
- Concert of the Rezervátum Orchestra in the Várfok courtyard
- Visual and Sound Poetry Performance by Kinga Tóth
- Performative Drawing by graphic artist Márton Dés
- Márton Simon & Péter Závada Poetry Reading

Participation in the programme is free of charge, registration is not required.

Further information about the programme can be found on the website of the Várfok Gallery: https://www.varfok-galeria.hu/.../the-new-york-school.../

Papageno is the media partner of the New York School Project.

The Hungarian and English language program series are supported by a Small
Grant from the Embassy of the United States of America.