Art Market Budapest (26 - 30 Oct.) hosts about 50 contemporary galleries

"Lenin" bySam Havadtoy, courtesy of B55 Gallery, Budapest

30 September deadline for gallery registration & open call to artists by non-profit Igor Metropol

Art Market Budapest´s curatorial team has contacted more than 400 galleries, most from central and east Europe, to secure about 50 to display contemporary works from 26 – 30 October at the city´s Millenaris Park.

Admission is free. There is no government funding.

Deadline for gallery application-registration is 30 September, said international relations manager, Dr. Zoltan Somhegyi, an art historian and philosopher, who lives in Budpest and teaches in Szeged two days a week.

“I´ve talked to people from 200 galleries,” he said in a phone interview. His colleagues contacted another 200 to 300.

He anticipates selecting between 30 to 40 Hungarian galleries and another 12 from the USA, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Romania, the Ukraine and Russia, other countries.

One of the first Hungarian galleries to register is the internationally known Erdesz Galeria & Design in Szentendre, about 20 kilometers north of Budapest.

Work by Anthor Keszeg Nandor, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cm. Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

Mosaic by Vinkler Zsuzsi (2008) Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

I wrote about this gallery and its artists before and after its 8 July opening of contemporary artists while living in Hungary for six weeks this summer.

“Most are welcoming the idea, if not this year then next,” Somhegyi said.

The Art Market Budapest 2011 jury includes: Soraya von Studenberg, advisor to Sotheby´s and Uniqua; Flash Art Magazine editor and Prague Biennale curator, Nicola Trezzi; Lorand Hegyi, director of Sant Étienne´s Museum of Modern Art, and Gabor Gulyas, director of Budapest´s Mucsarnok-Kunsthalle.

Somhegyi, curator for one of two featured Roma contemporary art exhibits--Roma Art Project--said his will display Roma works from private collections, the other, works from a Budapest gallery specializing in Roma art.

 

Panel discussions are also scheduled on Roma contemporary art.

"Brueghel, Babel Tornya" by Tarr Hajnalka, made from puzzle pieces, 114 x 155 cm Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

Medium-format photograph (left) by Alltonoder Emese, and two photos right by Zador Tamas, (2005 - 06), 30 x 50 cm Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

Art Market Budapest 2011 succeeds a pilot endeavor launched in only six weeks last year in a new and vacant office complex.

Somhegyi said at the end of August 2010, a colleague of his received a call that an ideal space to show contemporary was available for free.

Could they quickly put up an art fair of new and emerging contemporary artists?

Why not?

In six weeks, 12 to 14 Hungarian galleries exhibited contemporary works.

“It was our pilot edition,” said Somhegyi.

A work by Tamas Dobos, courtesty of Erdesz Galeria & Design, Szentendre

As soon as the pilot ended, the international version entered planning stages, which picked up speed in March.

Serving as the fair´s patron, former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, Nancy G. Brinker, provides high profile coupled with many international art connections.

Nancy G. Brinker, patron for Art Market Budapest 2011

Brinker collects Hungarian art.

Another feature of the fair is the role of the non-profit cultural engine based in Budapest, Igor Metropol.

It plans to show small format works (10 cm x 10 cm or 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm for 3D) within an architecturally designed display for as many as 25 art works, said Igor Metropol co-curator Nora Lukacs. Her partner in this effort is Katja Melzer.

Igor Metropol and UAA (Association of Anonymous Artists, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina (www.uaa.rs.ba/) cooperate in promoting this project.

“We have received about 35 applications with works of art, but I expect many more at the last minute,” she Lukacs told me in a phone interview. 

Her group will notify artists of juried decisions by 6 October.

Deadline is 30 September.

The cultural non-profit will take 30 percent commission on all sales.

The prices submitting artists put on their works so far range from 50 -- 900 Euros, she said.

Rock on and practice peace and love.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler ™

ArtTraveler notes:

After living at the Hotel Queen Mary in Budapest (3.5 stars), I heartily recommend it: old on the outside, otherwise totally modern (23 rooms); 

The owner and staff are affable and speak English and German. Tel: 0036-1-413-3510; www.hotelqueenmary.hu; info@hotelqueenmary.hu.

Check out a sculpture or mosaics workshop or walking tour in our beautiful mountains. 

See: www.spanjeanders.nl and www.competafinearts.com.

"Walking the Walk," near Canillas de Albaida, Andalusia Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2007)

  

Contact me at stefanvandrake@gmail.com or by calling (34) 951 067 703; from the UK at BT landline rates, 0844 774 8349.