Curator: Andrea Bordács Tibor Gyenis and Barna Illés’s exhibition reports on exotic and wild lands. Shot from a bird’s-eye view or from under the surface of the sea, their pictures resemble those we see in travel agents’ brochures. Nonetheless, when we take a careful look, we find that these are set photos. The sets, however, are not in a studio, but in real environments, which also become part of the vision. The real land gains a new meaning when it becomes, thanks to the objects inserted, the staple image of another land in another continent. With these hybrid images, the artists look into the motivations and working of what is an increasingly dominant presence in image-making, tourism. As they remark in their caricature of a travel brochure: “We roam and hunt through lands like nomads, in barely detailed parts of the map. We are in search of a mood – a strange, moving one. We probe the sublime power of nature, its relentless intensity. Time and again, we come across signs of man’s tireless and heroic work. It is so difficult on these occasions to steady the trembling hand as one presses the button.” The pictures at this exhibition are models, firstly because they highlight the motivations and peculiar manner of the images used by the tourism industry, and secondly because they offer a possible position and approach to those who travel and really want to learn about the alien. In their webpage (www.travelexp.hu), we are allowed a view into the work carried out at the workshop they organized in 2006, in a tiny island in Croatia. In connection with the present exhibition, the two artists invite anyone interested to a photo tour in Budapest. The outings, for which you can sign up on the webpage of Travelexp, lead the participants to pars of this hectic town that are neglected or being reclaimed, in search of motifs that introduce the mood of different lands into these bleak scenes. By choosing the right perspective and applying a minimum of intervention, the unpleasant sights get new scales and contexts, which turns them into inspiring spectacle that can be the home of adventure.
www.travelexp.hu