Ad Orientem: Hungarian Architects In Asia

A uni­que ex­hi­bit­ion is being held to show­ca­se Hun­ga­ri­an ar­chi­tects fasci­na­ted with, and inf­lu­en­ced by, Asia from the 19th cent­ury to the pre­sent day. Jo­intly or­ga­ni­sed by Kun­sthal­le and the Hun­ga­ri­an Mus­e­um of Ar­chi­tec­tu­re and Mo­nu­ment Pro­tec­ti­on Do­cu­men­ta­ti­on Cent­re, the ex­hi­bit­ion en­tit­led Ad Ori­en­tem: Hun­ga­ri­an Ar­chi­tects in Asia, exp­lo­res the ideas and re­la­ti­onship to Asia of ar­chi­tects, some bet­ter, ot­hers les­ser known, who turned to the East.

The focal points of the ex­hi­bit­ion inc­lu­de ar­ti­facts coll­ec­ted du­ring ori­en­tal tra­vels, which be­came inc­re­a­singly po­pu­lar in the 1800s, the ori­en­ta­list app­ro­ach of Hun­gary’s Art No­u­veau scene, the emer­ging op­por­tuni­ti­es for buil­ding pro­jects du­ring the in­ter­war pe­ri­od, and the succ­es­ses of our con­tem­por­ary ar­chi­tects in Asia.

Th­ro­ugh sites in Iran, the Uni­ted Arab Em­ira­tes, India, Sri Lanka, Cam­bo­dia, China and Japan, the ex­hi­bit­ion pre­sents the ar­chi­tec­tu­ral vi­sions and comp­le­ted works that have chal­len­ged and cap­tu­red the ima­gi­na­ti­on of our ar­chi­tects.

Thanks to do­m­es­tic and in­ter­na­ti­o­nal re­se­arch, we are also able to pre­sent se­ve­ral re­cently dis­co­ve­red de­signs, pho­to­gra­phs and do­cu­ments, inc­lu­ding never-be­fo­re-pub­lis­hed pho­to­gra­phs of Is­tan­bul by Ká­roly Kós, works by Imre Francsek Jr and Jenő Ká­roly in Iran, ori­en­tal art­works coll­ec­ted by Kál­mán Gi­er­gl and Lász­ló Hudec's port­ra­it from Shang­hai. Among the con­tem­por­ary ar­chi­tects, our ex­hi­bit­ion fea­tu­res the dra­wings of Fe­renc Rás­kai, the de­sign­er of the Za­la­szán­tó Stupa, Szil­via Vi­czi­án's works built in Arab ci­ti­es, vi­sions of South Asia by György Csete, Ist­ván Med­gya­szay and Ká­roly Ró­bert Ker­tész, and the pub­lic buil­dings of György Pál­ffy, one of the most pro­li­fic Hun­ga­ri­an ar­chi­tects in Japan. The works of father and son: Bo­tond Bog­nár, ar­chi­tect and writer, and Ba­lázs Bog­nár, se­ni­or de­sign­er at Kengo Kuma, who are ac­ti­vely in­vol­ved in promo­ting Ja­pa­ne­se cul­tu­re, are disp­la­yed in a spe­ci­al for­mat.

The multi-fa­ce­ted art of the ar­chi­tects is pro­jec­ted th­ro­ugh fine art such as the Budd­hist-the­med paint­ings of Béla Takách of Gyön­gyös­ha­lász, the Ang­kor-the­med paint­ings of Gábor Sánta and the ar­tis­tic ar­chi­tec­tu­ral pho­tos taken in Japan by Sára Se­bes­tyén. The ex­hi­bit­ion will be comp­le­men­ted by vi­su­al ma­te­ri­als such as a short film on the life of Lász­ló Hudec, Lő­rinc Cser­nyus' water-based de­sign at the Dubai Expo, and an ani­ma­ti­on of Tamás Lévai's Shang­hai pa­vi­li­on.

Ad­ding a uni­que pers­pec­tive to the ex­hi­bit­ion, in each of the three rooms of Kun­sthal­le’s ba­se­ment Box, we will also pre­sent an ar­chi­tect from an Asian count­ry, who has an im­por­tant con­nec­ti­on to Hun­gary: Arian Cho­roo­mi from Iran, Perin Mis­t­ri from India and Sou Fu­ji­mo­to from Japan.

Cura­tor: Esz­ter Bal­da­vá­ri, art his­to­ri­an-mus­e­o­lo­gist 

Or­ga­ni­sers: Kun­sthal­le & Hun­ga­ri­an Mus­e­um of Ar­chi­tec­tu­re Mo­nu­ment Pro­tec­ti­on Do­cu­men­ta­ti­on Cent­re

 

 

 

Vir­tu­al tour

Ad Ori­en­tem: Hun­ga­ri­an Ar­chi­tects In Asia

Ke­let­elt sor­sok: ma­gyar épí­té­szek Ázsi­á­ban
2023. December 15. - 2024. February 25.

Kunsthalle, Budapest

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2023. December 8. - 2024. February 11.
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Jenő Szervátiusz Award winners