XY ‒ New Generation Polish-Hungarian Painting
2017. Jun. 18. - 2017. Aug. 20.
Self-irony and social criticism, the mobilization of characteristic symbols of mass culture, and the construction of extreme associations and stark contrasts are all characteristic of the artists featured in the exhibition XY, who reflect on generational experiences. Generational theory was founded by two American authors, William Strauss and Neil Howe, who classify those born in the 1960s and 1970s as Generation X and those born in the 1980s and 1990s as Generation Y.
In the exhibition XY – New Generation Polish-Hungarian Painting, curators István Éliás and Ábel Kónya, who belong to Generation X, present a selection of works that reveal the bold visual thinking of Generation Y artists and thus the latest trends in painting.
Members of Generation Y (1980–1995) have lived and continue to live their “active” lives without an iron curtain. They began building their artistic careers in a united Europe where business and social conditions were radically different from those that had prevailed in the Comecon countries at any time in the past. While before the fall of communism there was a very intense and mutual inspiration in the arts between the countries of the former Eastern Bloc (this phenomenon was particularly marked between Hungary and Poland), in recent decades the north-south route for the exchange of ideas and emotions has become virtually deserted.
Nowadays, everyone is heading west. A symbolic example of this phenomenon is the discontinuation of the legendary Krakow train, the Cracovia Express, sung about by Tamás Cseh. MODEM’s extraordinary exhibition seeks to fill this vacuum through the artistic statements of the youngest, yet already professional generation from two countries that have been historically and culturally intertwined in an unprecedented way over the past millennium.
Today’s twenty- and thirty-somethings naturally regard all digital devices as the foundation of their everyday lives, an essential part of their existence. However, at the MODEM exhibition, they express themselves through a medium that is not only traditional, but has also been repeatedly declared dead in light of the new tools used in art and the conceptual approach to creative work.
However, panel painting is currently experiencing a renaissance, thanks in part to Generation Y. Through the exhibition, we also seek to answer the question of what young artists at the beginning of their careers see as the advantages of this classic technique, what themes they address through it, how they use the possibilities of traditional modes of representation and expression, whether they push its boundaries, and, above all, what innovative content and visual solutions they employ. The exhibition XY presents a multifaceted visual diary that, beyond artistic questions, speaks powerfully about the era in which we live our daily lives, allowing us to confront its hidden layers through the prism of the works on display.
Curators: Kónya Ábel, Éliás István
Artists: antalaci, Agata Kus, Agnieszka Wielewska, Baerta Bence, Bajkó Dániel, Bereczki Kata, Natalia Buchta, Monika Chlebek, Wiktor Dyndo, Naomi Devil, Ezer Ákos, Ron Fischer, Karolina Jabłońska, Jagicza Patrícia, Juliusz Kosin, Kamił Kukla, Könyv Kata, Kósa Gergely, Kubeczik Ágnes, Tomasz Kręcicki, Marta Antoniak, Monika Mysiak, Orr Máté, Olga Pawłowska, Krzysztof Piętka, Cyryl Polaczek, Rácz Noémi, Radosław Szlęzak, Justyna Smoleń, Paulina Stasik, Łukasz Stokłosa, Sütő Róbert, Szolnoki Szabolcs, Teplán Nóra, Verebics Ágnes, Wojciech Szybist, Nóra Teplán, Wiktor Dyndo