The New York School Project

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.