Guided tour with the artists in the Gusztáv Hámos – Katja Pratschke: From Nothing to One exhibition
„Since 2000, Katja Pratschke and Gusztáv Hámos have been experimenting with the still image in a cinematographic context - in the cinema as well as in the exhibition space - and investigating the relationship between stillness and movement. By dealing with three-dimensional still images, they seek an answer to the question: why do we care about statues and monuments. And this question leads the authors to another fundamental area of human cognition, which is none other than the study of historical consciousness. In the framework of research into historical consciousness, interactive installations were made of the traces of traumatized places (destroyed churches, concentration camps, etc.) because coming to terms with the past the so-called "Vergangenheitsbewältigung" is considered an extremely important current issue.” (Lili Boros)
Schedule
From Nothing to One is the first large-scale solo exhibition in Hungary of the artist duo Gusztáv Hámos and Katja Pratschke. Gusztáv Hámos left Hungary in 1979 and settled in West Berlin, where he has been working jointly with Katja Pratschke since 1993. Their main genre is photofilm, largely consisting of still photographic images. In their own words, by photofilm “we understand films that essentially consists of photographs. Photographs placed in a cinematic context create filmic experience. In photofilms, the film medium is dissected into its components. Photofilm authors experiment with the relationship of text, sound and image, refelecting on the composition of the cinematographic. They let us “think” cinema.” The artist duo’s practice, which is founded on the relationship between technical images, photography and film, is implemented not only through interactive and installative image-making (tableaux, photo sequences, three-dimensional photo objects, and photofilms), but also through such theoretical activities as organising exhibitions and symposia and compiling publications.
The exhibition From Nothing to One centres on the position, movement, vision of the photographer as a young person, as well as his travalled path seen as representing his life story. His story is about breaking free from limitations; about losing one’s freedom and fighting for self-liberation. The photographic and cinematic traces of this struggle are exhibited in the form of an intermedial installation. In the showcased photofilms, Gusztáv Hámos’s identity formation, his numerous (self-)quotations and early photographs taken in Budapest, are linked to the historical, collective perspective and the history of Budapest’s Liberty Square. As a special feature, the exhibition also showcases a number of photographs from the 1970s, which have never been seen in Hungary before, or if they have, it was over quarter of a century ago. These conceptual photographs and photo performances are centred on self-thematisation, which – together with the photofilms and photo objects – maps out in the exhibition the spatial trajectory of the subject, i.e. the interweaving of individual and collective stories and perceptions, and the formation of individual identities.
GUSZTÁV HÁMOS is a media artist, curator and writer working in the media of photography, film, video, installation. He has exhibited at Documenta in Kassel, the Venice Biennale, the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen and the Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art in Budapest. His works can be found in the collections of the MoMA in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the NBK Berlin, the ZKM Karlsruhe, the Art Collection NRW, the Saint Gervai SIV Genève, the Hungarian National Gallery, C3 Budapest, the Open Society Archive Budapest.
KATJA PRATSCHKE, is an artist researcher, filmmaker, media artist and curator. She collaborates with various artists and is a member of the artist collectives top_OS and Nodes. Selected recent exhibitions and projects include: BLACK BOX (2021-23), VR Experience, in collaboration with the Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, HOUSE OF BROKEN UTOPIAS (2024), VR Experience and NYKSUND BERLIN ARTISTIC ARCHIVE (NBAA), a collaborative NODES project, presented at Lofoten International Art Festival (LIAF) 2024.
The guided tour will be in English, with Hungarian translation.
Due to limited space, advance registration is required. To register for the programme, please send an e-mail to [email protected] and write in the subject line: Guided tour – September 1st.
The maximum number of participants is thirty.
The guided tour will be open to registered visitors with a discounted or full-price (student, senior or adult) ticket for the exhibition purchased on the day of the tour.
Please note that audio and video recordings of our events may be made and used by the Mai Manó House to promote its programmes.
Hungarian House of Photography - Mai Manó House
Mai Manó House – The Hungarian House of Photographers – operates in a studio-house built at the end of 19th century, for the commission of Mai Manó (1855-1917), Imperial and Royal Court Photographer. This special, eight-story neo-renaissance monument is unique in world architecture: we have no knowledge of any other intact turn-of-the-century studiohouse. In addition, it serves its original goal, the case of photography again. The aim of Mai Manó House is to advance the development of Hungarian photography and raise photography’s national prestige as a distinct form of art. The institution plays a marked role in the cultural life of Budapest and Hungary, while the organization of exhibitions and programs abroad is getting more and more emphasis within its activities. The reputation of justly world-famous Hungarian photographers of the 20th century offers a great opportunity to regain our old status in the world of photography by the introduction of the generations following those great masters