Replaying the Regime Change? A Conversation with Historian Valuch Tibor – Anómia

The sociological concept of anomie captures the uncertain social condition following the regime change, marked by the breakdown of shared norms and the absence of new rules. How has the memory of the regime change evolved, and how does it continue to shape our relationship to democracy today? Can the narratives of the “winners” and “losers” of the transitional period be reconciled? What role might individual stories play in narrating an era?

In connection with the Anómia exhibition, we invite you to a conversation moderated by curator Horváth Mátyás, in which social historian Valuch Tibor and Móró Zsófia will discuss the exhibition’s social background, the motivations behind the research, and the installation that brings these elements together.

“Many believe that history cannot be replayed: what happened in the past is finished, singular, and unrepeatable. Yet in human life, alongside the uncertainty of the future, it is precisely the consciousness of the past and the ongoing transformation of history that shape the present of individuals and communities—their thinking, identities, and actions. The past obviously cannot be experienced again in the same way as it was lived by the individual. At the same time, the memory of the past—however limited—still makes it possible to replay history, motivated by tradition-keeping, individual and collective identity-building, (life)historical reconstruction, individual or collective forced or ‘voluntary’ repression, political and ideological aims, de- and reconstruction, and strategies of survival, adaptation, or advancement.”

Valuch Tibor: If We Had Two Lives

https://orszagut.com/.../ha-lenne-ket-eletunkavagy-a

Móró Zsófia: Anómia

Móró Zsófia looks back, from a distance of 30 years, on the story of her father, who disappeared in the 1990s. The title of the exhibition captures the uncertain period of the regime change through a concept borrowed from sociology, referring to a social condition in which old norms disintegrate while a new, stable system of rules has not yet been established. The investigation, expanding from a personal family history to a broader social scale, offers interpretative possibilities for exploring this complex process; yet—much like the threads of the father’s life—it remains speculative in many respects due to the fragmentary nature of the sources. These gaps and uncertainties point to the unresolved processing of the past and to the need for a broader social dialogue about the regime change; it is the viewer’s task to recognize that the investigation does not end within the exhibition.

Curator: Horváth Mátyás

The exhibition is on view: 2026.02.07–03.03.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 12:00–6:00 PM, Saturday 2:00–6:00 PM