Our Future Encounters | 1976–2026 | Hemző and the Hemző Award Winners
Something happened in the 1970s: photographers were given exhibition opportunities one after another at the Műcsarnok, including Tamás Féner, Péter Korniss, Róbert Horling, Irén Ács, Edit Molnár, and Károly Hemző. With this exhibition, we commemorate Hemző’s legendary exhibition *My Encounters*, which opened exactly fifty years ago in 1976, and place it in dialogue with the visual perspectives of young 21st-century artists—the winners and finalists of the Károly Hemző Award.
Károly Hemző evolved from a legendary sports photographer into a legendary photojournalist and editor. He then gained popularity alongside his partner and creative collaborator, Lajos Mari, through a legendary book series—pioneering cookbooks published in the millions.
We take a look at the bold, innovative creative and presentation strategies of the 1976 exhibition. We research, reconstruct, and discover. But we also highlight other segments of his rich and varied body of work, primarily by presenting vintage photographs that the author himself enlarged by hand.
Schedule
Although Hemző never taught photography anywhere, he still had an influence on subsequent generations. Through the works of his former colleague and friend, András Bánkuti, and Róbert László Bácsi—who represents the generation that followed Bánkuti—as well as their work on the Hemző Prize board of trustees, they bridge the gap between the 1970s and the world of today’s young people, the recipients of the Hemző Prize.
The works of the winners of the Károly Hemző Prize, established in 2013—András D. Hajdú, Simon Móricz-Sabján, Balázs Mohai, Zsófia Pályi, István Bielik, Sándor Csudai, László Végh, Márton Mónus, Judit Ruprech, Noémi Napsugár Melegh, Bálint Szajki, and András Zoltai—and the works of its finalists attest to the fact that they represent a defining generation of 21st-century Hungarian photography.
Curator: Klára Szarka
Kunsthalle Budapest
The largest exhibition hall in Budapest, in Heroes Square, just the opposite the Museum of Fine Arts.
