PLURAL, FIRST PERSON

The exhibition takes as its point of departure The Woman Who Was Looking for Herself, Szilágyi Eszter Anna’s “Icelandic bus ensemble opera,” which will premiere at the Örkény Theatre in October 2026, directed by Csaba Polgár. The curatorial team began with the play’s central figure—the “lost woman”—asking: How do others see her, and how does she see herself? Where are the limits of our empathy for others and for ourselves? How do multiple personalities, identities, and roles coexist within each of us, coming to the foreground in different situations, relationships, and responsibilities? How do we present ourselves to others, and how do we experience ourselves from within? Bringing together a range of artistic positions, the exhibition foregrounds identity as something fluid, provisional, and continually in the making, and self-discovery as an open-ended process.

The works on view draw on mythological narratives, the symbolic language of consumer culture, rituals of supportive women’s communities, and marginalized perspectives that challenge stereotypes related to gender and ethnicity. Figures such as the witch, a psychiatric archive reimagined through a queer lens, a women’s sports community, and images generated by artificial intelligence all open up spaces in which divergence from social norms appears not as a problem but as a source of new possibilities—not only for the individual, but also for the community. While both the theatrical production and the exhibition return repeatedly to themes of estrangement and loneliness, the temporary “community” created through the artworks ultimately offers the promise of mutual support and belonging.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Boglárka Dankó, Sári Ember, Aliz Farkas, Mátyás Fusz, Dóra Denerak Galyas, Kata Geibl, Dorottya Szonja Koltay, Fruzsi Kovai, Noémi Szécsi, Dorottya Vékony

CURATORS

Nikolett Erőss, Flóra Gadó, Ágnes Keszegh, Eszter Lázár, Hajnalka Somogyi, Judit Szalipszki

Assistant curators: Miriam Sékou Coulibaly, Sára Székely, Sára Tomcsányi