Architect Bálint Nagy set up the gallery in 2001, after returning to Hungary from a three-year study trip in the United States. The gallery?s first show was opened by President Árpád Göncz on 14 February 2001. Since then, N&n Gallery has organised 93 shows, averaging 15 a year.
The shows have included retrospectives of work by many of the most famous Hungarian architects of the twentieth century, including Gábor Preisich, Farkas Molnár and József Fischer. A show of Lucien Hervé?s photographs of the Unesco headquarters in Paris, designed by Marcell Breuer, was also a success, as was a show of the work of Elemér Zalotay, a lesser-known Hungarian architect who lives in Switzerland, in autumn of 2005.
Bálint approach to architecture is all-inclusive, and the gallery?s shows encompass interior design, furniture design, garden planning, city development and stage design. Bálint says the divisions between these types of design are artificial, and adds that it is important to link architecture with contemporary art.
In addition to operating as an exhibition space, the gallery ? located in the cellar under Bálint?s office ? also serves as a place for social gatherings, professional discussions, book and film launches and other public events.
The gallery has also established an architectural award, named after Farkas Molnár. The first award -- a miniature replica of Molnár?s ?Red Cube? -- went to master architect Tamás Tomay and apprentice Gábor Nagy U.
Future plans include a retrospective of the works of Lajos Kozma and a presentation of the country?s most talented architecture students.
N&n Gallery is located at 39 Hajós utca in Budapest?s District VI. New shows open every third Wednesday at 6pm.
For further information, visit the gallery?s website at http://www.nagybalint.hu/galeria/galeria.htm
