"I would grow old on the day I have to leave the City forever," the Hungarian writer Antal Szerb wrote in his Guide to Budapest For Martians. On the same note, the Hungarian and German artists showing in the Knoll Gallery's new exhibition - Luca Gőbölyös, Silke Grabinger, Christian Mittermayr, Csaba Nemes, Almut Rink and Csaba Szentesi - uncover a secret Budapest.
The artists have taken on the role of researchers and produced photographs, videos, paintings and conceptual art. They show that how one sees the city depends on who one is and where one stands. Csaba Nemes demonstrates this with his "house brands" - a chronicle of consumer goods from the socialist era to the present. Luca Gőbölyös reveals the city, as well as a life history, in a series of ID photos. Csaba Szentesi virtually moves some emblematic statues in Budapest to new locations, creating a new field of view between the capital today and its fictitious touristic image. Almut Rink's videos takes one on a tour of a socialist-era flat converted into a museum. And the pair of Silke Grabinger and Christian Mittermayr have made game boards and pieces that map out the presence of Budapest's large Chinese population.
Author: Eszter Götz
