"Life itself has always been the centerpoint of artistic expression. Through different ages artists have reflected their experiences and opinions through their artworks. This character as a phenomena is the key to understanding art: the things we see are somehow related to the life we lead. The exhibition Mi Vida shows contemporary pieces which underline this relation between art and life from different standpoints and interests," the Mücsarnok says on its website.
"The works...bring together two points of view, the hedonist and psychological nature of the everyday life with decisive factors such as geographical, historical and political circumstances under which confilcts and existencial problems are the center of life."
The exhibition's title may be a bit exaggerated, but the works meet the challenge. The collection does not just place one contemporary work next to another, rather it offers a cross-section of art in the 21st century, at lest the first nine years of it.
The curators Agustín Pérez Rubio and Zsolt Petrányi have put the exhibition together based more on mood and feeling rather than using the conventional rules for a contemporary art show, and it works extraordinarily well. They have even broken out of the traditional exhibition space: the show starts in the reception area with a blood-donor installation and the only work by a Hungarian here, Emese Benczúr's tableaux of text.
Inside the exhibition, Pipilotti Rist's installation brings visitors to the floor: inviting, soft, grape leaf cushions serve as the viewpoint for a video installation. In a piece of digital animation by Tabaimo, from Japan, tattoos come to life. The Danish artist Jesper Just's video explores the relationship between a father and a son, and the South African Candice Breitz examines the mother role of Hollywood stars.
Mi Vida - From Heaven to Hell is open until May 17, 2009.
Author: Eszter Götz / Photo: MTI
