The Parkview Museum Beijing is currently exhibiting Intriguing Uncertainties, a contemporary art exhibition featuring more than 200 works by 40 artists from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The exhibition is aimed at exploring the possible authentic narratives in contemporary art which reflect the contradictory complexity of our existence as well as the intriguing perspectives of intellectual orientation and emotional empathy.
The Parkview Museum Beijing successfully held the public art education event 'Night in the Museum' in cooperation with Hungary Cultural Institute on June 29. Hungary is an inland country located in Eastern Europe. The capital city is Budapest, also known as the "Paris of Eastern Europe" and "Pearl of Danube". The complexity of Hungarian history makes its art rich and fascinating. For this event, The Parkview Museum invited the acclaimed Hungarian film director Attila Konnyu and the curator László Erdész to discuss Hungarian contemporary art praxis, its characteristics and the influence that Hungarian history has on the artistic production. During the event, the audience had also the opportunity to enjoy the film created by the movie director Konnyu to delve more into the variety of Hungarian cultural production.
After the upheaval in Eastern Europe in 1989, Hungary's political and economic system undergoes big changes: the impact of the shift from a socialist system to a capitalistic system becomes the source of inspiration for many artists. For example, the artworks of Hungarian artist László Fehér are characterized by a dark background where the figures become symbols of the helplessness and isolation of ordinary people, against the backdrop of historical events.
The event image comes from Hungarian conceptual artist Tibor iski Kocsis' artwork from La Luna series, where he explores the relationship between representation and reality, often choosing to depict contexts where human existence is challenging (apart from the participatory gaze of the viewer). Iski Kocsis takes inspiration from the Hasselblad photo documents made in 1972 by the astronauts of Apollo 15, 16 and 17. In his work, he creates a reproduction of an image and, in doing so, he emphasizes the distance between contexts suitable for human existence and vegetation-free landscape.
Another Hungarian artist from the exhibition is László László Révész. He was a representative member of the progressive art group Indigo, active from 1978 to 1986 in Budapest, whose experimental creativity made them also known as pioneers of the 'new Hungarian avant garde'. It is perhaps Révész's reference to cinematographic language of film-making that gives to his compositions the character of momentary snapshots of a greater, overarching plot. They elements in the painting provide no intrinsic or rational explanation for their own existence, except for the fact that they seem to have a relation with something that happened in the past. In Révész’s charcoal drawings, the blurred silhouettes among shadows and etched lines, seem to establish a theatre-like interaction between positive and negative space.
Hungarian director Konnyu brings his latest art film Awakening: It is the first dance and virtual animated movie in the world, using innovative processes and 3D video projection, mixing technology and contemporary dance. The production combines some of the greatest works of giant composers with modern technical elements and contemporary dance praxis.
Most of the background scenes in the movie come from Mr. Konnyu's life and his artistic creation. All the parallel spaces in the universe presented in the movie display their unique color composition echoing images from the real world. All the experiences of the protagonist across all these parallel dimensions suggest that although people may get lost in the vast and virtual dreams, they can find their true self in the end.
The Parkview Museum·Beijing will hold a series of public art education programs this summer, for more information please follow our official WeChat account 芳草地艺术。