Szilvia Mucsy Miklós Surányi	Szilvia Mucsy, Miklós Surányi The exhibition of Pécsi József grantees at Mai Manó House   Exhibition is opened by József Készman, art historian Curator: Petra Csizek Open to the public: 13-29. March 2009. Every weekdays: 14.00 – 19.00 Weekend: 11.00 – 19.00
The exhibition of Pécsi József grantees at Mai Manó House Szilvia Mucsy· Miklós Surányi

The exhibition of Pécsi József grantees at Mai Manó House

This year the exhibition of Pécsi József grantees presents two young artists: Szilvia Mucsy and Miklós Surányi. Their differing artistic approaches and methods of work resulted in two very different series. One of them is a report offering insight to a community unknown to the public by the means of documentarist photography. The portraits and still-lives of the other series draw the picture of an imaginary group, focusing on the persons and their surroundings.

In her series, Special Energies, SZILVIA MUCSY presents healing methods, such as the Buddhist Nyungne Meditation, tarot cards, and vibration-therapy by Tibetan gong, or the healing energy of dance. In an accelerated, material, faithless world, more and more people turn to transcendent realities and listen to the call of distant spiritual forces, searching for the harmony of the soul to fend off the aggressive dominance of mainstream body-cult. This series researches into this phenomenon, presenting the main cult-locations in Hungary, the most important personages, healers and seakers, rejecting fake masters and ignorant quacks. The eye of the camera records the characters in their most intimate moments – in states of rapture or meditation – with their eyes closed.

In his series Collective Pictures, MIKLÓS SURÁNYI records the characters of an imaginary artistic group and their surroundings with the tools of traditional fine art, portrait and still-life. The subject of his photos alternate between material surroundings, nice, often funny details and close-up portraits. Time does not move on his pictures, there is no story, human relations stay hidden, and we meet atmospheres, places found and persons instead. The austere composition is resolved by the inclusion of a strange, not-really-fitting object: a plastic dog, a sign, a toe, or a slice of cherry-cake is enough to tilt the image out of its formal rigidity, to make it a playful, lyrical tableau of this imaginary society.

The background for the two, hardly connectable series is provided by Pécsi József Photographical Grant, the way the Cultural Ministry subsidizes young photographers. The prize, founded in 1991, helps photographers under 35 with money for an entire year. The winner of the grant is decided by professional curatorial body, and can be extended for altogether three years. The annual exhibition of the grantees were first held in Dorottya Gallery of Műcsarnok, but it has been housed by Mai Manó House, since 2000. The exhibitions are accompanied by a series of catalogues, that makes it possible to follow the careers of subsequent, talented new generations.