André Kertész Hall
George Eastman Hall

Budapest is a loveable metropolis of many faces. On the one hand, it retains its old character, its original urban texture; on the other hand, many of its neighbourhoods have been renovated since the regime change. With the mighty river Danube flowing through it, the city takes deep breaths with its abundant green areas, while its downtown is a true urban space pulsating to the rhythm of a beating heart.

The birth of photography coincides with the earliest stages of the development of modern big cities, and thus closely relates to the quest for individual and collective identity and its visual representation – by recording scenes of life, lifestyles and living spaces, among others. Even if we may have lost confidence in the images produced by it, photography is still the most perfect device for describing the image, the diversity, the known and unknown details of a city.

This summer the Hungarian House of Photography hosts an exhibition that endeavours to represent a vision of Budapest through the eyes of ten prominent photographers, former grantees of the Budapest Photography Grant. Our goal is to picture the diversity of the capital’s population, its rich cultural and social milieu through photography-based artworks, and present this panorama to the public – locals and tourists alike.

In addition to photographs framed and hanging side by side in the traditional manner, the space will be filled with a profusion of ideas, experiences and highlights recorded in the individual styles of the ten exhibitors after the turn of the millennium, showing what can most perfectly be shown in the language of photography: the various layers, the simultaneous emotions and experiences characterizing the capital of Hungary, the rhythm and aesthetic of its daily life today, in the third millennium. Installations, projections, objects, sounds and thoughts make this show complete, with the endeavour of being, above all, “Budapestian”.

The Budapest Photography Grant was established in 2000 by the Pro Cultura Urbis Public Foundation, at the initiative of photographer Péter Korniss and János Schiffer MP, and has been awarded to an excellent photographer each year ever since. The grant provides monthly stipend for a year to help the grantee complete a photo series on the capital of Hungary based on their submitted thematic concept.

Former grantees and the titles of their series:
Imre Benkő: Budapest Blues (2000), Zoltán Vancsó: Budapest Street (2002), Balázs Gárdi: Concrete Jungle (2003), Tamás Dezső: 8th District (2004), Gábor Arion Kudász: Green Area (2005), György Stalter: City Within the City (2006), Márk Simon: Spa Town (2007), Dániel Kovalovszky: Memory Factory (2008), Gyula Sopronyi: Residential Parks (2010) Norbert Hartyányi: Margaret Island (2011)

Curator: Sári Stenczer