Mai Manó Gallery ("Kis Manó")

There are many different kinds of photographs. Some make us feel good by simply looking at them. Some exist so that, by carefully observing them, certain thought processes get started in our heads. (And, of course, there are a number of photographs that are capable of neither, but let’s not talk about those here.)

Zsuzsa Kemenesi’s exhibition On The Ethics Of Thinking in the Mai Manó Gallery challenges the eyes and heads of even the most hardened exhibition-visitor. U.S.-resident John Tagg’s (Binghamton University, State University of New York) name is not unknown to us; translated by Zsuzsa Kemenesi, we read his essay “Evidence, Truth and Order: Photographic Records and the Growth of the State” in last year’s Fotóművészet (Photo Art) magazine (vol. 3), while recently the professor’s name also comes high on works cited lists. Kemenesi is currently translating his book The Burden of Representation to Hungarian, during which, understandably so, images appear in front of her – and such is not surprising as not only is she a teacher, a theorist, and a translator, but also a photographer. These rather strange, almost sensually delicate images take us closer to a sphere that otherwise rarely opens up for us, ordinary mortals. You should carefully observe the fourteen exhibited pieces and read the captions, which are, in fact, quotes by Tagg. I recommend her pictures to the curious and sophisticated lovers of art, and to those sensible to the relationship between letter, word, text, and image, including the exhibition-visitors with philosophical tendencies.

Károly Kincses,
curator of the exhibition

KEMENESI, ZSUZSANNA

EDUCATION 
2000–2004 Ph.D. Philosophy. Studies in Visual Communication, PTE-BME Budapest Hungary • 2005-2006 Project Management, Budapest College of Communication and Business Institute of European Studies • 1993–1999 M.A. in Communication Studies, Janus Pannonius University, Faculty of Arts, Pécs Hungary • 1992–1998 M.A. in Art and Visual Education, Janus Pannonius University, Pécs Hungary • 1996–1997 Art Institute Indonesia, Faculty of Recorded Media Arts, Department of Photography
Scholarship by the Ministry of Education and Culture Republic of Indonesia • 1994–1995 English as a Second Language, Hotel and Travel Training College, London England

AWARDS, RESIDENCY PROGRAMS
2011 Visegrad Group. V4 Through My Eyes – Czech Republic, Poland
2008 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant for Overseas Researchers
2004 Prize of Esztergom City, Photo Biennial of Esztergom
2003 Member of Hungarian Cultural Delegation to ICP, New York
2000 Residency program, Künstlerhaus, City of Salzburg, Austria
1999–2000, 2002 Ministry of National Cultural Heritage, Hungary – Pécsi József Fine Art Photography Grant

SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITIONS
2012 FUGA Budapest Center of Architecture, Hungary (G)
2012 Art Market Budapest, Hungary (G)
2012 Hungarian House of Photography, Budapest, Hungary (G)
2011 Hungarian House of Photography, Budapest, Hungary (G)
2011 Art Market Budapest, Hungary (G)
2011 V4 Through My Eyes, European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels, Belgium (G)
2011 Klauzál 13 Galéria - Fellegjáró valóság, Budapest Hungary (G)
2010 Hungarian Culture, Brussels – Reality on Cloud 9, Belgium (G)
2010 Raiffeisen Gallery, Budapest, Hungary *
2010 Art Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2009 Kiminusa Galéria – “Ájlávjú” / ”I love you”, Budapest, Hungary
2009 Nessim Gallery, “Best of”, Budapest, Hungary
2008 Nessim Gallery, AQUA, Budapest, Hungary
2008 Hungarian House of Photography, Budapest, Hungary
2008 Esztergom Photo Biennial, Esztergom Hungary
2007 Art Paris 2007, Paris France
2007 Esther Woerdehoff, Paris France
2007 Nessim Gallery, Budapest, Hungary *
2006 Photo Month in Krakow Poland
2006 Platán Gallery, Budapest Hungary
2006 Synergon Gallery, Budapest Hungary *
2005 Month of Photography, Bratislava, Slovakia *
2005 Festival Photo Nature & Paysage, La Gacilly France
2005 Hungarian Museum of Photography, Kecskemét Hungary
2005 Museu de Agua, Lisbon, Portugal
2005 Akku. Budapest Gallery, Budapest Hungary
2004 Blue Sky Gallery, Portland OR USA *
2004 Prospekto Gallery, Vilnius Lithuania
2003 Kempinski Gallery, Budapest Hungary *
2003 Nyitott Műhely Gallery, Budapest Hungary *
2003 Camera Soave, Panoramic view, Italy
2003 Budapest Gallery, Budapest Hungary
2002 Almeria Centro Andaluz de la Fotografia, Spain
2002 Palazzo Ex Monte di Pietà S. Daniele del Friuli, Italy
2002 Hungarian Photographic Museum, Kecskemét Hungary
2002 12th Esztergom Photo Biennial – panorama, Esztergom Hungary
2002 Krausz Palace, Pécsi József Grant, Budapest Hungary
2002 Palace of Art, The Iconography of the Egg, Budapest Hungary
2001 Galeri Photo, Collection of the Bolt Gallery, Montpellier France
2001 Palais Royal, Paris France
2001 Hungarian House of Photography, Budapest Hungary *
2001 Budapest Gallery, Budapest Hungary *
2001 Accademia d’Ungheria, Roma Italy
1999 Ferenczy Gallery, Budapest Hungary *
1998 San Francesco Art Gallery, San Marino
1998 Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest Hungary
1998 Hungarian House of Photography, Budapest Hungary *
1998 House of Arts, Pécs Hungary *
1998 Bolt Gallery, Budapest Hungary *
1997 Bentara Budaya, Yogyakarta Republic of Indonesia *
1997 Gallery TC, Jakarta Republic of Indonesia *
1997 Art Institute Indonesia, Java Republic of Indonesia *
1997 10th Esztergom Photo Biennial – Sheet-film, Esztergom Hungary
1996 Ernst Museum, The Visible Present, Budapest Hungary
1994 Hungarian Institute, Stuttgart (G)

* Solo exhibitions

COLLECTIONS (PERSONAL ART WORKS INCLUDED)
International House of Photography and Film, Rochester, NY United States of America
University of Creation; Art, Design, Music & Social Work, Takasaki Gunma Japan
Contemporary Hungarian Photo Collection of Bolt Gallery, Budapest Hungary
Hungarian Museum of Photography, Kecskemét Hungary
Synergon Gallery Collection, Budapest Hungary
Raiffeisen Gallery Collection, Budapest Hungary
Art Institute Indonesia, Republic of Indonesia
San Marino Museum of Photography, San Marino
Portland Art Museum, OR United States of America