(UN)LEARN, CREATE & PRESENT AT OFF-BIENNÁLE BUDAPEST 2025

/in ,

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY

 

“A safe space is not a sticker. You can’t just call a space “safe” and expect it to be so. A label, a declaration, even the best intentions—none of these guarantee actual safety. And what feels safe to you might not feel safe to me. Safety is not a fixed state; it’s a continuous, negotiated process. During this masterclass, we will critically engage with urgent and complex topics such as safe spaces, trigger warning, hierarchy, authority, separation, distinction, responsibility, and the overuse of buzzwords like “radical empathy” or “politics of care”. We will reintroduce the notion of frame—not as a limitation, but as a structure that protects rather than restricts. A frame sets conditions, creates clarity, and offers a foundation from which risk, experimentation, and transformation can emerge. We will challenge the mainstream discourse of horizontality, questioning how its rhetoric, while often well-intentioned, can paradoxically become an obstacle to the emergence of contemporary leaders. Leadership does not have to mean domination or oppression. We will reimagine it beyond capitalist individualism, seeking new iconographies of leadership and management that are true to our ethics—rooted in sincerity, generosity, and integrity.”

Anna Ádám

The OFF Biennale Budapest, Company Gray Box, and School of Disobedience are offering two fully funded scholarships for an intensive “The Art of Holding Space” Masterclass (2025 May 5-30), designed for artists, makers, creatives, and cultural practitioners seeking to expand their practice into socially engaged art, community facilitation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Participants will receive comprehensive training, mentorship, and the opportunity to present their collaborative practice or community art work at OFF Biennálé 2025, Hungary’s largest independent contemporary art event. This program is intended for professionals who wish to move beyond individual creation and develop projects that foster collective experiences, participatory methods, and meaningful social impact.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVE

“The Art of Holding Space” Masterclass is designed to equip artists, makers, creatives, and cultural practitioners with the skills, confidence, and strategies necessary to design, implement, and lead participatory projects, transformative experiences, design and hold creative spaces, build communities. 

The program focuses on: 

  • Acquiring tools for facilitation, community engagement, and participatory practices 
  • Develop your own toolbox with exercises, objects, images 
  • Setting a frame, leading a group, and enjoy leading 
  • Understanding how to create and hold brave spaces for artistic exploration, critical thinking, and empowerment 
  • Developing a participatory art project with active audience engagement (workshops, spaces, multi-sensory experiences, community actions, etc.), testing it in a small group setting, then a bigger group setting within OFF Biennial 2025 
  • Extending existing work (pieces, performances) with an educational or community aspect that shifts audience participation from passive to active 
  • Receiving individual mentorship Gaining professional visibility through a final presentation at OFF Biennial 2025

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

Week 1: Theory & Discussions

  • Critical perspectives on socially engaged art 
  • Addressing sensitive topics, taboos, rhetorics, and mainstream discourses 
  • Introduction to facilitation methods and radical pedagogies 
  • Development of an individual project outline

Week 2: Testing & Piloting

  • Conceptualizing a pilot version of the collaborative practice or community project (workshop, experience, space, interactive dispositive…) 
  • Testing ideas in a small group setting 
  • Refining artistic and theoretical approaches 
  • Creating exercises, toolbox, methods

Week 3: Practice & Implementation

  • Individual mentorship and hands-on facilitation practice 
  • Holding spaces and leading group experiences 
  • Key topics: 
    • Creating a frame and making sure it is respected 
    • Differentiation and separation of spaces, roles, functions 
    • Assuming responsibility: finding our leadership style and redefining authority 
    • Discussing copyright and ownership in collective work 
    • Exploring alternative financial models to build and sustain artistic spaces, practices, and communities 
  • Evening sessions dedicated to group facilitation

Week 4: Documentation & Follow-Up (Online)

  • Archiving and reflective practice
  • Planning next steps for project sustainability

SCHEDULE

May 5-30, 2025​ 

WEEK 1 – 1111 Gallery (Kende u. 1) May 5, 6, 8, 9: 10:00–13:00 

WEEK 2 – 1111 Gallery (Kende u. 1) May 12, 13, 15, 16: 17:00–20:00

WEEK 3 – 1111 Gallery (Kende u. 1) May 19, 20, 22, 23: 17:00–20:00

WEEK 4 – Online May 26, 27, 29, 30: This final week, conducted online with daily prompts, offers five days of guidance for documentation, reflection, and connection.

WHO SHOULD APPLY

This program is designed for artists, makers, creatives, and cultural practitioners who are interested in expanding their work into community engagement, facilitation, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Ideal candidates include:

  • Artists looking to integrate community-based approaches into their practice
  • Dancers and movement practitioners interested in workshop facilitation and interdisciplinary methodologies
  • Cultural workers, educators, and facilitators aiming to develop participatory artistic experiences
  • Activists and organizers using art as a tool for social transformation

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applicants must submit the following:

  • A short biography outlining their background and experience
  • A project description detailing their artistic vision and objectives

Deadline for applications: March 23, 2025
Eligibility: Open to people living and working in Hungary
Scholarship coverage: Full tuition for all four weeks of training (attendance required)
Program language: English

For further information or inquiries, please contact us:

What should we build in Kálvária Square?

/in ,

What should we build in Kálvária Square with Recetas Urbanas?

 

A project of Recetas Urbanas

What should we build in Kálvária Square?

  • A meeting corner? 
  • A picnic area? 
  • A bouncy playground or a mini sports field? 
  • A stage for big shows? 
  • A leafy shaded area? 
  • A bridge or a secret passage? 
  • Something COMPLETELY different?

Share your ideas with us – how could Kálvária Square become even more community-friendly and inviting?

How? Jot down your idea in a few words or even sketch your dream version of the square! We welcome all ideas and drafts – an international team of architects is excited to bring them to life.

Send your ideas by March 3, 2025 to or fill out this form.

    Do you want a seat at the design table? Join our next workshop! 

    When? Wednesday, March 5, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

    Where? Kesztyűgyár Community House, Piros terem [Red Room]

    Who? Everyone is welcome (ages 6-99)!

    Please confirm your attendance by emailing .

    Come and shape Kálvária Square with us!

    Curators of OFF-Biennale 2025

    /in ,

    We’re announcing the curatorial team for the fifth edition.

     

    We are pleased and proud to announce the curators of OFF-Biennale 2025. Many of this year’s team have been involved in the creation of previous editions from the very beginning. It was also important to involve new professionals to give even more and fresh perspectives.

    Curators of the fifth edition:

    Nikolett Erőss

    Rita Kálmán

    Eszter Lázár

    Edit Molnár

    Veronika Molnár

    Kata Oltai

    Lívia Páldi

    Hajnalka Somogyi

    Borbála Soós

    Katalin Székely

    Call for Volunteers

    /in ,

    OFF-Biennale Budapest is an international contemporary art event and Hungary’s largest independent, civil arts initiative. OFF-Biennale operates as a grassroots organization based on artistic, social, and scientific collaborations, functioning in a networked structure. It creates new artworks, exhibitions, publications, events, and educational programs; supports Hungarian artists’ work, and brings the international art scene closer to local audiences. It’s not hosted in traditional art venues but rather takes place in private homes, empty shops, industrial buildings, and public spaces, inviting audiences to explore the city. Its aim is to use the tools of visual art to engage in social dialogue on public affairs and to strengthen the culture of democracy.

    The first OFF-Biennale was held in 2015, with subsequent events in 2017 and 2021, and it also featured at documenta fifteen in 2022.

    The fifth edition will be held from May 1 to June 15, 2025, coinciding with OFF’s tenth anniversary: a decade since the self-organized international “garage biennale” was launched in spring 2015. The theme of the upcoming OFF is “Safety”—a fundamental human right and instinctive need, yet one increasingly inaccessible for many, despite heated political debates and the growth of the security industry.

    Why We Need Volunteers

    For years, our work has relied on the involvement of numerous volunteers. We’re looking for individuals interested in contemporary art, motivated by responsible work that requires both teamwork and autonomy. Volunteers collaborate with experienced professionals in their respective fields, offering opportunities for mutual learning.

    When?

    We need your support from January to the end of June 2025. The busiest period will be leading up to the opening, but there will be plenty to do throughout the Biennale and even after it concludes.

    How to Apply

    Fill out the application form, where you can also upload your brief CV and motivation letter. Applications are ongoing!

    First Volunteer Briefing: Mid-February 2025.

    For any questions, contact us at .

    Areas Where We Need Your Help

    Leadership Assistance

    • Supporting the director’s work: coordinating with teams, international
      professionals, event organization, and administrative tasks.

    Production

    • Art Project Coordination: Preparation and organization of new productions for OFF, liaising with artists, venues, and all stakeholders and supporters involved in the projects.
    • Event organization, creative content development, and event execution.
    • Infomediation: Welcoming visitors at exhibition venues, providing information
      about the artworks, and managing exhibition technology (turning it on/off).
    • Exhibition setup, carpentry, AV technology, and assisting with setting up the OFF-Biennale community space (from moving furniture to painting).

    Volunteer Coordination

    Organization and Financial Assistance

    • Handling contracts, collecting and managing invoices, preparing records, and organizing artwork transport, travel, and accommodation.

    Communication

    • Communications Campaign Assistant: Preparing press events, assisting onsite, requesting quotes, managing printing, editing newsletters, and supporting social media communications.
    • Managing the press center, book, and media library at OFF’s central location.
    • English translation.
    • Hungarian language editing.
    • Press monitoring.
    • Website content uploads.
    • Content creation.

    Educational Programs – Assistant

    • Contributing to the development and implementation of educational programs for children and adult audiences.
    • Preparing and coordinating educational programs, supporting educators.
    • Contacting and liaising with schools and children’s groups, maintaining contact lists.
    • Collaborating with the communications team on tasks related to educational programs (e.g., writing and managing program descriptions, maintaining the website’s educational content, organizing audiences, arranging guided tours).

    Documentation

    • Photography, videography, post-production, video subtitling, image editing.

    Online Events

    • Providing technical support and serving as a technical host for online events.

     

    Thank you,
    The OFF-Biennale Team

    Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival. Lecture by Natalia Romik

    /in ,

    OFF-Biennale Budapest proudly presents the first public event leading up to its upcoming edition to be opened in May 2025.

     

    Sculpture representing the Józef Oak tree, photo: Daniel Chrobak, Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw 2022.

    On 29 October 2024 at 6 p.m., public historian, architect and artist Natalia Romik will present her ongoing project Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival at the Polish Institute in Budapest. The project developed in the context of the Polish memory battles regarding the Jewish experience of hiding during WWII. Romik will speak about the research, the resulting exhibition and also how the total invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the refugee crisis on the Poland-Belarus border has turned her work harrowingly contemporary.

    In Poland and Ukraine during World War II, approximately 50,000 people survived persecution by the German occupying forces in hiding. The majority of them were Jewish. They found refuge in tree hollows, closets, basements, sewers, empty graves, and other precarious locations. Natalia Romik’s exhibition Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival pays tribute to these fragile places of refuge and explores their physicality. The show poses basic questions about the relationship between architecture, private life, and the public sphere: it addresses the protective function of spaces and emphasizes the creativity those in hiding brought to bear in their attempt to survive.

    In a research project extending over several years, Natalia Romik and an interdisciplinary team of researchers consulted oral histories to identify several hiding places, which they explored using forensic methods. The multimedia exhibition Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival presents the results of this research. It consists of sculptures bearing a direct connection to the sites and includes documentary films, forensic recordings, photos, documents, and objects found in the hiding places.

    Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival has been presented in cooperation with the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, the TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin and the Jewish Museum Frankfurt with a catalogue published in German and English editions by Hatje Cantz Verlag.

    The inaugural event and the following Q&A will be introduced and moderated by Lívia Páldi curator. The collaboration between the artist and OFF is planned to continue in the framework of OFF 2025. The programme is also an event of solidarity: it is part of Bridges of Solidarity, an international series of events around the exhibition Sense of Safety that is currently on view in Kharkiv, Ukraine, which brings attention to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine through programmes by cultural institutions across Europe.

    Partner:

    The fifth edition of the OFF-Biennale is coming in 2025

    /in ,

    The fifth edition of the OFF-Biennale is coming in 2025

     

    Reviving the 1979 Gladness demonstrations of Endre Tót (a legendary figure of the Hungarian neo-avant-garde) carried out in several european cities, young artist Kristóf Kovács organised a demonstration in Budapest during the 2017 OFF-Biennale. Participants carried their own laughing faces on a large sign, while at the beginning of the march a giant banner read: “We are happy to demonstrate”.

    We are delighted to announce that we will be organising OFF-Biennale again from 8 May to 15 June 2025! The fifth edition will also be a celebration of OFF’s tenth anniversary: it is just over a decade since the launch of the self-organised international garage biennale in spring 2015. The notion of “security” is the central topic of the next OFF, an instinctive need and a fundamental right for all of us; and yet, despite the heated political debates surronding it and the growth of the security services industry, it is becoming increasingly out of reach for the majority.

    Ten years ago, OFF was established to strengthen the local independent art scene and contribute to the public discourse on social, cultural and environmental issues. As before, OFF aims to be a platform for open, multi layered and inclusive public debate, focusing our attention on pressing issues relevant to all of us by the means of contemporary art. In a political climate not conducive to civil and cultural self-organization OFF-Biennale remained one of the few art NGOs in Budapest still actively working on creating and maintaining ground for free speech and reinforcing independence.

    The group exhibition Somewhere in Europe (Galeria Centralis / Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archive) reflected on the central theme of the 2017 OFF-Biennale, the daily life of the children’s republic Gaudiopolis and the short democratic period in Hungary between 1945-49, through archival material and contemporary artworks.

    Over the past two decades, the notion of security has become central to mainstream political rhetoric and public discourse. In a world of rapid and chaotic change, the everyday unpredictability ecological disasters, wars and relentless individualistic competition, most people are desperate for a sense of existential, financial and social security – the lure of freedom has faded. Populist political tendencies have long been built on a sense of insecurity and fear, generating apocalyptic narratives of looming threats and enemies. It is increasingly accepted that security is being used as a pretext to curtail civil and human rights, leading to the rise of autocracies.

    OFF-Biennale 2025 will attempt to rethink the notion of security with participating artists, professionals and researchers, so that it is based on trust rather than xenophobia, on communities of tolerance, care and solidarity rather than competition for domination, on transparency rather than secrecy, on emancipated public debate rather than fear of the dark masses. Where, how, with whom do we feel safe? What does this mean for us on a personal, even visceral level, when we think of our families, our communities? What does it mean in terms of our possessions, our data, and what when we talk about national security or international alliances? What does it mean for the most vulnerable communities who are not well represented in the current power structures? In a general climate of constantly generated fear and uncertainty, how can we feel safe enough to stand up for a future in which most living beings suffer the least?

    The 2025 OFF-Biennale will be presented in several venues in Budapest, in the framework of local civil and institutional as well as international collaborations, with plans to show our productions abroad at partner sites in the second half of the year. Our priority is to produce and present new Hungarian artworks.

    © Tereza Havlínková

    Art Space Unlimited – Vulnerable communities at the forefront of contemporary art institutions

    /in ,

    Art Space Unlimited

    Vulnerable communities at the forefront of contemporary art institutions

     

    Project meeting, seminar and debate, Prague, 16-19 July 2024, © Tereza Havlínková

    Five European non-profit art organizations have teamed up to learn from each other and find new ways to open up to audiences with limited access to institutionalized culture. Initiated by La Escocesa (Barcelona, Spain), OFF-Biennale Budapest (Hungary), < rotor > (Graz, Austria), Shtatëmbëdhjetë / Foundation 17 (Pristina, Kosovo), and tranzit.cz / Biennale Matter of Art (Prague, Czech Republic), the project Art Space Unlimited builds upon the individual artistic and educational efforts of these institutions, who will realise different critical art and cultural events in cooperation with local communities based on their specific needs. The art spaces involved will build shared knowledge and organize public events centered around the mediation of art. The project will help these institutions to become spaces relevant for an audience with limited access to institutionalized contemporary art and develop strategies which can be relevant for other, similar organisations. The project will culminate in a book that will be made available in six languages.

    Project meeting, seminar and debate, Prague, 16-19 July 2024, © Tereza Havlínková

    While shaped by their local contexts and institutional structures, each of the five organizations employs different formats and strategies to engage with audiences as well as artists and the professional public, ranging from year-long exhibition programs and discursive events to concentrated biennial exhibitions to regular artistic residencies. However, the common ground is that the activities planned will allow them to expand their regular programming, helping the institutions to develop mediation programs based on empathy, participation, and mutual understanding.

     

    Partners:

    La Escocesa: https://laescocesa.org/en

    Rotor: https://rotor.mur.at/

    Shtatëmbëdhjetë / Foundation 17: https://foundation17.org/

    tranzit.cz / Biennale Matter of Art: https://matterof.art/

     

    The project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

     

    Goethe Medal: German state decoration goes to OFF-Biennale

    /in , ,

    2023 GOETHE MEDAls go to Gaga CHKHEIDZE, YI-WEI KENG, AND THE OFF-BIENNALE

    This year’s Goethe Medal honours the film manager Gaga Chkheidze from Georgia, the curator and dramaturg Yi-Wei Keng from Taiwan, and the curatorial team of the OFF-Biennale from Hungary. The official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany is awarded to public figures who render outstanding services to cultural exchange worldwide or the teaching of the German language. The Goethe-Instituts abroad nominate candidates by virtue of their significance for cultural policy and their exceptional artistic work; the selection of awardees is made by a jury of experts. The Goethe Medal will be conferred by the president of the Goethe-Institut Carola Lentz at a ceremony in Weimar on 28 August.

    For the announcement of this year’s awardees, Carola Lentz, president of the Goethe-Institut, noted, “Cultural practitioners and civil society actors worldwide are increasingly affected by censorship, repression, persecution and war. This year’s award winners are inspiring enablers and mediators, creating places of encounter and diversity of perspective. They make a significant contribution to cultural understanding, global exchange, and freedom of expression and art. Gaga Chkheidze has contributed significantly to the development and internationalisation of the Georgian film scene and has worked hard to connect Georgia to European and international programmes. Yi-Wei Keng is one of the most important initiators of cultural exchange in Taiwan, especially of the networking with Germany’s theatre scene. The OFF-Biennale is the largest independent event for contemporary art in Hungary and reflects current social, political, and ecological issues through artistic means. It unequivocally works without state funding. With the Goethe Medal, we hope to strengthen the work of these outstanding individuals and groups in their cultural context.”

    The commission for awarding the Goethe Medal, chaired by Thomas Oberender, justifies the selection of the award winners as follows:

    Gaga Chkheidze is an internationally recognised film manager from Georgia. Under his leadership, the Tbilisi International Film Festival, which he founded, has become a central venue for the current Georgian and international film and cinema industries and an important meeting point for filmmakers, producers, and distributors in the South Caucasus. Gaga Chkheidze’s engagement in the field of film is crucial for Georgia’s connection to European and international institutions and programmes, film markets and festivals, and for opening Georgia to international co-productions. Gaga Chkheidze also maintains close working relations with Germany and creates important cultural bridges between the two countries. As director of the Georgian National Film Centre, he has worked for the digitization and restoration of the Georgian films produced during the Soviet era thus making a decisive contribution to the preservation of Georgian film heritage.

    Yi-Wei Keng contributes as a curator, dramaturg, and translator to a lively cultural exchange in Taiwan, primarily in the performing arts. He has brought important stimuli to the Taiwanese theatre scene, including experimental theatre, children’s theatre, and theatre for people with disabilities. Under his direction, the Taipei Arts Festival has become the most important festival for performative arts in Taiwan with guest performances and co-productions from Europe, the USA and Japan, among others. A special focus of his work is the promotion of German theatre productions. Yi-Wei Keng has brought productions by the Deutsches Theater Berlin, Rimini Protokoll and Raumlabor Berlin to Taiwan. He is also continuously committed to opening up new perspectives for theatre professionals and students of theatre studies in Taiwan through translations of fundamental foreign texts into traditional Chinese characters. At his suggestion and with his support, many contemporary plays and publications from Germany, such as “Postdramatisches Theater” by Hans-Thies Lehmann, have been translated in recent years.

    The OFF-Biennale is the largest event for contemporary art in Hungary. The six-member curatorial team, which consists exclusively of women, brings contemporary art to civil society, and initiates a public discourse on current socio-political and ecological issues. The focus is on issues such as the participation of LGBTQ+ and Roma in Hungary. The curators not only invite central positions from Germany and other places into the Hungarian debate, but also make Hungarian and Eastern European perspectives accessible in Germany and beyond, as recently at documenta fifteen. OFF-Biennale deliberately keeps its distance from a national cultural policy and therefore works without state funding and without partnerships with state art institutions. This is considered by the OFF-Biennale both a strong political statement a practical basis to protect the freedom of artistic expression and the professional integrity of its programmes.

    About the awardees

    Gaga Chkheidze (Georgia)

    Gaga Chkheidze was born in Georgia in 1957. After studying German at Tbilisi State University, Gaga Chkheidze graduated from the Faculty of Literature and Art at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. In the 1980s, he worked as the director of the German school in Tbilisi and taught German literature at Ilia University. In 1988, he organised a Georgian film retrospective at the Arsenal cinema in Berlin for which he even smuggled films across the Soviet border in his car. In the 1990s he worked as a translator and programme coordinator for the Forum of Young Cinema (Berlin International Film Festival) and the Arsenal cinema (Berlin). In 2000, Gaga Chkheidze founded the Tbilisi International Film Festival in Georgia to introduce Georgian audiences to films made in Georgia and around the world and to promote the development of the Georgian film industry. The now internationally renowned festival celebrates its 23rd anniversary this year. From 2005 to 2022, Gaga Chkheidze was a board member of the Georgian Film Fund; from 2005 to 2008 and from 2019 to 2022, he was director of the Georgian National Film Centre. After Gaga Chkheidze expressed criticism of Russia in the wake of Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine and published a statement of solidarity with Ukraine, he was dismissed as director of the Georgia National Film Centre in March 2022. The decision of the Minister of Culture was challenged with a lawsuit.

     

    Yi-Wei Keng (Taiwan)

    Yi-Wei Keng, born in 1969 in Taiwan, went to Prague to study non-verbal theatre from 1997 to 1999 after studying philosophy. He returned to Taiwan in 1999 and began working in theatre alongside his work as a writer. In 2012, he became artistic director of the Taipei Arts Festival. His Axis Taipei & International Collaboration concept contributed to anchoring Taipei as a creative centre, introducing the latest trends in international theatre and presenting creative works from all over the world to the festival audience. The focus of his artistic work was and still is particularly on the promotion of German-Taiwanese cultural projects. Since 2018, Yi-Wei Keng has also been dramaturge at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts in southern Taiwan, one of the three most important theatres in the country. For 2023, he has invited the Berlin Schaubühne with their production “Im Herzen der Gewalt”. He is also co-curator of the Want to Dance festival in Taipei. From 2023, he will be responsible for the Tainan Arts Festival in southern Taiwan and thus provides access to German and international cultural content beyond the capital city. For his work to date, Keng received the Friendship Medal of the German Institute Taipei in 2017 and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 2019.

     

    OFF-Biennale, represented in Weimar by Hajnalka Somogyi and Nikolett Erőss (Hungary)

    The OFF-Biennale started in 2014 as a “garage biennial” to create a platform for artists in exchange with civil society. Already in its first year, the art show attracted much international attention. With three editions to date (2015, 2017, and 2021), it has since become a highly regarded international event. The team behind the OFF-Biennale consists of six curators: Nikolett Erőss, Eszter Lázár, Hajnalka Somogyi, Eszter Szakács, Borbála Szalai and Katalin Székely.

    Nikolett Erőss, leader and co-curator of the OFF-Biennale, works as a curator as well as editor and directs the municipal Budapest Gallery. Previously, she was co-curator of the C3 Gallery, coordinated media art projects at the C3 Cultural and Communication Centre Foundation, was director of the Trafó Gallery and curator at the Ludwig Museum in Budapest. Hajnalka Somogyi is the initiator, leader, and co-curator of the OFF-Biennale. She received her Master’s degree at Bard College, New York in 2009, worked as a curator at Budapest’s Ludwig Museum, founded the independent art initiatives Dinamo and Impex, and currently teaches as a professor at Metropolitan University Budapest. In 2020, she became the first Hungarian to be voted one of ArtReview’s “Power 100: most influential people in art.”

     

    The artistic and discursive programme for the Goethe Medal in Weimar is developed in cooperation with Kunstfest Weimar.

     

    Press photos of the 2023 awardees can be found at www.goethe.de/bilderservice

    Information about the Goethe Medal and an overview of previous awardees can be found at www.goethe.de/goethe-medaille

    About the Goethe Medal

    Since 1955, the Goethe-Institut has awarded the Goethe Medal once a year as an official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is the most important award of Germany’s foreign cultural policy. The candidates are nominated by the Goethe-Instituts around the world in consultation with Germany’s diplomatic missions. From these nominations, the Goethe Medal Jury, consisting of persons from academia, art, and culture, draws up a selection that is confirmed by the president of the Goethe-Institut. The awarding of the Goethe Medal makes globally relevant cultural issues and actors known to the public in Germany and supports the internationalisation of the German cultural landscape. The award ceremony is held on 28 August, Goethe’s birthday. Since it was first awarded in 1955, 375 persons from 70 countries have been honoured, including Dogan Akhanlı, Yurii Andrukhovych, Daniel Barenboim, David Cornwell aka John le Carré, Princess Marilyn Douala Manga Bell, Sofia Gubaidulina, Ágnes Heller, Wen Hui, Neil MacGregor, Petros Markaris, Ariane Mnouchkine, Tali Nates, Shirin Neshat, Sandbox Collective (Nimi Ravindran and Shiva Pathak), Irina Shcherbakova, Jorge Semprún, Yoko Tawada, Zukiswa Wanner, Robert Wilson and Helen Wolff.

    The commission for awarding the Goethe Medal

    Franziska Augstein (journalist), Meret Forster (editorial director, music, BR-Klassik), Olga Grjasnowa (writer), Matthias Lilienthal (dramaturg and theatre director), Moritz Müller-Wirth (journalist, Die Zeit), Cristina Nord (Berlinale Forum, head of Berlin section), Thomas Oberender (representative of the Presidium and chair of the jury, author and curator), Insa Wilke (literary critic); representing the Federal Foreign Office: Ralf Beste (Head of the department of culture and communication); representing the Goethe-Institut: Carola Lentz (President of the Goethe-Institut) and Johannes Ebert (Secretary-General of the Goethe-Institut)

     

    Solidarity Screenings – ONLINE in the Verziotheque until June 11

    /in ,

    Solidarity Screenings – ONLINE in the Verziotheque until June 11

    Moving Image and War in Ukraine

    Fundraising for Ukrainian artists

     

    The SOLIDARITY SCREENINGS program, presented in the framework of the symposium THE SEASON OF DARKNESS: Being Civil in an Uncivil Society, is available online between May 23 and June 11, 2023 in the Verziótheque, in collaboration between Verzió Film Festival and OFF-Biennale Budapest. The Solidarity Screenings program is a series of fundraising events in the framework of the initiative ESI – Emergency Support Initiative, supporting members of the artistic and cultural community in Ukraine finding themselves in need.

     

    The Solidarity Screenings video program is a collection of thought-provoking works exploring the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, its effects and its perception. Each video has been created by a visual artist based in Ukraine, and all of the works were made after the start of the full-scale Russian military invasion on February 24, 2022.

     

    The project aims to preserve and develop evidence, reflections, and feelings related to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Through their artistic reflections, the video creators offer unique insights into the impact of the conflict on the lives of people caught in the middle of a humanitarian crisis, forced migration, occupation, volunteer, and resistance movements.

     

    The video program presents an intimate and raw portrayal of the artists’ current practices, featuring personal stories and attitudes. It explores the diverse ways in which the conflict affects the daily lives of individuals, families, and communities across Ukraine. The screenings foster awareness about the situation in the region and provide a platform for Ukrainian artists to share their perspectives and experiences with audiences around the world, offering their own interpretations of the complex political and social issues at the heart of Europe.

     

    Solidarity Screenings program features the works of Anna Kryvenko, Alisa Sizykh, Bohdan Bunchak, Daryna Snizhko, Maria Matiashova, Vladyslav Plisetskiy, Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei, Eugene Arlov and Diana Derii, Zoya Laktionova. Curated by Serge Klymko.

     

    Rental and more information on this link.

    LUMBUNG FILMS — THE BUDAPEST SCREENING. A selection from the lumbung Film collection

    /in ,

    LUMBUNG FILMS — THE BUDAPEST SCREENING. A selection from the lumbung Film collection

    Date: May 24 – June 3, 2023

    Wednesday – Saturday,  4:00 pm – 8:30 pm

    Venue: Nyolcésfél, Budapest 1084, Német u. 16.; 7 th floor

     

    lumbung Film is a common pot of film and video works created by lumbung members and lumbung artists. It functions as an online database accessible for the lumbung community who can curate and present their own film selections in their respective countries. Aiming to pool resources together, lumbung Film is one of the manifestations of the lumbung practice and a way to keep using this “sharing resources, knowledge and working-method”—approach beyond the duration of documenta fifteen. Within the framework of the film programme lumbung Films – The Budapest Screening, the works selected by OFF-Biennale Budapest will be presented in four sections and screened consecutively over 8 days.

     

    lumbung Film was developed by lumbung members in the framework of documenta fifteen. The screening programme is part of THE SEASON OF DARKNESS: Being Civil in an Uncivil Society symposium.

     

    1. Modus Operandi: lumbung working methods in practice

    The lumbung experience or method—adopted by ruangrupa on the path towards documenta fifteen in 2022 and beyond—is an operative approach based on such values as collectivity, generosity, sustainability, mutual help, trust, solidarity, and interdependence. It tests alternative economic and cooperation models that prioritizes shared resource building and equitable distribution on the local level. It emphasizes the social role of art and promotes a radically different, broader, and more inclusive understanding of art than the practice currently consensual in Western Europe. The works featured in this section give an insight into the specific ecosystems and working methods of a handful lumbung members who were part of the collectively driven journey throughout documenta fifteen. The majority of these lumbung-interlokal participants are spread around the Global South, with their own contextual realities and vulnerabilities requiring different operational routines, often perceived as a survival strategy.

     

    The House of Red Monkey & Taring Padi: Art, Activism, Rocknroll, 2002, 26 min

    Agus Nur Amal PMTOH: Jatiwangi Art Factory, 2021, 11 min

    Sebastián Díaz Morales: Smashing Monuments, 2022, 50 min

    Atis Rezistans: The Ghetto Biennale, 2015, 3 min

    Atis Rezistans / John Cussans: The Tele Geto Sign Painting Video: 2012, 14 min

    Wajukuu Art Project: Wakija kwetu, 2022, 29 min

    El Warcha: A Blast from the Past, 2021, 8 min

    Project Art Works: Modus Operandi, 2015, 10 min

     

    1. The cycle of women’s rites: films by DAVRA collective

    DAVRA is a collective of 19 young artists from Central Asia created by filmmaker Saodat Ismailova, exploring the common cultural heritage of the region. The word “davra” is of Persian origin and it means circle. “A circle can mean a circle of people, a place to gather, or a group of people with whom you gather. In the Central Asian region, the people understood the universe and the world around them as round.” The films in this section by four members of the collective are about female rituals: the cyclicality of the female body which reflects a human presence on earth, where life and death are also in a continuous cycle.

    Rituals revolve around the spirits of the chilltan, a sacred and invisible collective of powerful female entities at the centre of animist spirituality in Central Asia. The elements of fairytales and daily living rituals are intertwined in the films as well as the historical past and the ancestral heritage are linked to everyday reality.

    The common female experiences create a sense of belongingness that either can be manifested in a physical place, such as a home, a house, or a shelter (that is created by a female protectress to protect women who have been subjected to violence), or it can be imagined in a warm and protective pregnant female body with the reproductive capabilities of nature.

     

    Aida Adilbek: Köbelek, 2023, 2.25 min

    Saodat Ismailova: Bibi Seshanbe, 2022, 52 min

    Nazira Karimi: Maiday Isin Shygaru, 2021, 3.18 min

    Nazilya Nagimova: Chulpan – The Mother, 2022, 11 min

     

    1. Songs of displacement and resistance

    The power of music as survival strategy in the face of persecution, resistance, displacement, and migration are the common topics shared by all three films represented in this section. The documentary-based films collect the traces and tell the tragic stories of a Yazidi community from the border region between Turkey and Syria, of a former multicultural town Müküs on Turkey’s border with Iran, as well as of a Kurdish-Iranian refugee seeking asylum in Australia. The act of documenting all the suffering, hardship, trauma, love, and sorrow in song texts, singing them out loud accompanied by heavy music is an immensely powerful testimony of the witnesses (be it a single person or a whole community, a religious or cultural minority), who stay forever haunting in these films.

     

    Shero Hinde (Komîna Fîlm a Rojava): Love in the Face of Genocide, 2020, 52 min

    Pınar Öğrenci: Asit, 2022, 60 min

    Safdar Ahmed: Border Farce, 2022, 15.55 min

    1. I wanted the screen to flip: methods of refusal and support by Sada [regroup]

    Sada is an art community and self-organised art school active between 2011-15 in Baghdad, initiated by Rijin Sahakian with the aim of providing an artistic platform that in addition to recording shared experiences, witnessing, and resistance offers professional and human support, the saving power of community in the midst of years of war, armed conflicts, US occupation, international sanctions and total political instability. The group disbanded after four years, but several members re-joined to produce new works—compiled as one experimental, interconnected anthology film—for documenta fifteen, providing a unique artistic and political representation of Iraq’s recent history, interspersed with personal narratives.

     

    Sajjad Abbas: Water of Life, 2022, 13 min

    Ali Eyal: The Blue Ink Pocket, 2022, 11 min

    Sarah Munaf: Journey Inside a City, 2022, 10 min

    Bassim Al Shaker: Barbershop, 2022, 8 min

    Rijin Sahakian: Anthem, 2022, 11 min