Definition of the Memory. Symbols of Socialist Realism, OSA, Centralis Gallery, Budapest, 02. 02. – 19. 03. 2017

Text: Sándor Hornyik 
Photos: Dániel Végel / Blinken OSA Archívum

The exhibition titled Symbols of Socialist Art című in the Budapest gallery of Open Society Archive interprets the visual paradigms of the era in a critical way based on the book by art historian Nóra Aradi published in 1974 with the help of contemporary artists from Eastern and Central Europe. The title of the exhibition was borrowed from the book. Curator Katalin Székely matched the works of contemporary Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Polish and croation artists with tableaux the texts and images of which range from motherhood to the red flag relying upon the book by Aradi. The curator has sensibly chosen only a few works of art which excellently reflect the 100-year culture of communism in Hungary in the OSA now by evoking the Socialist simulacrum as well as the interpretations of the past in post-socialism, whilst most probably trying to find an answer to the question: how could the spectacle be born?