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Where is the Hungarian artist’s book?

Dieser Blog war immer als Instrument der Vernetzung gedacht. Umso schöner der hier folgende Beitrag von Barbara Fejes. Sie ist Graphikdesignerin und Künstlerin – und gehört zu den Wenigen, die in Ungarn Künstlerbücher schaffen und für deren Verbreitung eintreten. Als stellvertretende Vorsitzende der Ungarischen Künstlerbüchervereinigung formuliert sie hier ihren Blick auf die aktuelle Situation von Artists’ Books in Ungarn.

This blog was always intended as a networking tool. This makes the following contribution by Barbara Fejes all the more wonderful. She is a graphic designer and artist – and is one of the few artists’ book creators in Hungary. As deputy chair of the Hungarian Artists’ Books Association, she expresses her view on the current situation of artists’ books in Hungary.

Barbara Fejes

The answer is simple: it fell off the shelf and was forgotten there. At least in Hungary for sure. Fortunately some people remember that and create in this genre.

The 80s were the best time in the life of the artist’s book in Hungary, but it could have been better. It has always been in the background. Despite this, artists who make art books have lived and are still living.

It is obvious for me that this genre is divided into multiple publications and unique works of art. It is rare to find an artist who works in both. Accordingly, their appearances in an exhibitions are also different. The latest exhibition was designed for printed photo books in the Capa Contemporary Photo Center, Budapest. The curators came from the ISBN bookstore. The exhibition was very interesting, and most of the books could be touched and turned over.

Such exhibitions are very, very rare, but you can find and buy printed artist’s books all year at the ISBN bookstore (42 Baross Street, Budapest 1085). And this is the only one in our country.

ISBN+ Bookstore © Máté Lukács

It is more than a bookstore: it is a place for contemporary arts – videos, dance, exhibitions.

I must add that such alternative publications also lack a proper support. If you want to publish your work, you either have to finance it yourself or look for a foreign publisher.

The other sort of artist’s books – unique artifacts – has more exhibitions, but only in smaller galleries and only in Budapest. The news of the exhibitions reaches few people, although we keep thinking about how we can expand this circle and do something about it. You might think that this part of the genre has a more favourable situation, but we do not have one single gallery for this genre, and other galleries are not keen on accepting it, as it is not a well-known or sought-after type. The artists are left on their own, but they are enthusiastic and creative. Let me show you some examples:

Earlier the Szent István Museum in Székesfehérvár was the center of the artist’s books and organized many exhibitions until 1987, but nowadays they don’t do it. Although they have the most significant artist’s books collection. In addition, there are a few rural museums whit a significantly smaller collection and a few books can be found in the University of Fine Arts Library in Budapest.

The reason for this adverse situation may be the undeveloped support system. Museums must organize exhibitions that attract as many people as possible in order to increase their revenue. They can hardly or not at all undertake to support lesser-known though attractive topics with exhibitions. Still we have to learn to operate in this new system. For example, few people dare to use the assistance of an art manager and spend money on them. However, this can be a good opportunity for those who do not want to do everything themselves, from raising funds to promotion and managing daily affairs.

Some years ago all state funding – to which the creative profession was very used – started to decrease. Then all supports became increasingly limited: there have been sudden major measures and smaller ones, but now the framework is really tight. I see the root of the problem in the fact that in the meantime there have been no measures to develop paths to other sources. This is what we are coping with now.

We have an association that supports this genre. I am a member of this group. The management of the organization organizes exhibitions in our country and abroad, has social media platforms, build international network, and apply for tenders. This year we would like to start our monthly newsletter for galleries, curators and those who are interested in the Artist’s book or our artist. I hope that the situation can be better.

My goal is to make the artist’s book a well-known and sought-after genre on both branches. It takes a lot of work, but it is worth.


OpenEdition schlägt Ihnen vor, diesen Beitrag wie folgt zu zitieren:
redaktionbookarts (24. Februar 2025). Where is the Hungarian artist’s book? Kunst zwischen Deckeln. Abgerufen am 18. Juli 2025 von https://doi.org/10.58079/13cyq


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