BODYSCAPE – Nude in Contemporary Hungarian Photography

Every year, the Budapest Photo Festival shines the spotlight on a classic genre in photography. In 2020 it examines the relation between contemporary photography and the issue of body image. Portraying the naked body was strongly present in all art forms from the start: in the Biblical-mythical storytelling or as the embodiment of beauty.

KISS Emese: Home-series, 2016

Besides the zeitgeist, the actual trends and cultural norms, many factors shaped and shape to this day our relationship with the human body. The healthy and young body became the symbol of humane and universal beauty and harmony. Nudity turned into a genre of its own during the Renaissance, and soon after the birth of photography, numerous daguerreotypes from the 1850’s prove that nudes had acquired a status just as important as portraits and cityscapes. In photography, images portraying, analyzing and interpreting the naked body and the nuances of corporeality appeared almost instantly.
The representation of the body – and everything related to it – is still a highly sensitive topic. The gender and societal roles, the changes in morals and identity are all present in the artists’ approach to this genre. The most significant change in this field is in the evaluation of gender roles, especially that of women – mostly indoctrinated by men. Inequalities between genders have become a hot topic in most societies worldwide. This is probably the reason why the approach of many contemporary artists has become more cautious, and there are considerably more women artists who often times distance themselves totally from the classical nudes as a point of reference. The Bodyscapes exhibition, highlights these tendencies in their own contradictions and richness. The exhibition is realized in the framework of Budapest Spring Festival and in the cooperation of Budapest Photo Festival and Kiscell Museum.

Kiállító művészek / Exhibited artists:
BARTIS Attila, BEDE Kincső, BENKŐ Sándor, BUDA Gábor, DIÓSI Máté, EIFERT János, FEDOR Ilka, FLANEK Péter, HIRLING Bálint, HODOSY Enikő, KAULICS Viola, KICSINY Martha, KIS-KÉRY Anna, KISS Emese, KOLOZSI Bea, Dora KONTHA, KUSNYÁR Eveline, LONDON Katalin, MÉSZÁROS László, PÁL Gábor, PÁTKAI Rozina, PINCZEHELYI Sándor, RÉDLING Hanna, RÉTHEY-PRIKKEL Tamás, Somogyvári Kata, SPANYÁR Judit, SZOMBAT Éva, TELKES Tímea,TÍMÁR Péter, TOMBOR Zoltán, TREMBECZKI Péter, URBÁN Ádám, VADÁSZI Zoltán, VARGA Tamás, VASALI Kata, VEREBICS Ági

Curators: SOMOSI Rita, SZARKA Klára

2020.04.03. – 05.31.
KISCELL MUSEUM
1037 Budapest, Kiscelli utca 108.

Opening hours:
Tuesday-Sunday 10.00 – 18.00