SubletSeries

Hungary L!ve Festival New York, 2022: Hungarian Contemporary Art Festival

May 23-29
Established in 2018, Hungary L!ve Festival is a unique and innovative art festival held every two years in New York to showcase the outstanding, critically acclaimed works of Hungarian artists.
All productions are free to attend, but registration is required (see ticket section below).

Festival Schedule:

DOLLARDADDYS: EAST
May 23, 8:00 PM – HERE Mainstage

Emőke Kiss-Végh and Tamás Ördög are young Hungarian actors and theatre-makers, known for their unorthodox shows and projects staged in flats and unusual venues. Dollardaddy’ s (Dollár Papa Gyermekei) are one of the youngest Hungarian ensembles, true risk-takers in every sense: experimenting on the boundaries of real life and theatre in a minimalistic style. The performance is realized in the frame of Tampere University’s project Re-Connect / Re-Collect – Crossing the Divides through Memories of Cold War Childhood, inspired by the collected memories. This international and interdisciplinary research analyzes memories of diverse childhood experiences from post socialist and Cold War countries; and tries to build bridges between academic research and arts through the representations of these personal stories. It aims to establish dialogues among people divided by multiple borders – geopolitical, economic, generational and cultural – and which borders, albeit in a different form, are still there today.

KRISZTIÁN GERGYE COMPANY: “…AND ECHO”
May  24, 7:30 PM – HERE Mainstage 

The performance is followed by a talkback: CAREER OF DANCE ARTISTS.

“…and Echo” is a contemporary opera performance that portrays the main character, a woman’s inner stories with a unique bond of two other essential art forms, puppetry and contemporary dance performance. It is a mirror play: the story of an opera singer’s personal drama, which carries the weight and inevitability of Greek tragedies. The contrast between the reality of life and that of stage existence tends towards surreality. Lies and truths blend together. Just as in life, one cannot see clearly, but the performance takes place as life does. The magic of Puppet Theater reveals a private mythology in which the reflection not only looks back, but also responds. It is also a kind of reverse Bluebeard story, in which there is only Judith, without a man, trapped in the castle. Krisztián Gergye, dance-choreographer-director, Viktória Vizin, opera singer, and Péter Zombola, composer, worked on the idea for the production for several years. The final production combines contemporary dance, contemporary opera and contemporary puppet theater to create a truly all-round artistic performance. The premiere was held in the Chamber Hall of the National Theater in Miskolc as part of the Bartók Plus Opera Festival, which has always been about inspiration, support and inclusion of talented and value-creating artists, so the premiere could not have been in a more appropriate venue.

ÉVA DUDA DANCE COMPANY: MIRROR
May 25, 7:30 PM – HERE Mainstage

MIRROR was premiered at the 20th Budapest Dance Festival in March 2020 for the 10th Jubilee of the Company. MIRROR is looking back to the most powerful moments from the first decade of the team’s artistic work, by creating a retrospective show with young and energetic dancers. MIRROR is one of the purest dance shows of the company, with highly skilled dancers who present the best of their qualities. From wild and dynamic sequences of intense choreographies through passionate partnering scenes to almost totally silent parts are followed by each other with the mark of Eva’s unique style on each moment. Eva Duda’s early works are based on highly energetic and dynamic physicality. In MIRROR she turned back to this purely physical approach, which evokes that extraordinary momentum she is known for. Polishing this “language” for more than a decade, spiced up with remarkable dancers, it became one of the most characteristic shows she has ever created.

 

RANDOM TRIP: CONCERT featuring Zentai Márk (Mörk), Nagy Kristóf (7s), Delov Jávor
May 25, 9:30 PM – HERE Mainstage

Gifted young musicians from the leading bands on the Hungarian scene play truly improvised music in all styles, jamming through the night every week.

Featuring the crème of local and often international musicians from today’s lively music scene, Random Trip is a real Hungarian specialty of its kind. It is not only a regular jam session in downtown Budapest, but due to the drifting music made up on the spot it has become a true crowd favorite, driving hundreds to the concerts every week. No open mic, but a jam session for professional musicians who take turn weekly at the internationally famous A38 Ship, creating joy music that spans across various music styles like funk, soul, reggae, disco, hip-hop, drum’n’bass, nu jazz, rock’n’roll etc.

Core members include drummer Delov Jávor (Turbo), the mastermind, founder and leader of Random Trip, and DJ Q-Cee (Vinyl Warriorz), master of beatbox and scratch.

Although Random Trip is about pure improvisation, during its 9 years it has become so popular that it’s been invited to all the major Hungarian festivals (Sziget, Volt, Strand, etc.) and main concert venues throughout the country. The formation had also hit Badeschiff and Leopold in Vienna, but also played in Rome, Berlin, and many foreign cities.

Besides the greatest Hungarian talents, such international musicians have joined the ever changing line-up so far like Lylit /A/ (ex-Parov Stelar Band), D’tale /UK/ (SIGMA Live), Peter Legat (Count Basic), Brandon Fields (Tower of Power, George Benson, Dave Weckl Band, stb.), Schradinova /NL/, Timo Lassy (Five Corners Quintet), BigJohn Whitfield /USA-A/, Carl Avory /UK-A/, iLLspokinn /USA/, Tania Saedi /A/, Seanie T (Dub Pistols, UK), Chenai Zinyuku /UK/, Mc SirReal (The Freestylers + Dub Pistols UK), Vula Malinga & Brendan Reilly (Basement Jaxx, UK), Valerie M (Groove Armada, The Freestylers UK), Stamina MC /UK/, Mc Raistlin /FRA/, Yarah Bravo /SE/, N’toko /SLO/, Tribuman /FRA/, Lady Leshurr & Paigey Cakey /UK/, Zalon (ex-Amy Winehouse Band) and Dub FX /AUS/.

 

EXHIBITION OPENING OF MOHOLY- NAGY UNIVERSITY OF ART AND DESIGN
May 25, 9:00 PM – HERE DOT

Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design has always played a significant role in shaping the development of the Hungarian design scene. Building on over 140 years of tradition and the legacy of Moholy – Nagy, our university’s mission is centered around the teaching, research and development of arts, design and creativity.

We selected the illustrations of the exhibition from the participants of the Moholy Nagy University of Art and Design Image Pro training, which is a fruitful collaboration between the institution’s Graphic Design program and the MOME Open program.

This master course is a professional creative workshop, where lecturers from MOME and prominent artists are guiding the participating graphic designers who are open and committed to illustrations, involving the techniques of using both digital and manual platforms. The selected works express this openness and professionalism.

KRISTÓF KELEMEN: OBSERVERS
May 26, 7:30 PM – HERE Mainstage

Everybody has something to hide. To be successful in operative work, the informant has to ease into and stay credible in different roles. He or she should not raise suspicion in his or her private life, should gain the trust of the subject and show absolute loyalty to his or her handler. This story is set in Hungary in the 1960’s. The secret police have Michael Besenczy under surveillance. Besenczy is Hungarian but has been living in England since his childhood. As a young man, he came back to his home country to study film directing at the University of Theatre and Film Arts. There is a strong suspicion that he is working with British intelligence. Agents placed around him are commissioned to form intimate friendships, erotic relationships with the subject in order to learn as much as possible about him and provide privileged information. But no matter how good they are at their job, they cannot hide from the secret police’s and each other’s observant gaze. In the end, they might find themselves vulnerable upon discovering their deepest fears in the eyes of their subject. Observers is Kelemen’s third production for Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest (a renown Budapest contemporary performing arts venue) and the focus is yet again on the workings of Hungarian society, on an episode of Hungary’s recent socialist past that as many others, has not been openly discussed.

PÁL ZÁVADA, ISTVÁN MOHÁCSI, JÁNOS MOHÁCSI: A MARKET DAY (staged reading)
May 27, 7:30 PM – HERE Mainstage

This reading is followed by a talkback.

1946, Kunvadas – a fictional Hungarian village near Szolnok. Not many of the Jews came back home who were deported during the Second World War, which had just ended. A teacher in the village, Sándor Hadnagy is accused of war crimes putting him in the crossfire of political battles. In the meanwhile lynching mood increasingly over takes the village. Poverty and hunger are generating histeria making the villagers look for an enemy: they get into mobs and begin to act upon their own jurisdiction. And history repeats itself very quickly. Pál Závada used true events and original documents to write his novel “Egy piaci nap” which became one of the most important contemporary literary works of the past years. The Kossuth prize-winner writer based the story on a brutal, shocking and for many people, unknown series of events of the Hungarian past: the pogroms against the Jews of Kunmadaras. Závada tells a larger story of humanity about our historical traumas and the responsibility of community through questioning the people’s motivations behind the events at Kunmadaras. The Mohácsi brothers created the stage adaptation of the Libri literary prize-nominated novel and the Radnóti Theatre closed its 2017-2018 season with a Hungarian premiere.

LÁSZLÓ GÖNDÖR & ÉVA KATONA: LIVING THE DREAM WITH GRANDMA
May 28, 5:00 PM – HERE Mainstage

Living the Dream with Grandma is a lyrical, yet humorous one-man-show about processing third-generation trauma. This unique multimedia piece takes place over a month, in the middle of the pandemic lock-down in Budapest, Hungary, when László Göndör, the 35-year-old author suffering from an identity crisis, moves in with his 97-year-old grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. Over 32 days, the grandmother and grandson try to grasp each other’s pain and trauma, as well as their profound mutual love.

By making use of video and audio documentation recorded during their cohabitation, their conversations are reenacted, demonstrating the deep impact that the Holocaust and its related traumas have had on their personalities and relationship.

By presenting the gap between the two generations and the loving relationship between them, the piece facilitates the process of understanding and acceptance – both for those who have been through similar life situations and those for whom the topic is unknown.

The text was written and edited by Zsófia Bódi, Kornél Laboda and László Göndör from the documented conversations and recollections of László Göndör and his grandmother, Éva Katona.

Trailer

DJ BOOTSIE TRIO & VJ KEMURI
May 28, 9:00 PM – HERE Mainstage

Advanced hip-hop beats, electronica, scratch, samples from films and folk songs and from jazz…a masterful cutting edge combination of all of the above constituted the tracks of producer-turntablist DJ Bootsie for the past twenty years.Due to his unique sound he managed to stand out of the international hip-hop electronic scene even with his first album (The Silent Partner) already, that was released on Ugar Records in 2004. His subsequent albums were released by the highly respected British BBE Records, with international bigboys like J-Dilla, Pete Rock, DJ Vadim and DJ Jazzy Jeff, or Madlib on their roster. He has produced soundtracks for theater and cinema and his works were included on well-known compilation albums, brand events and fashion shows. (Buddha Bar, DJ Cam-My playlist, Mercedes Benz Mixtape, Marc Cain, Vogue Germany, CSI tv sequel, etc.) The Hungarian State Opera has commissioned him to produce uptodate adaptations of two movements of the most important national historic opera (László Hunyadi by Ferenc Erkel) as well as Richard Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods and Rhinegold. Back in the mid-90’s he was co-founder of the groundbreaking underground hip-hop formation the Against the Current, with which he won the Fila Rap Jam talent show out of 150 competitors. He also won the DMC championship back in 1996 in Hungary and ran in the subsequent world championships.

As a solo DJ, as well as with his live band of various setups from trio to eleven-piece small big-band, he played at a myriad of clubs, concert venues and festivals in Hungary as well as abroad (in Latvia, Russia, Romania, Slovakia, Czechia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the UK, Spain, Portugal and China).

DJ Concert Highlights 

 

HUNGARIAN POSTER ASSOCIATION & OPLA PROJECT: TODAY PROJECT- Reflecting On Ukraine
May 29, 11:o0 AM – HERE Mainstage

The Hungarian Poster Association was created in January 2005 with the purpose of nurturing, promoting and renewing the tradition and the spirit of Hungarian and universal poster art. This 20th century genre is today developing in a sym­biosis with the more up-to-date, more recent communication technologies.

Since its foundation the Associaton has organized more than 30 thematic exhibitions in galleries in Hungary and abroad, providing proof that graphic design thinking and attitude do continuously exist in Hungary and that they deserve to be not confined to the walls of galleries but to also “appear” on the streets.

During recent years founding members of the Hungarian Poster Society invited young artists dedicated to poster art to join their ranks who with their work and presence guaran­tee that the basic, original ideas are taken forward.

Russian-Ukrainian conflict 2022

The ”TODAY” Poster project, which responds to current events in Hungary and the world, this time focuses on the unfortunate Russian-Ukrainian war conflict. The reactions, expressed in the visual language of the poster, reflect the individual, subjective opinions of the artists.

 

SCREENING OF ANIMATED SHORTS- FILMS BY ARTISTS FROM MOHOLY-NAGY UNIVERSITY OF ART AND DESIGN
May 29, 12:00PM & 1:30 PM – HERE Mainstage

The animation community at the Moholy – Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest (MOME Anim) is one of the most influential creative workshops and intellectual centers of animation in Hungary. Their main goals are to foster the next generation to start a successful career in animation and to map and research the continually expanding field of animation. For the festival we selected outstanding and award-winning animated short films in various topics, created with various techniques.

 

GÁBOR HERENDI: TOXIKOMA (Film screening)
May 29, 6:00 PM – HERE Mainstage

Prior to the screening, there will be a panel discussion: ART AND ACTIVISM

The screening will be followed by a talkback with the film’s lead actor, Áron Molnár

Toxikoma is based on the memoirs of Győző Szabó in which the two lead characters, a drug addict alpha male and Dr Imre Csernus, a psychiatrist playing God, flex their muscles, challenge each other and finally become friends. The story outlines the most difficult years of a young man moving from the countryside to Budapest, for years falling further and further in the world of drugs. Upon his arrival in Budapest, Győző worked as a waiter, a graphic artist, a toy maker and also ventured into the swirling world of actors. He eventually ends up in a wild, seemingly eternal heroin spiral, with everything falling apart around him: family, work, future – but finally he decides on the tapering-off cure. It is during this cure that he meets the psychiatrist Dr Csernus. The film is about the fight between the egos of two dominant males who need to realize that they can only progress together.

 

 

WORKSHOPS

Workshops of movement, dance and voice. Designed for artists who are interested in performing arts. The workshops are lead by Éva Duda, Márta Kelemen and Krisztián Gergye.

 

The Festival is supported by: Ministry of Human Resources (Hungary), National Cultural Fund of Hungary, Performer’s Rights Protection Association Office, Trust For Mutual Understanding, LOT Polish Airlines, Hangfoglaló Program, Stellatus, Vodafone Hungary 

 

Festival Partners: SubletSeries@HERE, k2 Theater Foundation, Summa Artium, Nublu, Cache Life, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest, National Film Institute, Hungarian Poster Association, The Jane Hotel New York, OPLA, Trafó – House of Contemporary Arts


Until further notice, performances and events at HERE are Vaccinated Only Performances; all patrons attending performances will be required to show proof of a complete COVID-19 vaccination (NY Excelsior pass or vaccination card) and be masked while inside the building.

In addition to showing proof of full vaccination status and a picture ID:

All patrons will also be required to wear masks (KN95 or KF94 masks are strongly recommended).

We ask all audience members to please stay home if they have a sore throat, are feeling sick in any other way, or have been recently exposed to COVID-19, and to please contact the box office for refunds or exchanges.

All of our performers, technicians, and staff members are required to be fully vaccinated and masked unless they are onstage performing. Additionally, they are participating in an active testing regimen to keep everyone as safe as possible.

HERE’s Comprehensive Site Safety and Reopening Plan can be found at reopening.here.org. The designated HERE Site Safety Monitor will be present at every performance and will be responsible for enforcing compliance with this Safety Plan. HERE reserves the right to revise protocols as the rate of transmission changes and in light of new scientific data that may present itself.

5/23

DOLLARDADDYS: EAST | Tickets

FESTIVAL OPENING & WINE TASTING | Tickets

5/24

KRISZTIÁN GERGYE COMPANY: “… AND ECHO” | Tickets

Workshop I. with Márta Kelemen | Tickets

L!VE TALKS: Theaters Across the Ocean (Talkback) | Tickets

5/25

ÉVA DUDA DANCE COMPANY: MIRROR | Tickets

RANDOM TRIP: CONCERT feat. Márk Zentai (Mörk), Kristóf Nagy (7s), Delov Jávor | Tickets

WORKSHOP II. with Krisztián Gergye | Tickets

EXHIBITION OPENING OF MOHOLY – NAGY UNIVERSITY OF ART AND DESIGN | Tickets

5/26

OBSERVERS | Tickets

WORKSHOP III. with Eva Duda | Tickets

5/27 

PÁL ZÁVADA, ISTVÁN MOHÁCSI, JÁNOS MOHÁCSI: A MARKET DAY (staged reading) | Tickets

L!VE TALKS: A Market Day (talkback) | Tickets

WORKSHOP IV. with Eva Duda | Tickets

5/28

LÁSZLÓ GÖNDÖR & ÉVA KATONA: LIVING THE DREAM WITH GRANDMA | Tickets

DJ BOOTSIE TRIO & VJ KEMURI | Tickets

5/29

HUNGARIAN POSTER ASSOC. & OPLA PROJECT: TODAY PROJECT – Reflecting On Ukraine | Tickets

SCREENING I OF ANIMATED SHORTS BY MOHOLY-NAGY UNIVERSITY ARTISTS | Tickets

SCREENING II OF ANIMATED SHORTS BY MOHOLY-NAGY UNIVERSITY ARTISTS | Tickets

BEST Of MOME MEDIA DESIGN: WORKS BY  MOHOLY – NAGY UNIVERSITY ARTISTS | Tickets 

L!VE TALKS Panel Discussion: Activism & Arts – Discussion with Áron Molnár | Tickets

GÁBOR HERENDI: TOXIKOMA (film screening) | Tickets