Capa Grand Prize Hungary 2022
Free admission
October 20, 2022 – February 19, 2023
Tuesday–Friday: 2pm–7pm
Staurday–Sunday: 11am–7pm
Closed on Monday and on public holidays.
Capa Center – Project Room
Capa Grand Prize Hungary 2022 – awarding ceremony and exhibition opening: October 20, 2022, Thursday, 6pm
The Robert Capa Photography Grand Prize Hungary was established by the Capa Center in 2014 to recognize the work of artists who have made outstanding achievements in any field of Hungarian photography. Last October, the jury of the Capa Grand Prize Hungary 2022 selected three fellows from among the entries received three of whom continued to work on their work for a year.
Szabolcs Barakonyi Cold Trail – Forensic Aesthetics series were made in crime scenes, for the past nearly seven years he has been involved in real forensics; trying to learn and do the job of a forensic technician with a camera. The setting and technical parameters of his images are, as far as possible, in line with the methodology that allows a photograph to become material evidence. Their search and the logic of their making follow exactly the thinking and the eyes of police professionals working at the crime scene. The aim is to create a credible document that can be used at the investigative stage and in criminal proceedings, and is therefore inherently devoid of any artistic intent. He has become familiar with historical photography and contemporary art projects based on and drawing from the world of crime. His aim is to bring the spontaneously generated (self-assembling) aesthetic system of the criminal (forensic) environment into the artistic space. We can even call this the aesthetics of forensics.
Fanni Katalin Horváth’s work: REVIVAL – Revival at the western border focuses on the ethnic communities living in Hungary’s “western gateways”, as well as on the cultural changes and imprints of modernisation, which are presented in the context of the local reconstruction of traditions and global impacts. Revival is an ethnographic term, referring to the resurrection and revalidation of old traditions in a modified form. The unique double-border situation of the region, stemming from the territorial losses as a consequence of the Treaty of Trianon and the close proximity of the West, means that things unfold here in a much more intensive way than in the inner regions of the country. In this frontier region, the preserved and revived traditions create and represent the illusory feeling of freedom in everyday life.
Simon- Móricz Sabján has been photographing the Great Hungarian Plain for over ten years now. Lately, his renewed focus has been the portrayal of the most pivotal moments these communities and their residents have experienced. Up close and personal, he witnessed the signs of impermanence, the aging and migration of the population, and most recently, the direct effects resulting from the current crises, exacerbated by severe drought. For these communities, it is especially challenging to predict the future. According to the latest studies conducted in the region, as much as one-tenth of the total Hungarian population will likely disappear in the coming decades, while close to four-fifths will reside in towns and cities. But the people of the Great Plain are incredibly resilient: their strength has always been founded in their strong sense of identity and belonging.
The fellows and the title of their works:
Szabolcs Barakonyi: Cold Trail – Forensic Aesthetics
Fanni Katalin Horváth:REVIVAL – Revival at the western border
Simon Móricz-Sabján: Permanently Overcast
