Krisztina Szalay: Four Tiger Market

On view:
June 04, 2021 – June 21, 2021
Monday–Sunday: 10am–1pm, and Friday: 7pm–9pm
Closed on Mondays.
Other location: Municipal Art Gallery of Korinthos, Korinthos, Greece
The exhibition was realized in cooperation with Capa Center.

The diversity of the place, which many people simply call the Chinese market, is remarkable compared to Hungarian conditions; there is a cultural cavalcade at the former Ganz factory plant, which now is also notoriously surrounded by a criminally dangerous merchant environment. A city inside the city came into existence here, which operates completely segregated.

About thirty years ago, due to the relaxed visa requirements, the Chinese community in Hungary grew from almost zero to about twenty-seven thousand people in just a few years. The location of my work is the Chinese market in Budapest (Kőbányai Street), which is also the center of the Hungarian Chinese community. Locals have always had second thoughts about the market because in the media it is often connected to illegal imports or raids but, at the same time, it also provides a good opportunity to buy cheaper products.

The National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary constantly monitors the market, but to no avail as it is practically impossible to catch anyone in the act of committing a crime. Although nowadays not only Chinese people work here but also Vietnamese, Mongolian, Romanian, Afghan, Turkish, and Ukrainian workers, the name Chinese market has remained.

With an industrial exterior left behind from the Ganz factory period, the place is permeated by a strong sense of Chinese culture and market atmosphere, all planted in an Easter European milieu.

Krisztina Szalay
photographer

Krisztina Szalay was one of the fellowship-winner of the Capa Grand Prize Hungary 2020. During the fellowship she was working on the series called Chinese Market.