Parallel Hungary Collective

Paralell Hungary Collective is a collaborative initiative of the international doctorate students studying at the Doctoral School of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. The collective gathers the students who arrive from countries outside of the European region, from Latin America to the Far East for a four-year study program in Hungary with the help of the Stipendium Hungaricum program.

The Collective started working together in 2019 as an experimental group project. The aim at that point was to create an exhibition based on regular meetings where knowledge exchange of the different cultures was the primary goal. The collaborative project with the doctoral students from outside of Europe was significant for a number of reasons. On the one hand, the goal was to establish a community and learning framework that would facilitate the cultural integration of the students, provide a regular meeting point, and utilize the internal and supportive resources of the members, focusing on their artistic development and their search for integration in the community. On the other hand, to provide a framework for their cooperative work, as well as for communicating their ideas, and experiences with members of the host country. As the students are all experienced artists, the project experimented with methods that was developed together and adapted to changing circumstances.

The group is characterised by an impressive cultural diversity and a wealth of knowledge due to their diverse cultural, ethnic, religious backgrounds. The group’s projects draw inspiration from this diversity of backgrounds. The collective organises exhibition-based events that have engaged audiences and provided an unusual insight into the diversity of cultural worlds outside Europe, and the playful yet critical ways in which they approach their art.

It is significant for the group that the artistic and cultural projects provide an opportunity not only to present the culture of its the members in a way that is significantly different from the usual stereotypes, but also to engage in a dialogue with each other's cultural knowledge and with the Hungarian community. The doctoral students work together in a spirit of artistic mediation towards the art community and beyond.

Projects

In the first project over the course of more than six months of work, the doctoral students examined the cultural and social differences between Hungarian and their own cultures from the critical perspective of ‘strangeness’ [Simmel]. The experience of their own strangeness and the question of cultural identity came to the fore. The second project therefore was an edition of the ‘Contemporary Cosmopolitan Cookbook,’ in 2021 during the lockdown when the group could work only online. The third project in 2022 focused on the issue of future perspectives and visions: how the graduating student-artists see future scenarios either world-wide or in their close cultural contexts. The fourth project was a new experiment with a month-length cultural hub within the framework of the KÉK (Contemporary Architecture Centre, Budapest) Open! festival in the spring of 2023. The hub experimented with social outreach and extending methodological knowledge. The framework of the hub allowed for working with people outside of the art world, and a more vital inter-cultural exchange between people.

Artists and Curators

Artists
Tarek Arabi (SY)
Cecília Bandeira (BRA)
Clarissa Butelli (BR)
Cristobal Campero (VL)
Erekle Chinchilakashvili (GE)
Manuel F. Contreras (CO)
Mansour Forouzesh (IR)
Zahra Fuladvand (IR)
Audette Hyder (SY)
Özgür Ilter (TR)
Aysegül Ipek (TR)
Atushi Kuwayama (JP)
Pallavi Majumder (IN)
Volkan Mengi (TR)
Tra Nguyen (VN)
Khan Nuruzzamann (BD)
Enkhtaivan Orchirbat (MGL)
Hanan Saif (SY)
Vitor Silva (BR)

Curators, coordiantors, advisors
dr Margit Koller
dr habil Tünde Varga

Assistants
The students of the Art Theory Department, HUFA
Benedek Farkas
Sára Bodor
Petra Guzmics

Website
Zoltán Visnyai

Parallel Hungary Collective Projects

Parallel Hungary Collective
Projects