It was not by chance that the idea for the book and accompanying exhibition was expressed in the form of a joyful exclamation – Youhu! In the last few years, Hungarian artists of Generation Y have achieved sweeping successes on the international art stage that were unimaginable to earlier generations of artists from Hungary. Not only have they taken flight in the flourishing contemporary art market of their homeland, there are also a good dozen or so artists who have captured the attention of international collectors and are represented abroad from Asia to the United States; in many cases potential clients have to put their names on a waiting list if they want to lay their hands on a work of art. Never before has Hungarian art experienced such a boom! The Millennials, now aged in their twenties or thirties, have not suffered from the phenomenon of being “not close enough, but not far enough either” (which forced modern artists of the twentieth century into emigration), but have quite naturally integrated themselves into the diverse and colourful world of the global contemporary art scene, often making and maintaining contact via the internet. The “Youhu generation” deserves this long overdue summary presentation, introducing to wider audiences the wide-ranging success stories already known to professionals in the art world. This is the aim of the Youhu book and the Youhu exhibition, both of which have been made possible thanks to the generous and selfless support of Kieselbach Gallery.

Image-setting presentations of contemporary artists are group exhibitions featuring the foremost members of a given generation. In the 1960s in Hungary, there was the now-legendary IPARTERV exhibition, and Youhu is intended as a kind of continuation or update of this trend. Shows of this nature have the capacity to shape the art historical canon. Youhu, hosted by Kieselbach Gallery, is an exhibition of 43 young, contemporary Hungarian artists and collectives, held in conjunction with the publication of an English-language album (Youhu: The New Generation of Hungarian Contemporary Art). The creatives who form part of the programme have been selected by two contemporary curators (Zita Sárvári and Gábor Rieder) who, ever since they began working in this field, have attentively followed the emergence and maturation of the young generation, promoting their work in countless articles, studies and exhibitions, and playing an active role in their discovery. These budding talents have now come of age as successful artists, the “writers” of the art history of the 2010s. 

The styles and creative approaches of the Youhu artists encompass all the major international trends of the 2010s and early 2020s, from new abstraction to organic non-figurativeness, from post-conceptual language to post-internet aesthetics, from archaic forms to naïve narratives, from digital image-making to neo-expressive brushwork. The diverse range of works includes classical oil paintings, digital videos, bronze sculptures, installations, and ceramics. Every exhibitor is represented by a distinctive major work that will stand for their singular artistic universe even decades from now; the majority of them are new creations, shown for the first time to art collectors and art lovers in the rooms of Kieselbach Gallery. 

Most of the 43 artists and collectives live and work in Hungary and are represented by leading Hungarian galleries (acb, Erika Deák Gallery, Glassyard Gallery, Horizont Gallery, Inda Gallery, Kisterem, Longtermhandstand, TRAPÉZ Gallery, VILTIN Gallery etc.); many of them exhibit regularly abroad (and several have permanent contracts with galleries in other countries: József Csató, Ákos Ezer, Mónika Kárándi, Zsófia Keresztes, Botond Keresztesi, Mira Dalma Makai, Péter Puklus etc.); a notable few are based abroad, where they first came to prominence (Szabolcs Bozó, Josef Kristofoletti, Bence Magyarlaki, Márton Nemes, Borbála Szántó etc.), or were born beyond Hungary’s borders (Jacob Kassay). This joint presentation of their work is a timely introduction to the very best of Hungary’s Generation Y, a cavalcade of young, contemporary Hungarian art, fresher and more up-to-date than anything seen before. Art history is being written right now, in front of our eyes. Youhu!

INFORMATION FOR EDITORS 

Youhu

A group exhibition of art in Kieselbach Gallery

THE ARTISTS AND COLLECTIVES: Zsófi Barabás, Róbert Batykó, Dániel Bernáth, Szilvia Bolla, Lőrinc Borsos, Szabolcs Bozó, József Csató, András Cséfalvay, Ádám Dallos, Máté Dobokay, EJTECH, Sári Ember, Mátyás Erményi, Ákos Ezer, Márk Fridvalszki, Kitti Gosztola, Andrea Éva Győri, Hollow, Mónika Kárándi, Jacob Kassay, Josef Kristofoletti, Zsófia Keresztes, Botond Keresztesi, Judit Kis, Csaba Kis Róka, Adrian Kiss, Gábor Kristóf, Áron Kútvölgyi-Szabó, Bence Magyarlaki, Mira Dalma Makai, Tamás Melkovics, Zsuzsa Moizer, Zsolt Molnár, Márton Nemes, Gábor Pintér, Péter Puklus, Andi Schmied, Rita Süveges, Menyhért Szabó, Borbála Szántó, Gergő Szinyova, Kata Tranker, Ádám Ulbert

THE CURATORS: Zita Sárvári & Gábor Rieder

THE VENUE: Kieselbach Gallery

15 July – 12 August 2022

Youhu: The New Generation of Hungarian Contemporary Art. 

Edited by Zita Sárvári and Gábor Rieder, Kieselbach Gallery, Budapest, 2022

A 384-page, English-language art album showcasing the works of 43 young, contemporary Hungarian artists and collectives

THE ARTISTS AND COLLECTIVES: Zsófi Barabás, Róbert Batykó, Dániel Bernáth, Szilvia Bolla, Lőrinc Borsos, Szabolcs Bozó, József Csató, András Cséfalvay, Ádám Dallos, Máté Dobokay, EJTECH, Sári Ember, Mátyás Erményi, Ákos Ezer, Márk Fridvalszki, Kitti Gosztola, Andrea Éva Győri, Hollow, Mónika Kárándi, Jacob Kassay, Josef Kristofoletti, Zsófia Keresztes, Botond Keresztesi, Judit Kis, Csaba Kis Róka, Adrian Kiss, Gábor Kristóf, Áron Kútvölgyi-Szabó, Bence Magyarlaki, Mira Dalma Makai, Tamás Melkovics, Zsuzsa Moizer, Zsolt Molnár, Márton Nemes, Gábor Pintér, Péter Puklus, Andi Schmied, Rita Süveges, Menyhért Szabó, Borbála Szántó, Gergő Szinyova, Kata Tranker, Ádám Ulbert

THE AUTHORS: Domenico de Chirico, László F. Földényi, Rózsa Farkas, Dávid Fehér, Áron Fenyvesi, Daniela Fetz, Maja & Reuben Fowkes, Katharina Galladé, Carolina Grau, Alexia Green, Sándor Hornyik, Lili Horváth, Róna Kopeczky, Yannis Kostarias, Caroline Krzyszton, Ava Lynam, Ajna Maj, Adam Mazur, Ráhel Anna Molnár, Veronika Molnár, Szilvi Német, Chelsea Pierce, Viktória Popovics, Marion von Schabrowsky, Andrea Soós, Noémi Szabó, Borbála Szalai, Patrick Tayler, Sonja Teszler, Nicola Trezzi, Laura Windhager, Márió Z. Nemes, Barnabás Zemlényi-Kovács, Mónika Zsikla 

GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Ádám Katyi 

Zita Sárvári 

Born in 1981, Zita is an art consultant and curator. She studied art theory and communication at the University of Pécs and at Humboldt University in Berlin. Since the 2000s she has been an active player in Hungary’s contemporary art and photography scene. She has worked as a curator at Judit Virág Gallery, among others, as art director at Erika Deák Gallery, and as a consultant at King Saint Stephen Museum in Székesfehérvár, the Pallas Athene Foundation, and the Société Budapest. She has curated dozens of exhibitions of up-and-coming members of the young generation of artists. She has been involved in numerous highly successful regional group exhibitions (e.g. Beyond the Obvious), has researched the history of neo-avantgarde screen printing, and is currently an advisor at the Fajó Foundation and head of her own project gallery, Heart & Cherry Limited Editions.  

Gábor Rieder 

Born in 1978, Gábor is a freelance art historian, curator, editor and art consultant. He studied art history and literature at PPCU and was awarded his doctorate in art history at ELTE. As a critic and researcher, he has written hundreds of reviews and studies on contemporary art and twentieth-century Hungarian art. He is the editor of such volumes as Infernal Golden Age. New Wave Concert Posters (published in Hungarian as Pokoli aranykor, 2017) and Herr Frey frei / Frey úr ír (2022), and he has worked as founding editor-in-chief of periodicals including Flash Art Hungary and Artkartell. He has curated dozens of exhibitions, at a variety of venues, featuring members of the young, emerging generation of artists. He is currently book editor at Kieselbach Gallery, art consultant on the board of experts at MNB-Ingatlan Kft., and curator of the Esterházy Art Awards.