Hungarian Duo Little Warsaw's Context-Shifting Art Challenges Institutional Norms
The Hungarian artistic duo Little Warsaw, consisting of Bálint Havas and András Gálik, rose to prominence in the late 1990s by rejecting both conceptualism and the commercial art scene. Their work reinterprets objects to scrutinize social and political hierarchies. In 2003, they presented The Body of Nefertiti, a bronze torso modeled after the famous Nefertiti bust, at the Hungarian Pavilion during the Venice Biennale, which drew criticism from Egyptian commentators. Another notable work, Time and Again (2004), involved relocating József Somogyi's statue of János Szántó Kovács to Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum, stirring controversy in Hungary. They label their creations as "social plastics," focusing on transit and contextual relevance. Their Budapest studio-gallery operates without a focus on commercialization. An interview about their work appeared on ARTMargins Online on September 2, 2009.
Key facts
- Little Warsaw is a collaboration between Bálint Havas and András Gálik, starting in the late 1990s.
- They rejected conceptualism and the art market, focusing on recontextualizing objects in the public realm.
- The Body of Nefertiti (2003) was displayed at the Hungarian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, involving a bronze torso for the Nefertiti bust.
- Egyptian critics accused the artists of disrespect, citing Islam's ban on nakedness, though the bust predates Arabic invasion.
- Time and Again (2004) moved József Somogyi's statue of János Szántó Kovács from Hódmezővásárhely to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
- The relocation sparked a petition in Hungary, uniting cultural right-wing and liberal left factions against it.
- The artists describe their work as "social plastics," emphasizing transit and local context over marketability.
- Their practice is influenced by the Situationist International and involves fiction, empathy, and site-specific facts.
Entities
Artists
- András Gálik
- Bálint Havas
- Little Warsaw
- József Somogyi
- János Szántó Kovács
- Tamás St. Auby
- Szentjóby
- Malevich
- Duchamp
- Gordon Matta-Clark
- Sergei Eisenstein
- Brecht
- Goran Djordjevich
Institutions
- Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Research Institute for Art History
- Venice Biennale
- Hungarian Pavilion
- Museum of Egyptology in Berlin
- Stedelijk Museum
- Art Academy
- Manifesta 7
- ARTMargins
- MIT Press
- Situationist International
- NSK
- Laibach
Locations
- Hungary
- Budapest
- Hódmezővásárhely
- Amsterdam
- Netherlands
- Berlin
- Germany
- Venice
- Italy
- Egypt
- Los Angeles
- The Hague
- South-Eastern Europe
- Eastern-Central Europe
- Socialist camp
- West
- East