Opening remarks by: Enikő Róka, art historian
"If there is a period in history that is painted grey on a grey background, it is definitely ours.
People make their own history, even if it is through the media vacuum of touch screens, but never freely, according to their own choices, but directly following ready-made, inherited patterns and pre-given circumstances. The tradition of all the dead and shadow generations weighs like a nightmarish burden on the living, and just when it seems that they are working to transform themselves and the situation, to create something that has never existed before, it is precisely in such times of crisis that they summon the ghosts of the past to serve themselves, borrowing their names, their slogans, their costumes, to stage a new farce of world history in such archaic, venerable disguises and borrowed language.
The exhibition of new collaborative works by Ferenc Gróf and Zsófia Gyenes evokes some of the forgotten shadows of the recent past that still haunt us today: the ultra-left opposition of the former socialism, the official revolutionary museum of the same regime, the Hungarian Museum of the Labour Movement, whose foundations have now been dug up and destroyed by an obscure neo-neo-Renaissance sect, and an anarchist theoretical work published as samizdat. The exhibition is a kind of glossary, a collection of phonemes of a grammar in need of reconstruction. One is not born a ghost, but becomes one".
Rubber stamps on paper, each 50 x 60 cm, 2024
Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
Rubber stamps on paper, detail, each 50 x 60 cm, 2024.
Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
Rubber stamps on paper, detail, each 50 x 60 cm, 2024.
Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
Rubber stamps on paper, detail, each 50 x 60 cm, 2024.
Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
Rubber stamps on fabric, 278 x 193 cm, and works on paper, 50 x 60 cm, 2024. Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
Rubber stamps on fabric, 278 x 193 cm, 2024. Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
Rubber stamps on fabric, detail, 278 x 193 cm, 2024. Photo: Attila Toró.
The first solo exhibition of Gróf & Gyenes, An Iceberg of One’s Own (Magma, Sfântu Gheorghe, 2024), was inspired by the iceberg metaphor developed by Maria Mies. The German sociologist published The Subsistence Perspective: Beyond the Globalized Economy in 1999, in collaboration with Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen. One of the now-famous diagrams from this book presents the iceberg model of the capitalist-patriarchal economy.
In this model, the tip of the iceberg represents the world of waged labor, governed by capital and employment contracts. Beneath the surface lies a series of invisible spheres that form its foundation: informal and unregulated labor relations, child labor, as well as subsistence and non-market economies.
Equally hidden from view, domestic and care work—primarily carried out by women—belong to the sphere of social reproduction, alongside the appropriation of colonial resources. At the very base of the entire structure is nature itself. This is the model of patriarchal capitalism, where the visible economy rests upon the invisible worlds of the exploited. Gróf and Gyenes used one of the administrative system’s favorite graphic reproduction tools—the rubber stamp—to reinterpret this metaphor.
Photos: Attila Kispál, Attila Törő
260 × 160 cm, printed cotton fabric, acrylic paint; 6 carved cellular concrete stamps, each 20 × 20 × 20 cm, 2024. Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
260 × 160 cm, printed cotton fabric, acrylic paint; 6 carved cellular concrete stamps, each 20 × 20 × 20 cm, 2024. Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
260 × 160 cm, printed cotton fabric, acrylic paint; 6 carved cellular concrete stamps, each 20 × 20 × 20 cm, 2024. Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
260 × 160 cm, printed cotton fabric, acrylic paint; 6 carved cellular concrete stamps, each 20 × 20 × 20 cm, 2024. Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Levente Vargyasi.
260 × 160 cm, printed cotton fabric, acrylic paint; 6 carved cellular concrete stamps, each 20 × 20 × 20 cm, 2024. Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
260 × 160 cm, printed cotton fabric, acrylic paint; 6 carved cellular concrete stamps, each 20 × 20 × 20 cm, 2024. Installation view at MAGMA. Photo: Attila Toró.
The textile work Proposition for a New Flag – Meander evokes the control of waterways. The Greek term “meander” originates from the name of a winding river in Asia Minor, the Maiandros. One of the great challenges of global modernity has been ensuring river navigability, expanding arable land, meeting agricultural and industrial water demands, and reducing flood risks. This has led to the radical transformation of natural riverbeds—a process of “de-meandering” waterways shaped over millennia. Is it possible to restore river floodplains? Can we rewild overregulated drainage systems?
From a technical perspective, Proposition for a New Flag – Meander employs stamping, a printmaking technique that is a variation of block printing. Here, the printing blocks are not carved from wood but from concrete—the same material used to reinforce riverbeds. The stamp is not only a traditional tool in the textile industry but also an instrument of bureaucratic power, conferring legitimacy and validating political and economic decisions. The stamp approves. The stamp inscribes something onto us from the outside—it marks us.
And yet, in this process, the stamp repeats. Repetition can be mere duplication, a mechanical reproduction, but it also holds the potential for subtle transformation. Through repetition, we have the choice to reshape—to create new patterns. (After a text by Noémi Bíró.)
250 × 280 cm, cotton, acrylic pigments, 2022–24
Photo: Levente Vargyasi
250 × 280 cm, cotton, acrylic pigments, 2022–24
Installation view at MAGMA.
250 × 280 cm, cotton, acrylic pigments, 2022–24
Photo: Attila Toró
250 × 280 cm, cotton, acrylic pigments, 2022–24
250 × 280 cm, cotton, acrylic pigments:
1 – soil from the forge workshop;
2 – oxidized iron dust from the foundry grinding workshop;
3 – soil from the locksmith workshop;
4 – foundry residues (lime);
5 – foundry floor (molding sand)
The title Creosote Landscape is derived from a North American shrub known for its resilience in arid regions. This plant ensures its survival at the expense of surrounding vegetation by absorbing water and nutrients while releasing toxic substances that inhibit the growth of other organisms and deter herbivores.
The symbolic system of Creosote Landscape reconfigures the graphic elements of geological and mineralogical maps, which traditionally indicate the locations of various minerals. Its color palette is drawn from materials collected at the Dunaferr steel plant in Dunaújváros, Hungary—byproducts of industrial production. Through their materiality and textures, these elements combine to form an abstract landscape of extraction and production.
exhibition view, photo: Attila Kispál
70 × 80 × 10 cm, stamped textile ribbon, extruded polystyrene, 2024. Photo: Toró Attila.
The wrapping of the bull, reminiscent of a mummy, unites two symbols. On one hand, it references the raging bull of Wall Street; on the other, it alludes to the letter A from the Phoenician alphabet, which evolved from a hieroglyph depicting a bull’s or ox’s head into a phonetic letter. The stylized bull’s head is encased in a ribbon stamped with the repeating text: The heart of the matter / the matter of the heart…
The bull symbolizes the primacy of writing and language as instruments of power and control. The stamped text—the heart of the matter of the heart of the matter—reflects the duality of language, where words shape reality and can either obscure or reveal truth. The bull’s head, a potent emblem of masculinity, evokes the aggressive and often oppressive force of power, both in ancient and contemporary contexts.
70 × 80 × 10 cm, stamped textile ribbon, extruded polystyrene, 2024. Photo: Toró Attila.
The reference to Wall Street’s bull, an enduring symbol of the stock market and a global archetype of unrestrained financial capitalism, situates the work within the sphere of economic domination and the masculine symbols tied to finance and industry. Here, the bull—traditionally a force of nature—is transformed into an object of authority and control, mirroring how financial capital asserts its dominance over global economies.
At the same time, the bull’s connection to the Phoenician alphabet recalls the historical roots of written power, where the written word itself became a tool of domination, shaping civilization and reinforcing patriarchal structures. The work thus offers a meditation on how symbols of masculinity, money, and language interweave to sustain systems of power.
30x80x10 cm, cast iron, 2024. Photo: Attila Toró.
As one moves further into the space, the work titled Society can be seen placed on the floor, reflecting on the segment of the iceberg diagram related to colonies. Until 2020, the library of All Souls College at the University of Oxford was named after Christopher Codrington, a Barbadian plantation owner who, upon his death in 1710, donated a significant sum to his alma mater. Codrington’s sugarcane plantations, cultivated by enslaved people, were inherited by a religious organization that still operates today: the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG). In line with the inhumane practices of the time, the SPG branded enslaved individuals, burning the word Society onto their chests—a term that can mean company, society, or corporation. The cast-iron object lying on the floor was created using a typeface designed in Oxford in the early 18th century.
30x80x10 cm, cast iron, 2024.
120x100x25 cm, beehives, cellular concrete cubes, 2024. Photo: Levente Vargyasi.
120x100x25 cm, beehives, cellular concrete cubes, 2024.
250 × 280 cm, cotton, acrylic pigments:
1 – soil from the forge workshop;
2 – oxidized iron dust from the foundry grinding workshop; 3 – soil from the locksmith workshop; 4 – foundry residues (lime); 5 – foundry floor (molding sand), 2024.
more here
Rubber stamps on fabric, 278 x 193 cm, and works on paper, 50 x 60 cm, 2024. Installation view at MAGMA, photo: Attila Toró.
The starting point of the exhibition My Own Iceberg was Maria Mies’ iceberg metaphor. In 1999, the German sociologist, together with Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen, published The Subsistence Perspective: Beyond the Globalised Economy, a book featuring a now-famous diagram—the iceberg model of the capitalist patriarchal economy.
As a first step, we reinterpreted this diagram, which illustrates the economic exploitation of the invisible majority, using one of the favorite graphic reproduction tools of administrations: stamps. The rest of the exhibition essentially examines individual elements of the iceberg model.
more here
39x71x10 cm, painted concrete, photo: Attila Kispál.
In the same room as the stamped series, we placed a concrete cast that also references one of Maria Mies and her comrades' books (Mies, Maria; Bennholdt-Thomsen, Veronika; Werlhof, Claudia von. 1988. Women: The Last Colony. London: Zed Books). The piece, Women: The Last Colony (Cover), functions as a kind of horizontal monument.
Opening speech by Noémi Bíró > Hungarian > English.
Press release: In 2022, the worlds of textile designer Zsófia Gyenes and visual artist Ferenc Gróf converged in a collaborative journey. After over two decades in Paris, they relocated to Orléans, where, in October 2023, they established their joint studio. Their collective works traverse the boundary between textile design and visual art, creating a unique fusion of these fields. Their inaugural joint exhibition draws inspiration from the iceberg metaphor of Maria Mies (1931-2023), the German ecofeminist thinker, as articulated in her 1999 work The Subsistence Perspective: Beyond the Globalised Economy, co-authored with Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen. This metaphor critiques the economic model of patriarchal capitalism. The exhibition features works created over the past year, inspired by diagrams, infographics, and political slogans reflecting ecological and economic despair. Through these pieces, they aim to construct new building blocks, offering a fresh perspective on these pressing issues.
130 x 190 cm, hand-stitched carpet
Founded in 1958, the Studio of Young Artists initially organised its own exhibitions at various venues, before establishing the Studio Gallery, which primarily hosted the solo and group exhibitions of its members. From the 1980s onwards, the Studio Gallery became one of the most prominent and influential exhibition spaces on the Hungarian contemporary art scene. Between 1972 and 1994, it was located at 62 Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Avenue; after the regime change, it was moved to 6 Képíró Street in the Fifth District. In 2007, it relocated once again to the ground floor of a turn-of-the-century apartment building on the corner of Rottenbiller and Damjanich Street (35 Rottenbiller Street). The logo of the Studio Gallery was designed by IMRE KOCSIS. Source: KEMKI.
130 x 190 cm, hand-stitched carpet
he Applied Arts Company (Iparművészeti Vállalat) was founded in 1954 as part of the decentralisation reforms of the arts that began during Imre Nagy’s prime ministership, under the professional supervision of the Art Fund of the Hungarian People’s Republic. Its tasks included the production of various gift and decorative items created by applied artists (jewellery, medals, plaques, textiles, etc.), as well as products related to home decor and apparel. IDEA, which marketed the products of the Applied Arts Company, was established in 1984. Following the liquidation of IDEA in 1990, the Company also ceased its operations in 2000. The designer of the logo of the Applied Arts Company is not known. Source: KEMKI.
250 x 170 cm, hand-stitched carpet
Once the Hungarian art world had been brought under state control in 1948, a large state-owned art company was created whose name was changed several times. Initially it was known as the Fine Art Fund, then—with the merger with the Literary and Music Fund—it was referred to as the Art Fund of the Hungarian People’s Republic (Art Fund, for short). Its main task was to provide an economic basis for the art world, while managing the art supply business, maintaining state-run artists’ colonies, exercising control over art studios, and running a publishing company. The Art Fund had at its disposal a significant part of the state benefits intended for supporting artists in the form of grants, prizes and pensions. Its operations were restructured several times, and, following the economic reforms of 1968—and especially in the 1980s—it had control over several market-based initiatives. After the change of regime, it underwent several transformations with a significant reduction in its assets and real estate holdings. It was succeeded by the Public Foundation of Hungarian Artists (Magyar Alkotóművészeti Közalapítvány, MAK) and later the National Association of Hungarian Artists (Magyar Alkotóművészek Országos Egyesülete, MAOE). Source: KEMKI.
250 x 170 cm, hand-stitched carpet, 2021–2022
IDEA was founded in 1984 as a subsidiary of the Art Fund of the Hungarian People’s Republic and engaged in applied arts-related trade. Its tasks included the commercial distribution and sale of applied art objects. Following the change in regime, IDEA went bankrupt. Its liquidation proceedings began in 1990 and were completed in 2000, thus terminating IDEA with no legal successor. Logo designed by PÁL ANTAL. Source: KEMKI.
130 x 190 cm, hand-stitched carpet
The Studio of Young Artists (Fiatal Képzőművészek Stúdiója, FKS) was established in 1958 as a successor organisation to the Young Artists’ Creative Society, which had only existed for four years previously (1954–1958). The Studio’s aim was to support freshly graduated visual artists and to help them start their careers. By the 1960s, the Studio’s annual overview shows had become an important platform for presenting contemporary Hungarian art trends even though the exhibited material had to be approved by the Art Fund of the Hungarian People’s Republic (the organisation that maintained the Studio) and the Lectorate of Fine and Applied Arts (which ensured state-level supervision of its operations). Nonetheless, the Studio’s exhibitions, and especially its annual shows held at the Ernst Museum, constituted important events on the contemporary scene. After the change in regime, in May 1990, the FKS became the Studio of Young Artists’ Association (Fiatal Képzőművészek Stúdiója Egyesület, FKSE) with its own exhibition space—Studio Gallery—in Képíró Street, and in 2007 Studio Gallery moved to Rottenbiller Street. For more on the history of FKS and FKSE, visit their website: www.fkse.net Logo designed by László BALOGH. Source: KEMKI.
130 x 190 cm, hand-stitched carpet
After the Hungarian private sector and retail trade were brought under state ownership between 1948 and 1950, the commercial trade of contemporary artworks also came under state control. In 1952, for the purposes of selling the works of its contemporary artist members, the Art Fund of the Hungarian People’s Republic established the Gallery Company (Képcsarnok Vállalat), with its own exhibition space (several in Budapest, and one in nearly every large city in Hungary). Until the 1980s, the Gallery Company monopolised the Hungarian Art world. The Gallery Company held regular solo exhibitions and other art events at its venues, and had weekly jury panels for evaluating and purchasing the submitted works of its members. From the 1970s onwards, the Gallery’s operations were subject to considerable criticism: it was continually losing money and a significant proportion of the artworks it had purchased from its members were never sold to a third party.
Despite several attempts at market-oriented reform, after the change of regime, the Gallery Company was split into several parts with its real estate and art assets reorganised into a limited liability company (Kft.), which continued to operate until 2013, mainly supporting itself through the maintained circulation of artworks in its exhibition spaces located in the centre of Budapest. Logo designed by ZOLTÁN TAMÁSSI. Source: KEMKI.
130 x 190 cm, hand-stitched carpet
The Association of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists with its numerous departments was founded in 1949, as a result of a complete reorganisation of the Hungarian arts world during the Rákosi era. Its management was appointed by Communist Party leadership, usually from artists who sought to conform to the cultural policy of the time. The new Association’s tasks included organising the first nationwide “socialist realist” art exhibitions, “decentralising” the art scene, organising exhibitions and art events in the countryside, establishing a system of free art schools, and representing the artists who were registered as members in a quasi-union format. Following the 1956 Revolution, the organisation colloquially known as the “Association” was involved in putting together the legendary 1957 Spring Exhibition, which also showcased abstract and surrealist works. As a consequence, between 1957 and 1959 the Associations’ management was replaced and the organisation itself was restructured. Until 1989, it was overseen by the Ministry of Education. Following the change of regime, its monopoly ended, but its successor organisations are still in operation today. The logo of the Association of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists was designed by graphic artist GÁBOR PAPP. Source: KEMKI.
The research conducted by Ferenc Gróf and Zsófia Gyenes—carried out at the KEMKI Archive and Documentation Center (ADK) between October 2021 and May 2022—focused primarily on the history of Hungary's artistic institutions, from their inception to the present day. While many of these institutions have ceased their activities due to the absence of successor entities, some remain highly active and continue to be important players in the contemporary art and design scene.
The documents examined by Gróf and Gyenes—most of which were transferred from the former Fine Arts and Applied Arts Directorate to the Hungarian National Gallery in 2014, and later to the KEMKI ADK in 2021—provided key insights into the visual culture of the past 50 to 60 years, ranging from public sculptures to everyday objects, and from invoices issued by the Képcsarnok Vállalat (“Gallery Company”) to complaints from its clients.
Based on the logos and symbols researched, collected, and photographed during the study of files and documents dating from the second half of the 1960s to the present, an evolving organigram began to take shape. In collaboration with textile designer Zsófia Gyenes, Gróf started developing a series of tapestries using this collection—which traces the fragmented structure of Hungary’s 20th-century artistic infrastructure—as raw material. These tapestries, rugs, and wall hangings, which incorporate popular decorative solutions from the period of the documents studied, were used to decorate the offices of foreign delegations and national public institutions.
Just as various tapestry techniques have traditionally drawn from the boundary between fine arts and applied arts, the duo’s ideas were also influenced by elements of institutional critique, following in the footsteps of the Arts & Crafts movement.
The color palette of the tapestries designed for KEMKI was determined by the archival documents: yellowed stationery, blue stamps, shades of worn-out binders, and mixed folders. The series, currently consisting of eight wall tapestries, was completed during the summer of 2022.
Photos: Benedek Regős.