What Will Be - towards a plurality of futures. Kunsthaus, Graz. Aug 7th 2021

https://www.museum-joanneum.at/kunsthaus-graz/ausstellungen/ausstellungen/events/event/9763/steiermark-schau-was-sein-wird

This was a very large and thought-provoking exhibition and I think in my visit I only scratched the surface -and that only in some areas. It would be possible, if tiring, to spend a much greater length of time here and still not have explored everything that could be explored.

Every possible form of artistic expression is used here to get the participant to think about and engage with the ideas suggested for a multitude of ways to live our lives in the future - not whole lives but many, many aspects of what makes up a himan life with its interactions with others and the physical world. We saw artifacts/machines/articles/films/interviews both filmed and on paper/photographs/sculpture/paintings/installations. The width of the type of artistic expression was, I felt, also a way of showing the multitudinous interconnectability of our existence. the days of an art exhibition being paintings on a wall that people simple viewed and then moved on are long gone and the excitement of a show like this was in the way that it demanded you stop and think and engage with what you saw. the interconnectedness was also smartly shown by the use of hashtags for every exhibit allowing one presumably, when on Twitter, to see all exhibits with common hashtags together and perhaps, by using the hashtags, start to make connections for the viewer as well which may not have immediately been apparent.

This variety showed what a richness of response was possible to the ideas the show was propounding - centrally, ‘how are we going to live in the future’? Art and personal involvement are intimately connected in this show and the artistic expressions are a part of the ideas that are being explored. I think this also helps people at the show respond individaully and possibly actively to what they see, rather than simply being passive observers of art on walls.

It was also pleasing that this show did not come across merely as a sermon preached self-righteously to the viewer which can too often happen with theme and idea shows these days. Instead we are shown possibilities and asked, implicitly and explicitly, what are you going to do about this?

Mate Orr: Schrodinger's Jaguar & Kata Gaal; Tipped Harmony. Varfok Galeria, Budapest. Sept 16th 2021

Wide Angle: 120 years of Hungarian film. Ludwig Museum. Budapest. Aug 1st 2021