Arts papers

Czeglédy, Nina and André Czeglédy

Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto

Beyond Borders - Art as a Catalyst

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Distinctly dissident under Communist rule, experimental art, served as a cultural
barometer in Hungary throughout the years of oppression. In the face of adversity and
political repression, many of the artists have continued to produce, stimulating, dynamic
and often provocative work. While production was tolerated exhibitions were disallowed
particularly abroad. When in 1984, Laszlo Révész and Andras Böröcz, two young
Hungarian artists toured across Canada presenting Hungarian experimental artwork, the
tour marked the first milestone of contemporary Hungarian-Canadian art exchanges since
the Second World War. I was the lucky curator of this touring project as well as the
Beyond Borders, Hungarian Video Art from the late 1980 compilation of experimental
videos for the Free Worlds: Metaphors and Realities in Contemporary Hungarian Art
exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1991. The cultural exchange continued in 1993
at the Budapest Spring Festival with the extensive Welcome Canada program. In addition
to concerts and lectures we have shown the experimental films of Michael Snow and
others and the first Canadian First Nation film program. The comprehensive Canadian-
Hungarian art-exchange is outside the scope of this presentation this is only a bird’s eye
view narrative based on my personal experience from those years.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Nina Czeglédy, artist, curator, educator, works internationally on collaborative art& science& technology projects. The changing perception of the human body and its environment as well as the paradigm shifts in the arts informs her projects. She has exhibited and published widely, won awards for her artwork and has initiated, researched, lead and participated in forums and symposia worldwide. She is an Adjunct Professor at Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto, Senior Fellow, KMDI, University of Toronto, Senior Fellow Intermedia, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest, Member of the Governing Board Leonardo/ISAST and Board Member AICA International Association of Art Critics Canada.

André Czeglédy, social/cultural anthropologist, policy advisor and management consultant whose work focuses on both site-based projects and broader cultural analysis dealing with corporate culture, urban change, museums and visualization practices. He is Associate Professor of Anthropology and former Chair of the Anthropology Program at Wilfrid Laurier University, holding degrees from University of Toronto (B.A. Hons.), the London School of Economics and Political Science (M.Science Econ.), and Cambridge University (Ph.D.). Since 1998, he has engaged in a broad-ranging writing project with Nina Czeglédy as co-author of a series of publications that inject social and cultural perspectives on the triad of Technology, Art and the Body.




Szpura, Beata

Queensborough Community College

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy – Innovator of the Avant Garde; His Artistic Journey Towards the Light

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Laslo Moholy- Nagy (1895-1946) was a major creative force among the 20th century artistic avant garde- first in Europe and later in the USA. He is famous for constant experimenting with new media-using photomontages, photograms, collages, oil painting, film and shadow- casting kinetic sculpture. First exposed to modernism in Berlin, he was influenced by Dada, Surrealism, Cubism and especially Russian Constructivism. The paper explores light as a crucial element in his oeuvre. It is mainly based on the recent retrospective exhibition that took place at the Guggenheim Musuem in New York City. Moholy Nagy's fascination with light and its spacial effects shows his two and three-dimensional work crated throughout his life, whether it is in the imaginative, geometric transparencies of his paintings and designs, or in the reflective, shadow- casting surfaces of his plexiglass and alumnium sculptures. Especially in the last phase of his life, the artist’s creative exploration seems to be at its boldest phase. He works with thick plexiglass which he heats in the oven and bends into exuberant, flowing forms. Exposed to the rays of his beloved light, they cast complex shadows and become almost animated entities. This work is a precursor to contemporary artists like Donald Judd, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Christian Boltanski, Pipilotti Rist.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Beata Szpura is a fine artist, illustrator and an art educator.
Her editorial illustrations appeared in New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, New Yorker and other national publications. She has also illustrated several book covers for Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Beata teaches painting and color theory at Parsons the New School for Design in Manhattan and painting and drawing at Queensborough Community College. She has been exhibiting her oil paintings, collages and watercolors in New York and in Europe. She is a member of College Art Association and an elected board member of the Allied Artists of America. She lives in Woodside, NY.
website: bszpura.com