Vanda Sárai
Curator-in-Residence, May–June 2025, Hungary /
© Zsuszi Simon
Vanda Sárai (1990) is a Budapest-based independent curator, art writer and researcher. She completed her studies in Budapest and Jena, and is currently working on her PhD at Eötvös Loránd University, focusing on the effects of attention economy and digital culture on contemporary art and its institutional system. She is a guest lecturer at the Art and Design Department of Metropolitan University Budapest.
She was a member of the curatorial collective, Teleport Gallery (2016-2018). As a curator, she won the Esterházy Art Dating Prize and the MODEM Prize for Young Curators. Her most notable shows were: Time of Our Lives (co-curated with Tamás Don and Ferenc Margl), MODEM (2018); #IFeelSeen, MODEM (2021); WHAT THE RUG? Carpets in Hungarian contemporary art, 1111 (2023); I’m Afraid I Can Do That, TORULA (2023); Kádár Emese: NOT_FOUND, The Space Gallery (2024).
Between 2017-2021, she worked in the editorial team of Műértő. In 2022-2023, she was the gallery manager of the non-profit art space, 1111. She is a member of AICA Hungary.
Statement
In 2025 I’m finishing my PhD research at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, where my dissertation is exploring the effects that attention economy and digital culture have on contemporary art practices. During my time in MQ Vienna, I’d like take a birds-eye view on the research I’ve conducted in the past years, and gain new impulses on how to move forward with my results. I’m planning to explore the local art scene and have inspiring discussions with local artists, theoreticians and curators with similar interests in order to build regional collaboration in the research of digital culture: how it affects us personally, what it means for our pop culture, and how it enmeshes high culture – and within it – contemporary art. During my residency, I’d like to explore the possibility of a grounding an organization specialized in the research of digital culture and contemporary art with a regional focus, and find some potential partners in Vienna for moving forward with its concept.
External Links
Instagram: @saraivanda