Self-financed exhibition by György Jovánovics and István Nádler

1/16Opening of the exhibition (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16Opening of the exhibition - radio action (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16Opening of the exhibition (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16Opening of the exhibition (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16Opening of the exhibition - radio action (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16The exhibition (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16The exhibition (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16The exhibition (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16The exhibition (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16György Jovánovics’s sculpture in his studio before the exhibition. Photo: András Baranyai (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16Event in the garden of Miklós Erdély with the sculpture of György Jovánovics. Photo: György Erdély (courtesy of György Erdély and György Jovánovics)

1/16Event in the garden of Miklós Erdély with the sculpture of György Jovánovics. Photo: György Erdély (courtesy of György Erdély and György Jovánovics)

1/16Event in the garden of Miklós Erdély with the sculpture of György Jovánovics. Photo: György Erdély (courtesy of György Erdély and György Jovánovics)

1/16Design by György Jovánovics for his page in the catalog Hungarian Artists (Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, 1972), for which he used a photograph taken at the opening (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16Design by György Jovánovics for his page in the catalog Hungarian Artists (Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, 1972), for which he used a photograph taken at the opening (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

1/16Invitation leaflet of György Jovánovics’s lecture, “The Best Work of My Life” (courtesy of György Jovánovics)

The Adolf Fényes Hall was a gallery offered for the presentation of tendencies that were not supported but tolerated by the official cultural politics. In addition to István Nádler’s geometric paintings György Jovánovics exhibited a huge plaster sculpture, whose shape was repeating to the ground plan of the gallery. The exhibition was opened by a fictive radio program that – after the most important international news of the day reported on the exhibition itself . After the exhibition, Jovánovics transported the work to Miklós Erdély’s garden, where the sculpture became the setting for a number of spontaneous events, some of which were documented in photographs. Later Jovánovics called this work, more precisely the opening “the best work of my life” in a lecture reconstructing the event held in Artpool Art Research Center. In the 1980s it also inspired János Sugár (1958) to make an exhibition and shoot a film in the same location.

Documents:

Tape script of the opening action (1970)

Invitation leaflet for György Jovánovics’s public lecture at Artpool P60, “The Best Work of My Life” (1999)

János Sugár on Adolf Fényes Hall, his film Persian Walk, and his exhibition “Exhibition Scenery” (1999)

Video of György Jovánovics’ lecture at Artpool (1999)