Stratification of an Archive
Possible Approaches to the Oeuvre of Péter Korniss
In 2020, Péter Korniss, one of the most influential figures in Hungarian documentary photography, donated his archive of tens of thousands of negatives to the Museum of Fine Arts – Central European Research Institute for Art History. The carefully prepared, information-rich collection provides an unparalleled opportunity to explore and understand the oeuvre of the first Kossuth Prize-winning photographer and to interpret the attitudes of documentary and reportage photography in Hungary after the Second World War.
On 29 September 2022, in Building C of the OMRRK campus, the invited speakers of the conference entitled Stratification of an Archive. Possible Approaches to the Oeuvre of Péter Korniss, organized by the SZM-KEMKI ADK Photography Archive, will discuss and present the details they consider important in this complex and far from closed oeuvre, including its photographic, journalistic and art historical, commercial and art theoretical particularities.
Morning session
10:00 Welcome speech by Dávid Fehér, director of SZM - KEMKI
10:10 Orsolya Huszár: The development and structure of the Péter Korniss Archive
10:30 György Cséka: What did this one man want – a re-reading of the photographic novel The Guest Worker by Péter Korniss
11:00 Edit Barta: The phenomenon of representing individual fate in the art of Péter Korniss
11:30 Iringó Tóth-Gödri: The ‘discovery’ of a globetrotter artist who found his way home – the reception of Péter Korniss in Transylvania, the reflections of the Romanian press on his art
Session coordinator: Károly Tóth, art historian, head of department, SZM - KEMKI ADK
12:00 - 14:00 Lunch break
Afternoon session
14:00 Balázs Zoltán Tóth: Forgotten poses, awed gazes, postures inherited from grandparents: aesthetic conclusions of a photographic change of style
14:30 Krisztina Kovács: Long distance – Péter Korniss and the Várfok Gallery
15:00 Attila Horányi: Faithful image. Portrait of András Skarbit by Péter Korniss
15:30 Tamás Almási: Encounters
Section coordinator: Csilla E. Csorba, art historian, president of the Hungarian Society for the History of Photography
The conference is organized by the Photography Archive of the Museum of Fine Arts – Central European Research Institute for Art History (KEMKI), Archive and Documentation Centre (ADK).
Conference venue: 33–35. Szabolcs utca, building C (OMRRK campus), Budapest 1135
Conference registration is required. Registration link:
https://forms.gle/bSrkaELk3Dd4Z5dY8