Enigma 99: Impossible realism. Regime change and art institutions in Hungary, 1989

The 99th issue of Enigma features the extended texts of Impossible Realism – The Clash of Artistic Utopias with Reality Before and After the Regime Change, which was a session of the conference entitled 1989 and the Regime Change: Possibilities of Social Action, held in Szeged in 2019. The session speakers examined the utopian ideas and models that appeared in the field and institutions of visual art before and after the regime change, and the effects the political changes had on realising those ideas. What kind of utopian visions had been articulated in the field of visual art and its frontiers before the regime change? What was the source of the optimism that characterised the period of the regime change? In the new contexts that emerged after the change in the political system, why did these utopian models once again prove impossible to achieve? Are there examples of the “impossible” being realised?

Authors: Flóra Barkóczi, Péter György, Júliusz Huth, Emese Kürti, Zsuzsa László, Eszter Lázár, József Mélyi, Katalin Székely, Katalin Tímár, Gábor Zrinyifalvi

Edited by Emese Kürti, Csilla Markója, István Bardoly