The Exhibition as an Ephemeral Site of Contact: The Collision of Conceptual Art, Performance and Sports

• In Event: Exhibitions as Spaces of Artistic Contact during the Cold War

Abstract

This paper explores the performative dimension of an unrealized curatorial concept. This concept of László Beke, called Hungarian Foot Art Club (1972) based on the draft by László Lakner (1970), reached far beyond the typical borders of the Cold War era. Besides an exhibition sketch, the project proposed a football game between Hungarian contemporary artists and the 11 best international artists. Hungarian Foot Art Club should have been realized at documenta 5 curated by Harald Szeemann. The focus is on the ephemerality and de-materialized aspects of the artist’s and the curator’s concept with all its possible sources of inspiration. The fact of ‘unfulfilledness’ enhances the importance of the planning’s performative observation.

Author

• Katalin Cseh-Varga, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (Austria) / George Enescu National U of Arts (Romania)