Mr. Géza Szőcs, Minister of State for Culture at Ministry of National Resources was attended today at the opening ceremony for „European Travellers – Art from Cluj Today”, an exhibition in Budapest’s Műcsarnok gallery.

„The importance of this exhibition is quite clear from the fact that most of the artworks on display are on loan from foreign private collections,” said Szőcs at the event.

The exhibition aims to offer an authentic representation of the “Cluj phenomenon.” As a special point of interest, in addition to the artworks, the show also familiarizes viewers with the most important institutions of the local art scene, which are of many different types. These include centres that house contemporary art exhibitions and accommodate theatrical and dance productions, studios that experiment with digital media, publishing projects, as well as community and activist platforms.

The term Cluj School in reference to new figurative painting – which appeared in the mid 2000s and has been the topic of debate ever since – and the Paintbrush Factory – which houses, studios and independent cultural institutions – quickly became widely known in Europe. Of the Cluj artists, many have exhibited in such prestigious international venues as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, MoMA in New York, the Kunsthaus of Zurich, and the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein.

The Ministry of National Resources supported financially the exhibition, which represents a wide selection of Cluj’s contemporary art.

(State Secretariat for Culture)