MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary ArtsDebrecen, Hungary

Messiahs13 August – 31 December 2009

Connection to arts: MODEM The cultural centre, that was opened in the Autumn of 2006,

possesses a 3000 square meters temporary exhibition area. In the last three years more than fifty exhibitions were organised here, these were viewed by more than half million visitors. The ratio of foreign audience is also remarkable. Besides the exhibitions, the musical, theatrical, dance and literary programmes are also regular. A museum-pedagogy hall, bookshop and café can also be found in the modern equipped, stylish building.

An exciting city on the edge of the map: Debrecen The traditional cultural centre of Hungary spreads in the nearby of

three states (Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania), in the borderland of different cultures. Debrecen can always be found at the edge of maps of different bordering countries. The city much benefits form its peripheral location, it chose culture as the base of its long-term developmental strategy. Besides the diverse theatrical and musical life, modern and contemporary fine arts play a more and more significant role in the city, a remarkable organiser of it is an up-to-date gallery, the MODEM.

Messiahs – modern and contemporary artworks on redemption

Redemption is a frequent topic of art history. It inspired many works in those centuries when fine art almost solely treated religious topics. The oldest works in the exhibition were created when this era, after a long temporary period, irrevocably seemed to come to an end. In the exhibition the displayed artworks are modern and contemporary pieces, mainly by European artists. The exhibition traces a question, that hardly can be called up-to-date, however its importance is unquestionable. In what way is redemption possible for people in Western culture?

The human body For many people the redemption of body is the subject of hope. In

the first section of the exhibition, entitled What Kind of Body Were We Given? There are such works on view that thematically relates to the bodily experience, especially to the passion of Christ and the 20th Century reinterpretation of the Christian tradition. Various works refer to the latest cults of human body (plastic surgery, cloning) allowing a wide scale of ethical and theological interpretation. The visualization of flesh-body is the subject of many artworks.

What Kind of Body Were We Given?

The gift of death In the Dead Man section works are on view that present the

changing of our approach to death. In Christianity death is the punishment of the original sin. A fundamental culture-forming power that has an impact to the mundane society and moral order, and this can be found in arts too. The awareness of transience inspires the creative man to produce such a work that overreaches its own finite. Death is the permanent point of reference of modern man’s metaphysical sufferings, of which, however, many times it is inconvenient to think about. The artworks in this section aim to create such inconvenient situation.

The redeeming history The third section of the exhibition wears the tile, The Promise of

History. Such works can be seen here that thematically refers to the messianism of great social utopias and fake messiahs. This is not only the bygone days: the manipulation of public opinion, the idealism of masses, the mechanism of the surveillance of the society or the transformation of traditional values are such questions that still seem to be up-to-date. Through the artworks we may also face with the great tragedies of the 20th Century, often quite differently than before.

The Promise of History

The body of Christ - Cross of Redemption According to the Christian faith the messiah who redeems us from

the original sin is Jesus of Nazareth. The story of the Incarnated than Crucified Son is not only important for the religious people: this is the eternal tradition of the occidental culture. Without Christ the history of the last two thousand years would be meaningless and thus non-interpretable. However, the evangelical teachings got into the profane culture with a lot of transmissions and underwent changes of meaning through the centuries. Jesus became the icon of pop-culture in the 20th Century, often as a result of banal and flat interpretations. The grand artworks on view in the exhibition, in contradiction to the widely influential schematic depictions, present the originality and universality of Christ’s testimony.

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Marina Abramovic, Craigie Aitchison, Kai Althoff, Ámos Imre, Anna Margit, Dieter Appelt, Francis Bacon, Bak Imre, Bálint Endre, Apcar Baltazar, Juraj Bartusz, Georg Baselitz, Batthyány Gyula, Beöthy István, Berény Róbert, Berszán Zsolt, Blue Noses, Christian Boltanski, Bortnyik Sándor, August Brőmse, Günter Brus, Bukta Imre, Ladislav Čarný, Marc Chagall, Václav Chochola, Czigány Dezső, Czóbel Béla Ignacy Czwartos, Csontváry Kosztka Tivadar, Salvador Dalí, Deim Pál, Wim Delvoye, Derkovits Gyula, Marlene Dumas, Féner Tamás, Emil Filla, Adolf Frohner, Gémes Péter, Eugeniusz Get-Stankiewicz, Eric Gill, Dariusz Gorczyca, Douglas Gordon, Johannes Grützke, Gulácsy Lajos, Hantaï Simon, Bernhard Heisig, Keith Haring, Jörg Immendorf, Jaschik Álmos, Anton Jaszusch, André Kertész, Grzegorz Klaman, Eva Kmentova, Kmetty János, Oskar Kokoschka, Marian Konarski, Kondor Béla, Korniss Dezső, Zofia Kulik, Sigalit Landau, Robert Mapplethorpe, Theresa Margolles, Mátrai Erik, Joan Miró, Jarosław Modzelewski, Moholy-Nagy László, Molnár C. Pál, Otto Muehl, Edward Munch, Munkácsi Márton, Munkácsy Mihály, Alice Neel, Hermann Nitsch, Ország Lili, Dimitrie Paciurea, Kalervo Palsa, Pauer Gyula, Evan Penny, Pablo Picasso, Cristi Pogăcean, Antonín Procházka, Marc Quinn, Alexandru Radvan, Arnulf Rainer, Man Ray, Odilon Redon, Reigl Judit, August Rodin, Georges Rouault, Dorota Sadovská, Jan Saudek, Schaár Erzsébet, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Andres Serrano, Rudolf Sikora, Mirosław Sikorski, František Skála, Leszek Sobocki, Nancy Spero, Aleksandar Stankovski, Volker Stelzmann, Frederic Stork, Jiří Surůvka, Graham Sutherland, Szalay Lajos, Alina Szapocznikow, Szervátiusz Tibor, Norbert Tadeusz, Rufino Tamayo, Antoni Tapies, Tara, Nicolae Tonitza, Tóth Menyhért, Werner Tübke, Uitz Béla, Vajda Lajos, Várnai Gyula, Vaszary János, Bill Viola, Andy Warhol, Carel Weight, Andrzej Wróblewski