Publikálva: 2010.08.19.

Hungarian National Day will be held this weekend at the Sanghai Expo

Címkék: hungary,  national day,  hungarian pavilion,  culture

The cultural programs of Hungary will start on the 22nd of August at the Sanghai Expo. The introduction of our country has two pillars. The first is the Hungarian National Day, which will popularize and present Hungary at the Expo site, the other is the Art Forum Hungary, which includes more cultural events at the downtown of Sanghai.

During the Sanghai Expo every nation has its own „Honour Day”, which is a great opportunity to present their culture and country. On this day, they are in the center of the Expo’s attention and they can entertain the visitors with programs and presentations. Hungary’s „Honour Day” will be held on the 22nd of August, this Sunday.

The evening gala under the name “The City and the Music” will take place in the Auditorium of the Expo Center. Although the festive program itself is based upon Hungarian music, the event will be different from a traditional musical performance. The gala will cover the whole spectrum of Hungarian musical literature from folk music to the 20th century’s Hungarian compositions. The show – among others - will include the works of Ferenc Liszt, Zoltán Kodály, Béla Bartók, György Ligeti, György Kurtág and Péter Eötvös. Today’s most famous artists are going to perform extraordinary productions specially composed to this very event. We can find Erika Miklósa opera singer, Bea Palya folk and world music singer, the Modern Art Orchestra, Szeged Contemporary Ballet and Experidance among the artists as well.

The official delegation, which will travel to Sanghai to the Hungarian National Day, will be leaded by the Cultural Under-Secretary, Géza Szőcs.

Art Forum Hungary in Sanghai

Our aim is to emphasize Hungarian presence during the World Expo in the city of Shanghai as well, therefore in late August (from 23 August – 5 September) we organize an event called “Art Forum Hungary” in the downtown of Shanghai, in MoCA – Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art. Programs include animated film screenings, exhibitions devoted to the photography of Robert Capa and other famous contemporary photographers, fashion exhibition presenting the collection of Katti Zoób, an interactive Music Dome – displaying Hungarian Contemporary Music, an exhibition with different 1m high Gömböc’s painted by young artists, and other cultural events, concerts and discussions.

www.expo2010.hu

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Delegates of our art in Sanhgai

The directors has been working for one and a half year for the smooth operation of the hungarian art representation in Sanghai. The following short representation is about to give you some highlights of the hungarian cultural events at the most monumental expo ever.

Europe Day

9 May, 2010

On the first great event of the World Expo, Europe Day, Hungary was represented by Pécs, the European Capital of Culture (ECC) in 2010. The artists from Baranya took part in the event together with artists from 25 countries; the main event was a large-scale street parade. The European countries introduced themselves through typical, national performances.

The Mecsek Folk Dance Ensemble represented Pécs. The dance ensemble was established 55 years ago and since then it stands for our region and Hungary home and abroad. The dance ensemble was accompanied by the Bushos from Mohács, giving spice to the parade. Performers, dressed up like a Gömböc, in national red-white-green colored and one decorated with the logo of Pécs, promoted the central element of our national pavilion in a playful way, scoring great success among visitors.

Gömböc decoration tender and exhibition

March–September 2010

Students from art universities were invited for a tender at the end of March 2010. The aim of the tender was the creative decoration of the Gömböc. The artworks were judged by a jury of four:

- Barnabás Bencsik, director of the Ludwig Museum,
- Gábor Kopek, president of the Moholy-Nagy Art University,
- Zsolt Petrányi, director of the Art Hall
- Zoltán Szegedy-Maszák, deputy president of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts.

The winning artworks were manufactured in two series. One set is exhibited in Hungary – Art of Hall, Palace of Arts – the other ten pieces will be introduced at Art Forum Hungary, a series of Hungarian cultural programs in Shanghai. This way, visitors can meet the young artists and their works at multiple locations. The Gömböc models will be first presented to the public on the Night of Museums in the Art Hall. Later they will be exhibited in the Palace of Arts between 21 June and 5 July and after 20 August. In September the exhibition will be moved to Pécs.

Hungarian National Day

22nd August, 2010

We celebrate Hungary’s National Day with three different events at the Expo. The official opening ceremony will take place in the Expo Center Atrium in the morning. This exclusive event will host high-ranking Chinese and Hungarian delegations. The program will present a 20-minute foretaste of the evening gala with Bea Palya and her band, Mónika Vida, a 13-year-old pianist, who attends the Special School for Exceptional Young Talents.

The highlight of the Hungarian National Day is the evening gala named „The City and the Music”. Like the main show of any other National Days, ours will also be held in the Auditorium of the Expo Center, which is suitable to receive an audience of 2,500. Although the festive program itself is based upon Hungarian music, the event will be different from a traditional musical performance. The gala will cover the whole spectrum of Hungarian musical literature from folk music to the 20th century’s Hungarian compositions. The show – among others - will include the works of Ferenc Liszt, Béla Bartók, György Ligeti, György Kurtág and Péter Eötvös. Today’s most famous artists are going to perform extraordinary productions specially composed to this very event. We can find Erika Miklósa opera singer, Bea Palya singer, Ferenc Snétberger guitarist, the Modern Art Orchestra, Szeged Contemporary Ballet and Experidance among the artists as well. An extraordinary background screening will be presented during the gala by Bordos.ArtWorks and invited co-artists. This group delivered the 3D animation for the official opening ceremony of the Palm Island in Dubai.

On the 22nd of August Hungary will serve the Expo visitors with open-air programs. We’ll celebrate the Hungarian National Day with all-day series of concerts at Europe Square, close to the Hungarian Pavilion. Students from Folk Music Department of The Liszt Academy of Music present the diverse Hungarian folk music traditions – accompanied by folk dance show and public dance.

„Art Forum Hungary”

23 August – 5 September 2010

Besides the programs and events inside the Expo site we organize a series of cultural programs called “Art Forum Hungary” in the center of Shanghai between 23 August and 5 September. The official opening of the event will be on the 23rd of August, just after the National Pavilion Day of Hungary. In the downtown of Shanghai, in MoCA – Museum of Contemporary Art – programs will include, among others, animated film screenings. Beside short films by the Film Studio of Kecskemét and the students of Moholy-Nagy Art University’s Animation Department, “Lúdas Matyi” and “János vitéz”, tales already very popular in China, will be presented.

Visitors can enjoy exhibitions devoted to the photography of Robert Capa and other famous contemporary photographers – presented by the National Museum and the Hungarian House of Photography, since the Capa-exhibition called „Harcok – Arcok” („Battles – Faces”) is brought to us by the curator of the National Museum. On the contemporary photo exhibition named LIVE SYNC works by József Pécsi Scholarship holders will be introduced.

On the ground floor of the museum an interactive Music Dome will be set up, presenting Hungarian contemporary music. Peculiar music sheet imprints will be screened on the wall of the tent, which will introduce works of nearly 40 contemporary artists. Inside the tent visitors can listen to the music also visually presented in a unique ambience. Also an exhibition of Gömböc models painted by young artists will be shown, chosen through an art tender in Hungary. The series of programs also include a fashion exhibition presenting the joint collection of Katti Zoób and Li Jianqin, who made a hit on the Shanghai Fashion Week.

In MoCA, a separate department will be devoted to the work of László Hudec, who was born in the sometime Hungary and worked as the head architect of Shanghai in the 1930s. The main elements of the Hudec-exhibition are 3 Hudec buildings modeled by students of the Tongji University; these can be observed through a software developed by Graphisoft. Also an interactive Hudec-knowledge base will be exhibited showing useful information about the architect’s life and work: these will be presented in the “Hudec-corner” on plasma screens.

The Art Forum Hungary will give home to round table talks and lectures with cultural topics as well. On the day after the opening (23 August) an interactive folk music and folkdance show will be staged, co-organized with MoCA. The performers of the National Day will be involved and also the contemporary musical content of the Music Dome will be presented. Lectures and round table talks related to the Hungarian cultural life will be held on 25 and 26 August.

Open-air concert on the International Children’s Day

19th September, 2010

On this day young talented Hungarian musicians, aged 10-14, will team up to form a special brass band and entertain the visitors of the Expo with an open air musical performance. This national program is linked to another important Hungarian cultural project: the young musicians will come from the city of Pécs.