Sho(r)t Stories of Europe, or the Architecture of Images

How Europe is being thought of in Hungary and how Europeans are seen through the eyes of a Russian artist. This is the theme of a unique photo exhibition opened at the Ministry of National Resources in Budapest.

Though, originally, it was entirely a civil initiative, it attracted a number of artists and diplomats, so that it has finally become part of the official EU presidency cultural program.

The opening event was co-hosted by one of the initiators of the exhibition, Ombudsman for Educational Rights, Lajos Aáry-Tamás and a delegate of the United Nations, Nóra Köves whose work relates to the ombudsman’ mission and to supporting cultural diversity and encouraging cooperation between civilians and authorities. The ceremony was opened with a speech by university professor of human ecology, writer and philosopher András Lányi, who said that taking note of subtle differences and interplay of these are what Europe is about.

The pictures exhibited were shot by Anna Zavileiskaia, an architect living in Hungary who visited the main cities of Europe, including Brussels, Antwerpen, Paris, Budapest as a photographer.

What makes these images unique is the refusal of editing and projecting reality and it returns the best and forgotten tradition of striving to adopt an objective way of seeing. One indicator of the concept is that it could not be identified where the photos were taken. Although, there are a number of differences, the people they portray theoretically could be in any other city of Europe. Figures, faces, gestures are seen without the artificial need of editing the reality.

This kind of unmasked richness of reality was reinforced at the opening ceremony by Antal Swing Grass - playing ’the French street musicians’ of the photos, who added gaiety to the opening ceremony and Tükrös Band that plays authentic Transylvanian folklore music.