Edit Molnár
area: Theory
Key Facts
nationality
Hungaryarea
Theoryresidence
Budapestrecommending institution
Erste Bank/tranzittime period
March 2010 - April 2010Edit Molnár is a freelance curator and critic working between Budapest, Berlin and Cairo.
Edit Molnár earned a MA in Art History in 1998 and a MA in Aesthetics in 2005 from Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest. In 2002 she participated in De Appel's curatorial training program in Amsterdam. From 2000-2005 she was the director of the Studio Gallery Budapest, a non-profit exhibition space of the Studio of Young Artists Association that focuses on progressive, emerging artists, and establishing and fostering connections with foreign partner institutions. She worked as a curator of the Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle, Budapest from 2005 to 2007.
She had been the director of the Cairo based independent non for profit art institution, the Contemporary Image Collective between 2007-2009 (www.ciccairo.com).
She established a curatorial collective with Aleya Hamza in 2009 under the name hamzamolnar.
Molnár has given lectures on contemporary art at the Neue Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin; The Townhouse Galley, Cairo; ACAF Alexandria and from 2009 February she is a visiting lecturer of the curatorial course on the University of Fine Arts, Budapest.
Her recent projects include co-curating the exhibitions/projects: On Mobility in Amsterdam/Berlin/Vilnius/Budapest (2006); Dreamlands Burn at Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle (2006-07); co-curating Tales around the Pavement, Chapter 1-2, Cairo: She co-curated Indicated by Signs at the Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn and New Entries_PhotoCairo, an exhibition and seminar, Museet for Fotokunst, Odense (2009) and PhotoCairo4: The Long Shortcut, Cairo (2008-2009)
I have been invited by the Tranzit foundation for a one month long research residency to Vienna, hosted by the MQ Artist-in-Residence program.
Although as a curator and critic during the past 11 years, I have had excellent opportunities to work in different artistic and curatorial positions in the contemporary art scene in Budapest and abroad I was not particularly familiar with the Viennese contemporary scene.
After years invested in institutional building, which has been extremely redeeming on many personal and professional levels, I have now shifted my focus on curating and writing exclusively. This flexibility of the freelance status inspired me to apply to the residency in Vienna and the decision turned out to be a very fruitful one. The working conditions were really great and although the residency was short I could meet a lot of artists, had a great amount of inspiring conversations and a real insight into the local scene.
I found the research extremely rewarding as that working strategy: I could have direct access to resources that are crucial for the research and success of my future exhibition projects, expanding my understanding of central European scenes and its current art production.