DESIGNBLOK @ PRAGUE - exhibition design / 2023

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An exhibition presenting Hungarian creators appeared for the first time at the Designblok festival in Prague. As part of the Budapest Select exhibition realised in the collaboration of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency (HFDA) and the Liszt Institute Prague, 15 Hungarian artists’ objects were displayed between the 4th and 8th of October 2023. There was huge interest in the exhibition reflecting on the topic of Journey; it was especially popular among young visitors.

The strategic goals of the HFDA include raising the profile of Hungarian artists, enhancing exports, and facilitating cooperation. To achieve these objectives, the Agency participated in the 25th Designblok International Design Festival, one of the determining creative industry events of the Central European region. The debut was realised in collaboration with the Liszt Institute Prague, the leading ambassador of Hungarian culture, education, and science in the Czech Republic, which joined the Designblok event to celebrate its 70th anniversary.

Hungarian artists appeared in an individual exhibition for the first time in Prague which has provided them a new opportunity to introduce Hungarian culture and creations to an international audience. Designblok is usually realised in different locations. The Budapest Select exhibition was held in the biggest exhibition space of the National Gallery Prague, the Trade Fair Palace, in the section called Openstudio. Hungarian ceramists, glass designers, and sculptors, renowned both nationally and internationally, presented their works in an installation based on the paraphrase of the journey. The silicate industry creations were placed in wooden boxes, a device that uniquely alluded to the transport of the artefacts, while also evoking the memories of travel, which we carry with us as treasures analogous to objects. The curator of the exhibition, Gáspár Bonta, brought Designblok’s topic, Journey, to life with the concept.

The broad audience and the profession were both represented at the design festival in Prague. From Wednesday to Sunday, young people, representatives of the profession, collectors and people interested in fashion, design, and art visited the building of the Trade Fair Palace. The Budapest Select exhibition was viewed by Rossana Orlandi, curator of the design LAB curated by Rossana Orlandi programme and internationally renowned figure of contemporary design. Domestic creators’ works were viewed by the journalists of Dolce Vita, a cultural magazine published in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Several collectors have expressed interest in the artists' works, purchases have been made, and further discussions are ongoing.

The Budapest Select’s exhibitors were Tünde Ruzicska, Debóra Horák, Petra Szondi, Balázs Veres, Lilla Cséfalvay, Ádám Csaba Szabó, Hajnal Gyeviki, Zsuzsanna Deák, Sára Kele, Zsuzsanna Formanek, Bori Segesdi, Kyra László, Anita Monori, Ágnes Smetana and Attila Kertész.

The creators appeared under the Budapest Select umbrella brand, created by the HFDA based on international best practices, which aims to provide larger visibility for creators during their international appearances with joint and unified communication while retaining their individual characteristics. International appearances similar to Designblok also have a touristic role, the presentation of domestic culture outside our borders has a national brand image-building force which contributes to Hungary, and within it, Budapest, becoming the region’s fashion and design industry centre in the long run.

You can view a part of Budapest Select’s exhibited pieces again at the 360 Design Budapest to be held between the 17th and the 22nd of October 2023.

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