LITTLE WARSAW 2002-2004
21.01 - 07.02.2005               

biography

Galerija Balen is pleased to announce the presentation and exhibition of Andrása Gálik and Bálint Havas, Hungarian artists who are active under the name Little Warsaw, and who on this occasion for the first time show their recent work in Croatia.

While both artists studied painting at the Academy, they have made their international reputation through sculpture, both through the creation of their own works in the traditional media of sculpture and through the reuse of exisiting monuments in their installations.

At the beginning of this decade, Little Warsaw was already attracting great attention in Hungarian artistic circles through their organisation of weekly discussions under the rubric 'Artwork of the Week', events which have since acquired cult status. During this time they also created the sculpture Qualities (2001), which is made up of 12 life-size portraits of boys arranged in a line, aluding to the experience of growing up under Communism.



Their long lasting interest in the context for the reception of art works was fully investigated in their project 'The Body of Nefertiti', with which Little Wasaw represented Hungary at the last Venice Biennale.

In 2004 Little Warsaw won the main prize of the Orange Sculpture Award in Den Haag for their installation 'Deserted Monument', in an exhibition of outdoor sculpture from each country of the European Union.

András Gálik (born 1970) and Bálint Havas (born 1971) are considered among the most internationally relevant contemporary Hungarian artists, and have also exhibited at the Berlin Biennale, the Stedijik Museum in Amsterdam, Prague, Madrid and Brussels.

In addition to the presentation and exhibition, which can be seen until 7th February 2005 in Galerija Balen, an Art Circle Time discussion on the theme of Monuments to the Homeland War in Slavonski Brod will also be held in the gallery.

This programme is realised with the support of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and in cooperation with Galerija VN, Zagreb.

This exhibition is organised with the support of the Croatian Ministry of Culture.