Overview

András Gálik (b. 1970 in Budapest), Bálint Havas (b. 1971 in Budapest), both live and work in Budapest. Working as a duo since 1999, Little Warsaw addresses historical memory and confronts personal encounters with social experience through films, installations, and a wide variety of media. In recent years, Little Warsaw has undertaken a manifold investigation of the art object as a complex system of codes, conventions and signifiers used as a form of dialogue between the artist and the public. Taking inspiration from similar experiments by the Bauhaus, and reanalysing structuralist theories, they deconstruct the artwork into its most fundamental components: form, colour and material.
One of their best known works is the project The Body of Nerfertiti, presented at the Venice Biennial in 2003, in which they made a bronze body to complete the famous limestone bust of Nefertiti. The act opened up an extremely rich field of associations, including the question concerning the use of the centuries-old iconic art object in contemporary art and the possibilities it offers for intercultural communication, while at the same teasing out the property relations of the artistic heritage of the past.
It is also the artistic heritage of post-war Hungary that they investigate in many of their projects. They elevate public monuments from their environment that have been condemned to amnesia, and use archival footage to place them in a new narrative.

Biography

Little Warsaw's work has been widely exhibited internationally since 2003. They had solo exhibitions e.g. Innen Space, Zurich (2020); Secession, Vienna (2014); Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig (2012); Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2011); AKZM Ausstellungshalle für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Münster (2010); and Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (2009).

Their projects have been included in numerous group exhibitions throughout the world, e.g. Museum of Contemporary Art, Wrocław, (2019); Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb (2017); K21, Düsseldorf, Germany (2015); the travelling exhibition Tee with Nefertiti in 2012-13 at Mathaf Doha, Qatar; Modern Art Institute Valencia, and Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; S.M.A.K., Gent (2011); Singapore History Museum (2006), Apexart New York (2006); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2004). They took part in the 1st and 2nd OFF-Biennále - Budapest (2015, 2017), 12th Bienal de Cuenca (2014), Manifesta 7 in Roverto (2008), the 1st and 3rd Prague Biennial (2003, 2007), and the 2nd Berlin Biennial (2001).

Their works are held in several prestigious international public and private collections, such as Pompidou - Museum of Contemporary Art, Paris; MUDAM - Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg; Carré d'Art - Musée d'Art Contemporain, Nîmes; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris; Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest; Kontakt - The Art Collection of Erste Bank Group and ERSTE Foundation, Vienna; Muzeum Współczesne, Wrocław; Art Collection Telekom, Frankfurt; EVN Art Collection, Maria Enzersdorf, Austria; Małopolską Fundację Muzeum Sztuki Współczesnej, Cracow; Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest.

Works
  • Little_Warsaw_Model_of_the_ambivalent_Quarter_2020_23,5 x 13,5 x 13,5 cm
    Model of the Ambivalent Quarter, 2020
  • Little Warsaw, Inclusion, 2019
    Inclusion, 2019
  • Little Warsaw, Mediate Facility, 2019
    Mediate Facility, 2019
  • LittleWarsaw-Untitled-2018-ernah
    Untitled, 2018
  • LittleWarsaw-Untitled-2018-ernah
    Untitled, 2018
  • Little Warsaw 2017 emotional sequence sculpture_erna_hecey
    Emotional Sequence, 2017
  • Little_Warsaw_Mapping_Component_2017_Erna_HECEY
    Mapping Component, 2017
  • little warsaw sadness sheet film 2017
    Sadness, 2017
  • Little_Warsaw_Tidal_Waves_2017_Erna_Hecey
    Tidal Wave, 2017
  • Little_Warsaw_Ways_of_telling_2017_offset_Erna_Hecey
    Ways of Telling, 2017
  • Little_Warsaw_Tuileries_Gardens_2016_Erna_Hecey
    Tuileries Garden, 2016
  • Little Warsaw double locus installation the body of god 2015_erna_hecey
    Double Locus, 2015
  • Little Warsaw_Sliding_Quarter_2015_Erna_Hecey_gallery
    Sliding Quater, 2015
  • Little_Warsaw_Template_2015_Erna_Hecey
    Template, 2015
  • little_warsaw_bulletproof_vest_plaster_scultpure_2014
    Bulletproof Vest, 2014
  • Little_Warsaw_fighter_photograph_magnet_2014_erna_hecey
    Fighter, 2014
  • Little Warsaw, Relief, 2014
    Relief, 2014
  • Little Warsaw_vortex_painted_plaster_ number 6_2013_erna_hecey
    Vortex, 2013
  • Little_Warsaw_helmet_2012_erna_hecey
    Helmet, 2012
  • broken nefertiti 2003 Little Warsaw
    Broken Nefertiti, 2003
  • Little Warsaw, Sign, 1999
    Sign, 1999
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