The title of the exhibition at the Ani Molnár Gallery is a reference to Virginia Woolf's iconic book Room Of One’s Own, which obviously refers to one of the most important thesis of the book: „a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction / to create”.
Room Of Their Own
Artists: Lili AGG, Flóra Anna BUDA, Asztrid CSATLÓS, Boglárka DANKÓ, Villő JUHÁSZ, Dorottya Szonja KOLTAY, Gréta MIHÁLY, Orsolya NYÍRI, Dorottya POÓR, Abigél WIRTH
Curated by Kata Oltai
7 July - 30 September, 2023
Ani Molnár Gallery, Budapest
An intimate and dominated, occupied and exclusive space, with sufficient financial income. The room of her own is meant a real physical space, in women's perspectives - following Woolf’s thesis - the private room also carries a soaring symbolic meaning, an immanent critique of the established system. What is the social space where certain voices can be heard? If it does not exist, who could it create? The question can also be translated to the institutional system of visual culture: is there a space where these voices can speak? Is there a "room of their own" for young women to enter, a room already trodden by an older generation?
Sarah Ahmed, in her eloquently written essay White Men, aptly notes that the systems of dependency and visibility in academic discourse are created by references. White men refer to other white men and have their own room. As a middle-generation curator, I have to feel specifically responsible for how I create situations that reinforce the social space where women invite women in, where one generation can look to another, where continuity can be built. Where one can listen to voices are being amplified and being silenced. In this exhibition I have invited young women into a shared space, into a gallery with a female owner. They are young artists speaking in a female voice, asking questions, listening or not listening, talking about their own experiences. They can create a fictional persona to express themsleves. Their social status is different, could be a young mothers or just a university student finishing their studies. They are from alla over the country: Pest, Pécs, Szeged. They paint, embroider, make tattoo, scribble, crossing the boundaries of previously strictly expected categories. They have a distinct individual voice painting an even more exciting picture of the future of another generation launched into a common space of the gallery.
Text by: Kata Oltai
