ArtColony Cered marks 30 years with survey exhibition at REÖK in Szeged

NewsCulture

Dec 14

A survey exhibition marking the 30th anniversary of the ArtColony Cered International Artists’ Residency has opened at REÖK, the Regional Art Center housed in the Reök Palace in Szeged. The exhibition is open from Dec. 13 through Feb. 15.

The exhibition presents a comprehensive overview of ArtColony Cered’s activities over the past three decades. Founded in the Nógrád County village of Cered, the residency brings together artists from Hungary and abroad and is known for its ongoing engagement with the local environment and folklore.

The exhibition at REÖK was curated by visual artists Csaba Fürjesi, Eszter Palik and Jozef Suchoža, together with art historian Róbert Nátyi. Organized around broad thematic concepts including locality, sacrality, the human body, ritual, contrast and vanitas, the show features nearly 150 works by almost 80 artists, the majority of them international.

ArtColony Cered received the International Visegrad Prize in 2025. According to the organizers, the exhibition reflects the residency’s focus on the social, sociological, economic and cultural roles of contemporary art. Artists participating in the residency regularly take part in annual symposia in Cered, working in close interaction with the surrounding environment.

The exhibition officially opened on Dec. 13. At the opening event, Csaba Fürjesi, the residency’s artistic and professional director, spoke about the historical roots of the artists’ residency movement and said that ArtColony Cered has hosted artists on nearly 500 occasions over the past 30 years, with participants representing 36 countries.

Róbert Nátyi, REÖK’s chief curator, also spoke at the opening, describing ArtColony Cered as an artistic ethos rather than a single stylistic school. He highlighted the diversity of artistic approaches represented in the exhibition, which includes installations, video documentation of performances, found-object works, as well as painting, graphic art, sculpture and photography.

The exhibition is open to visitors through Dec. 23, and again on Dec. 27 and 28. After a brief holiday closure, it reopens on Jan. 6 and runs through Feb. 15.