Exhibitions

Drawing on Books IV.: Luca Petrányi – To the Bottom of the Soaked Earth

18/Dec/2024 - 31/Mar/2025

Drawing on Books serves as the visual experimental platform of the MaDok program: contemporary artists are invited to draw on black-painted surfaces, drawing inspiration from the publications of the Museum of Ethnography.

Opening: December 18, 2024, at 6:00 PM
Location: The space in front of the Etknow bookstore, Museum of Ethnography

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

(The % symbol represents drum beats.)

"Let it be good somehow
We tread the sandy soil,
...soil,
calves sinking,
we tread (dancing)
to the bottom of the soaked earth (dancing)
...
Save us somehow!
Do good!
On the riverside soil,
the sun rises,
shining into our faces."
Excerpt from a shamanic healing song, night
From Benedek Baráthosi Balogh: Távoli utakon [On Distant Roads], A Néprajzi Múzeum tudománytörténeti kiadványsorozata 9, Museum of Ethnography, Budapest, 1996, p. 81

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
An amateur collector and self-taught researcher, Benedek Baráthosi Balogh (1870–1945) explored the origins of the Hungarian people and their homeland in Central and East Asia prior to World War I. During his field research in 1908, he reached the Amur River peoples, studying their languages and beliefs. Through his efforts, the Museum of Ethnography's collection was enriched with numerous objects, photographs, written materials, and Baráthosi’s travel notes. The inspiration for the fourth edition of Drawing on Books comes from a volume edited for the 50th anniversary of Baráthosi's death. This book includes his travel journals, photos, and drawings. Some of the most fascinating sections explore the belief systems, rituals, magic spells, and amulets of shamanism. Baráthosi often had to recall and reconstruct the knowledge of the shamans from his own memory, as they were reluctant to share everything openly, or the social settings otherwise did not allow Baráthosi to photograph or record their songs with his primitive camera. In his notes, Baráthosi recounts how shamans refused to sell their idols, fearing they would lose their power. Even replicas were considered risky, as Baráthosi might have gained the objects' power. Consequently, he relied on his eyes, ears, and hands to document shamanic culture through drawings (which he or his wife may have created) and vivid, detailed descriptions. The drawings of Amur River amulets and shamanic objects, along with Baráthosi's experiential descriptions, also inspired Luca Petrányi. Drawing functions as a research tool, enabling us to "bring home" objects that cannot be physically transported. The depicted objects are all magical, imbued with spirits. They hold the guardian of the winds, the spirit of the tiger god, and sometimes even mischievous demons.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

An architect and visual artist, Luca Petrányi is a doctoral student at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, researching the manifestations of exoticism in contemporary visual art, with a particular emphasis on Indonesia. Her starting point was her three-year stay in Indonesia. Her research specifically focuses on textiles, as she practices textile painting as a visual artist. Luca is also the founder of Useless Galeri, where she and Fanni Solymár conduct independent curatorial practices through group exhibitions, performances, and musical events in liminal, transitional spaces beyond gallery walls. Her work is interdisciplinary—she alternates between designing sets, houses, and organizing communities.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The MaDok is a museum program for contemporary studies that has been organized and coordinated by the Museum of Ethnography since 2003. The program focuses on preserving the contemporary material world and on documenting and presenting the modern era in a museum context. It aims to showcase empirical research that aligns with contemporary collection perspectives and to establish a scientific forum.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Related Publication: Benedek Baráthosi Balogh: Távoli utakon [On Distant Roads], A Néprajzi Múzeum tudománytörténeti kiadványsorozata 9, Museum of Ethnography, Budapest, 1996
https://etnoshop.hu/.../barathosi-balogh-benedek-tavoli.../

Graphics: Luca Petrányi
Concept: Judit Gellér
Curator: Anna Zsoldos