/// LITERATURE ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
» 89: The Unfinished Revolution
Monday, 1 February 2010 6.00 PM
Hungarian Cultural Centre
Nick Thorpe will talk about his book: In ’89: The Unfinished Revolution that weaves the political with the personal, anecdote with analysis, to produce an energising and important account of history in the making.
The inside story of the revolutions of 89 by the BBC’s Central Europe correspondent.
The first book to bring the story bang up to date: what came next?
By the only journalist who stayed the course: 25 years in Eastern Europe.
BBC journalist Nick Thorpe has witnessed first-hand some of the most tumultuous events of the past twenty-five years in eastern Europe: the Velvet Revolution in Prague; the bloody uprising in Romania; the bombing of Belgrade; and the economic crash of 2008. But for Thorpe the revolutions of 1989 roll on, yet to reach their conclusions. The old cold war has been replaced by a new cold war – this time between the people and the state.
Andrew Gifford was born in Sheffield in 1970. He is now recognised widely as one of the most innovative young landscape painters working today. Andrew travels extensively in search of the inspiring landscapes depicted in his paintings, recently visiting Budapest and Hong Kong, and having lived in France for many years he is now based in Brighton
His paintings have been widely exhibited, most recently at Leeds City Art Gallery in 2004. His paintings are in public collections in the United Kingdom and in private collections in Europe, USA and Japan. A retrospective of his paintings, Landscape Paintings 1998-2000 was held at the Fruitmarket Gallery Edinburgh (24 Nov - 9 Jan 2001). The Leeds - Bradford series were exhibited at the Leeds City Art Gallery in 20
...It’s only after about four months of constantly looking at the same street that you start to get a feeling for it. One of the strong things about my painting is that I really concentrate on one particular area and then it’s a bit like painting a portrait. You paint your best portraits of the people you really know, because their character’s in there... it’s the same thing. It’s only when you get to know all the nuances which make a place just that little bit different, which make a place specific and interesting.’
Andrew Gifford is represented by the John Martin Gallery.
Exhibition at the HCC and John Martin Gallery
02 February 2010 – 15 February 2010
Private View – Tuesday, 02 February evening
John Martin Gallery
38 Albemarle Street
London W1S 4JG
Kinetica Art Fair is produced by Kinetica Museum and is the first of its kind in the UK. It provides collectors, curators and the public with a unique opportunity to view and purchase artworks from leading contemporary arts organisations and artists specialising in kinetic, electronic, robotic, light, sound, time-based and interdisciplinary new media art.
Alongside the fair there will be special events, screenings, tours, talks, workshops and performances. These events will involve some of the world's most eminent leaders in the fields of kinetic, electronic and new media art. Kinetica's aim through the fair is to popularise artists and organisations working in these genres and to provide a new platform for the commercial enterprise of this field.
The inaugural 2009 Kinetica Art Fair was a seminal cultural event, attracting over 8,500 visitors and increasing the importance and value of kinetic, electronic and new media art on a global level as well as in the mainstream arts press.
In 2010 Hungary will be in focus and galleries like the Ráday Gallery, the A22 Gallery and Kitchen Budapest will be represented at the Kinetica Art Fair.
Ráday GALLERY was founded as one of the first private galleries in 1997. As a result of our long-term visual culture message, they are continuously working as a programme gallery in the same location for 12 years now.
The A22 Gallery collects and archives innovative and experimental works related to the interconnection of science, technology and art, giving both the professional audience and the general public information and thought provoking programs throughout a range of exhibitions, presentations, symposiums, interdisciplinary events, lectures, and workshops.
P3, Marylebone Road. London NW1
/// CLASSICAL MUSIC ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
» Monday Music Soirees - Introducing Éva Polgár
Monday, 15 February 2010
Hungarian Cultural Centre
Éva Polgár was born into a Hungarian musical family in 1984, and she began to play the clarinet at the age of eight, after she moved with her family to Switzerland. She studies for a masters degree in performance at the Royal College of Music in London. As a first prize winner of the Swiss Youth Music Competition, she performed the Krommer Double Concerto in Lisbon with the orchestra Sinfónica Juvenil. With the Quinteto Gaudí she won first prizes at the Swiss Youth Music Competition and Jecklin Musiktreffen Competition. Eva has received several prestigious awards including scholarships from the Cecilia Bartoli Music Foundation, the Dr. István Kertész Foundation, the Fritz Gerber Foundation and the Liszt Academy Network.
Manon Ablett was born in Stuttgart in 1987 into a family of musicians. In 1992 she moved to London and began her musical studies on the piano, flute and recorder. She has given regular concerts throughout the U.K, at venues including The Linbury Studio at The Royal Opera House, The Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Wigmore Hall. Most recently Manon won the 2nd prize at the International Hindemith Competition in Berlin.
Current joint winner of the Landor Records competition, James Barralet is fast
becoming recognized as one of the top young cellists of his generation. An open-minded musician with a rare gift for communication through his instrument, James is as at home improvising Indian ragas as he is performing concerti.
/// FILM ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
» Film Club - Father's Arce
Thursday, 18 February 2010 7.00pm
Hungarian Cultural Centre
Written & directed by: Viktor Oszkár Nagy, Produced by: Péter Miskolczi, Director of photography: Tamás Dobos Main cast: Tamás Ravasz, János Derzsi, Andrea Nagy
The Hungarian Cultural Centre will screen the film by the new generation of filmmakers from Hungary with the director and the director of photography in attendance for the first time in the UK. In Apaföld the Father is released from prison, resolving to start a new life and try to pass on some form of value system to his son. He buys a plot of land, on which he plans to plant grapevines. The Son, whose formative years have been blighted by the absence of paternal figure, is suddenly confronted with his flesh-and-blood father, was formerly deified, but whose current intentions are met with stiff resistance. Everything the Father does or represents is totally rejected by the Son.
» Stress and the Brain: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly…
Tuesday, 23 February 2010 7.00pm
Hungarian Cultural Centre
We encounter stress in our everyday life. Stress affects our brain and body for the better and for the worse. This talk will summarise recent scientific research on how stress influences brain function, emotions, cognition and mental health. The talk will emphasise, from a neuroscientist’s point of view, the two faces of stress, namely the positive effects that help us cope with the ever-changing environment around us and the negative effects that can lead to disease.
Dr. Sarnyai is currently University Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge. He is also Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge where he serves as Director of Studies for Medicine. His current research focuses on the biological mechanisms of psychiatric disorders. He received his medical training and PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Szeged, Hungary. Dr. Sarnyai’s research career included a Research Fellowship at the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, followed by a junior faculty position at The Rockefeller University in New York. He published more than 50 original papers, review articles and book chapters in the field of neuroscience. He was awarded the Curt P. Richter Prize by the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology for his work on neuropeptides and brain function.
Free. For reservations, please call 020 72406162 or e-mail
