Hungary
OFF-Biennale / Budapest
An international contemporary art event, OFF-Biennale Budapest is the largest civil, independent arts initiative in Hungary. Organized on a grassroots basis, OFF-Biennale is based on self-organization and a voluntary collaboration of artists, groups of artists, curators, gallerists, and collectors, among others. OFF supports the work of Hungarian artists and brings the international art scene closer to the Hungarian public; it produces new artworks, exhibitions, publications, events, and education programs. Settling in private apartments, vacant shop premises, industrial buildings, alternative theaters, and public places, it invites the public to explore the city.
It does not apply for Hungarian state funding, and stays away from state-run art institutions. It strives to take an active part in the social discourse on public issues and to enhance the culture of democracy by the means of art. According to OFF-Biennale, art is a laboratory for social change; it is bewildering, putting the familiar into new perspective, interrupting the routines of thought and action. As such, it contributes to new thoughts and ideas, to the dismantling of prejudice, to the discovery of individual and common opportunities previously unnoticed. Thus, the role independent contemporary art plays in a democratic society is essential.
