curator: Zsófia Júlia Szilágyi
Új Symposion, a Hungarian-language journal published in Yugoslavia, maintained a courageous critical stance and a deliberate spontaneity. The creative community that grew around the editorial team and all but turned into a movement created a literary and artistic milieu in Vojvodina that was marked by a proclivity for experimenta-tion. Struggling with the minority status of the Hungarian language, while enjoying an access to cultural knowledge that was fresher in Yugoslavia than in Hungary, the consecutive editorial teams and the associated generations of artists shaped the periodical with different emphases on literature, visual culture and social criticism, and vary-ing degrees of readiness to comply with the demands of the cultural authorities. Though the history of Új Symposion may appear uninterrupted, it was constantly hampered by bans, lawsuits, and in 1983 by the dismissal of the editors, right up to the Yugoslav war, when it could no longer be maintained.
Besides the literature, this exhibition focuses on the exceptionally strong visual impact of the journal. The display outlines the look characteristic of each editorial team, introduces the key actors associated with the periodical, and illustrates some of its many links with Hungary. Novi Sad Orpheuses allows us to take stock of what is a still relevant literary-artistic achievement of cultural historical significance.
