The spirit of the place, Pécs

The preparations for Lokart are already well underway, with less than two months to go before Pécs' visual arts scene kicks into high gear again. We asked Valit Fekete, director of the Pécs Galleries and founder and artistic director of Lokart, about the event. 

When and how was the festival first conceived?

Two years ago, immediately after the second Covid wave, which lasted six months. We were keen to organise a visual arts festival that would draw attention to the historic relationship between the visual arts and Pécs. 

At that time we only invited local artists. And the theme was Move to was held on the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Pécs Ballet, to commemorate an abstract exhibition entitled Movement 70, which was banned after one day in 1970. In addition to the exhibitions, we invited representatives of the profession and organised discussions on the press, art collecting, the state of contemporary exhibition spaces and museums. 

We already knew then that we wanted to continue in 2 years - a little differently.

How will this year be different?

One of the differences is that it will be held at the same time as the Sétatér Festival, which will be fused with the Dóm Square concerts.

The other is that this year's exhibition will be an invitation-only curated exhibition.

The theme is Illusion, which is a rather broad and multifaceted theme that we felt expresses our times well in all respects.

Furthermore, the range of venues and invitees has been expanded: in addition to our own exhibition spaces, installations will be made in alternative venues in Széchenyi Square and Király Street. The city centre will be connected to the Zsolnay Quarter. The Quarter will also feature outdoor installations by an urban artist from Lyon and a sculpture student from PTE, among others.

The exhibitors are artists and art students from Pécs and mainly from Budapest, but there are also exhibitors from three foreign cities: Aix-en-Provence, Lyon and Osijek - two partner cities and one sister city, each of which organises a Biennale of Fine Arts.

Why locart when it could be globart, since it is national and international?

Internationality is only the desired goal, so far we have managed to include three guests of honour from cities connected to Pécs, with whom we are celebrating the round anniversary of the establishment of the relationship.

The lokart is the spirit of the place, the spirit of Pécs, a kind of genius loci, which is the presence of artistic thinking and creative power in the city. There are few cities that focus so much on the arts and even the visual arts. Invitees from outside the city contextualise and situate these energies.

What will be the biggest trivia at this year's event?

I wouldn't single out any of the exhibitors, because there are many great artists exhibiting. But a special highlight of the festival programme is the performance by internationally renowned performance artist Eszter Salamon on the opening day of the festival, 21 June, in Cella Septichora. Salamon is a regular at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Avignon Festival, The Kitchen in New York, The Place in London, the Documentary Forum in Berlin (DE), the Tanzquartier in Vienna and sometimes at the Trafó in Budapest, to name but a few. In Pécs he has not presented a single performance, and his piece M/OTHER has never been shown in Hungary.