V – 150360/1 p. 204, 265, 266

Through video, performance and painting, Dóra Benyó draws on her own family history as source material for her work to address censorship and authority in Hungary during the Soviet era. She predominantly works with state archives files related to her grandfather, held by the former secret service. From a personal quest for belonging, Hungarian born but grown up in the Netherlands, she searches for traces of dictatorship left in her family. Using the position of the eternal newcomer she searches for traces of dictatorship left in her family, and questions how families and society processes the Eastern European dictatorial past.

The title V – 150360/1 p. 204, 265, 266 refers to the report from the Hungarian state security archive describing the activities of Dóra Benyó’s grandfather during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. With trucks he collected food in Austria and brought it to the head of military in Budapest.

For Art Au Liège #14 Dóra paints a scenery similar to the one described in the report. The depiction is based on an archival picture found on the internet made during the Hungarian Revolution on which a group of people unload food from a truck. The audience will look at the backside of the painting that is facing the window and hanging from the ceiling. Only the reflection in the mirror on the vitrine wall can give the audience glimpse of the actual painting. By not showing the front side of the painting, Dóra censors the depiction and refers to the incomplete archival material while posing questions about how we relate to our histories and their (un)knowability.