Berlinische Galerie - Museum of modern art, photography and architecture

Lajos Kassák (1887-1967) was a key figure of the Hungarian avant-garde. The exhibition focuses on his years of exile in Vienna (1920-1926) and the theory of picture architecture which Kassák understood as an emancipatory form of perception and expression. In addition, it will show his journalistic activity in the circle of the internationally influential magazine MA [Today], which reflected on expressionist, dadaist and constructivist tendencies.

For the first time, the exhibition will be showing works from a private collection in Paris. Supplemented by selected works from the collection of the Berlinische Galerie, it will trace the manifold trends of the avant-garde. In the decade beginning in 1910, Kassak had already founded an international network, which he extended continually through his contacts in Vienna, Paris and Berlin. Besides literary, artistic and theoretical works by Kassák and his contemporaries, the exhibition also visualises the geo-cultural contexts within which Kassák‘s activity unfolded. Contemporary photos, documents and films present groups, centres, publications and famous artist personalities from that period, including Sándor Bortnyik, El Lissitzky, László Moholy-Nagy, Kurt Schwitters, Tristan Tzara and Herwarth Walden.