All Around Us (Budapest)

Budapest, Hungary. This is a huge exhibition, at the Mucsarnok, Kunsthalle, part of the annual National Salon series put on by the Hungarian Academy of Art. The focus this year is on Hungarian Design and Applied Art from the last 10 years, organized by "actual function and professional challenges".

The exhibition begins outside the main entry with a "corridor" treatment that picks up again in the exhibition entry, runs down the long center of the exhibition, and branches into the side galleries.

The "corridored" pathways help to compensate for the huge open scale of the rooms, and also compete with the displays, in some places.

The more predictable themes include interior, product & branding, sport leisure & game, motion, community space, and innovation. Among the Hungarian Graphic Designers, here are some names to check out—Molnar Gyula, Krzysztof Ducki, Matai & Vegh, Arendas Jozsef, Peter Maczo, Andras Felvideki, Zoltan Halasi, Janiga Livia & Litvanyi Janos, Ferenc Kassai...

"After Gutenberg: The Multi-Colored Print World" gallery includes elegant designs of postage stamps and bank cards.

Tibor Pataki is an amazing book artist, who also creates book animations. 

A smart floating book display design, using clear plex attached to the wall

A more unusual theme was "Around Our Souls: Sacred Spaces and Objects". Another was "Respect for Heritage: Restoration, Renovation, Recovery" where restoration artists were personally honored for their work.