Péter Forgács was born in 1950 in Budapest. His work spans from media art through photography to moving image. He began his studies at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in 1971, but was soon forced to leave the institution. He worked in the Béla Balázs Studio between 1978 and 1993. Forgács took part in the work of the Group 180 (a contemporary music group) from its foundation until 1986. His work Bartos Family won the grand prize at the World Wide Video Festival in The Hague. His installations have been displayed at several locations globally: he created Danube Exodus in 2002 at the Getty Museum in LA, a work that has since been exhibited in the Ludwig Museum, the Jewish Museum of New York, and the ZKM in Karlsruhe, among others. In 2007, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize, in 1998, the Béla Balázs Prize, and in 2007, the Meritorious Artist Award of Hungary. At the 2009 Venice Biennale, Forgács represented Hungary with his video installation “Col Tempo” – The W. Project. His works feature in numerous public collections, including that of the Ludwig Museum, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Getty Museum, and the MOMA Media and Performance Art Collection. BK
