Szombathy, Bálint: Lenin in Budapest (1972/2010)

Born in Vojvodina in the former Yugoslavia, Szombathy started his career as a founding member of Bosch + Bosch, a group of progressive artists. Since the early seventies, he has been engaged in poetry, mail art, performance and graphic design. He has edited a number of art journals as well. On the 1st of May 1972, the usual labour day parade was held in Budapest: hundreds of thousands representing the working people marched down Dózsa György Road in front of the tribune with the waving figure of the leader János Kádár, to eventually get rid of their signs, banners and other accessories and take a break in the City Park with some beer and sausage. Bálint Szombathy’s action started after this: grabbing a procession sign with Lenin’s portrait, he continued rambling through the streets of Budapest, stopping in front of houses and fences, wandering into courtyards. Appropriating the sign depicting the leader of the Great October Socialist Revolution for the purposes of his own action, he practically removed Lenin from his original environment and placed him into a different context. The well-known symbol could suddenly be seen in different light: as the tool of a private artistic demonstration, it was confronted with the hopelessly grey and depressing “existing socialism”, which was the direct opposite of the colourful and falsely optimistic May 1st parade. K.Sz.