Dressed for festive occasion, in front of the cameras

2010. March 14.

“Before family holidays in old times, the members of a family put on their holiday costumes and went to a photographer’s to have their picture taken. The Palace of Arts, celebrating its fifth birthday in 2010, invited photographers here to capture the moments in pictures”, photographer Péter Korniss, holder of the Kossuth Prize, said. It was Mr Korniss, as the president of the jury, to inaugurate the exhibition presenting the material of the photo competition Experience! In all respects, launched by the Palace of Arts, on March 14.

Deputy General Manager of the Palace of Arts András Csonka spoke of the audience’s precious love as the greatest acknowledgement alongside the several thousand successful events held at the institution. There were no restrictions in the competition therefore; irrespective of profession or age, anybody could submit their photos or photo series in the three categories given: The Experience Evoked; Creative; The Building of the Palace of Arts. The pictures submitted reflected a special attitude beyond the welcome fact that the audience of the Palace of Arts has become a co-creator of the institution as the years have gone by.
After András Csonka, Péter Korniss pointed out once more that the almost three and a half thousand photos entered by 675 competitors surpassed previous expectations in both quality and quantity. He believed it was a much valuable opportunity of the competition that the Palace of Arts had given certain times to applicants when they had considerable freedom to take photos in various spaces of the building. Indeed, competitors managed to discover beauty and novelty even for those well familiar with the venue to an extent totally unexpected for the coordinators of the competition: the Palace of Arts and Mai Manó House of Hungarian Photographers.
The members of the jury besides Péter Korniss (Imre Benkő, Luca Göbölyös, Károly Kincses and Monika Turkovics) finally made the following decisions.
In the category The Experience Evoked:
1st Prize    Gergely Kömöz: Sony World Photography Award
2nd Prize   Gyula Czimbal: In the Atelier of Painter Ignác Kokas
3rd Prize    Márta Szabó: Fly High!
In the category Creative:
1st Prize   Sándor Dobos: Gibellina’s Statue Plans
2nd Prize  Leo Pinter: On the Way to Mupa…
3rd Prize   Bence Járdány: Only after me!
In the category The Building of the Palace of Arts:
1st Prize   Dániel Dömölky: Pictures of a Concert
2nd Prize  Szabolcs  Dienes: A Building Depicted
3rd Prize   Hunor Holló: Turning Point
The exhibition organised by Éva Hajdú and Károly Kincses can be visited in the Foyer of the Palace of Arts for one month. During this time, the audience, too, has the opportunity to vote on their favourite photographs. There are also evaluative discussions to be held by experts for participants interested.

14.03.2010.