Marton McCue
How could this have happened?
The FIDESZ (Alliance of Young Democrats), the party of current prime minister Viktor Orban, has been stripping Hungary from the rule of law for the last 13 years, although it was founded in 1988 on the ideas of freedom and democracy. At the time they co-organised the Pan-European Picnic, setting the starting point for tearing down the Cold War’s border regime. Since then they have abandoned their ideals of free movement, and as of 2015, have erected a new fence on the Southern border of Hungary, at the forefront of the new European border regime.
This project asks questions about the silencing of the past that went along with building this fence, the silencing of the experiences of migrants, but also the self-silencing of betraying their own liberal past and experiences. The work includes a collage of documents from various sources that legitimate, advocate, promote and normalize the fence, and a piece of the NATO Barbed Wire that the contemporary fence includes. There is also on display; the testimonials of Hungarians of how they remember and explain to themselves the death of the dream of liberal ideas and of a better future.
Installation, 2023
Sources:
The background is made of documents from the Magyar Közlӧny (Hungarian Gazette), the official release of laws made by the Hungarian government. They start 2015, stating laws and law alterations concerning the Southern border fence, the border itself, and those crossing the border.
At the top right you see information and advertising from the internet in German of the NATO barbed wire used for the fence, detailing dimensions and applications.
On the right side one poster by the Hungarian government, shows images of migrants, commanding them to “stop”. Another poster with an image of Prime Minister Viktor Orban translates as: “Brussels thinks migration is a good thing, we answer to this with: if you know that this is good for you, then take them (the migrants).”
Left center and bottom corner: two posters, one in German one in Hungarian, contain information on the location and event schedule of the 1989 Pan-European Picnic, including the “Bontsd ès vidd” (“break it and take it”), instructing participants to break the Iron Curtain. The name of FIDESZ is listed in small print in the section “Event Organised By”.
Blue poster: Another advertisement in Hungarian for the Pan-European Picnic, containing event information. The name of FIDESZ again appears in the fine print as organizers.
Small black and white poster: poster published by FIDESZ during the 90s, showing communist era leaders and a Hungarian couple, with text that translates as “choose!”.
