Katalin Kortmann-Járay
Katalin Kortmann-Járay (1986, Budapest) explores the impact of culture on human perception in her installations, with a particular focus on the intersections of individual and collective experience. Her work brings together the experience of globality and the particularities of attachment to place, tracing these through the lenses of nostalgia and utopia, childhood and adulthood, as well as memory and fiction. Childhood, understood as a multilayered metaphor both literally and symbolically, plays a central role in her practice and forms a recurring interpretive framework within her work.
Katalin Kortmann-Járay and Karina Mendreczky have been working closely together since 2019. They create large-scale, walk-through installations using a spatial collage of various elements. Their cooperated work combines different techniques and materials to create their metaphorically feminine spaces. Both artists exhibit regularly at national and international group shows and art fairs. In 2023, they were jointly awarded the Esterházy Art Prize, a prestigious award for young artists in Hungary, with their works showcased at venues such as Q21 Salon in Vienna, Budapest Gallery, Ludwig Museum in Budapest, and MODEM in Debrecen. Since 2024, they are represented by am projects, following their highly acclaimed debut exhibition, The Long Sigh of the Frog. This year, they also presented site-specific installations in Beijing and at Arsenal Gallery in Poland.
Katalin Kortmann-Járay
1986, Budapest
lives and works in Budapest
Education
2019– Doctoral School, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest
2006–2012 Department of Printmaking, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest
2011-2012 Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, DE
Awards and Grants
2023
Esterházy Art Award, Budapest,HU
Visegrad Scholarship with SOPA Gallery, SL
Budapest Gallery Scholarship Programme, Krems, Austria
Ludwig Scholarship by the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation, DE
2021
Budapest Gallery Scholarship Programme, Budapest, Hungary
Walter Koschatzky Art Award 2021 (Nominee), Vienna, Austria
2019
Award of the International Willi Münzenberg Forum, Berlin, DE
Installation Projects for Group Exhibitions, in Collaboration with Karina Mendreczky
2024
Latent Science: Telepathy in the shadow, kurátor: Iris Long, Hermit Space, Beijing, CN
Learning from Nature? – Botany, curators: Krisztián Gábor Török, Szabolcs Süli-Zakar, Dorottya Vékony, Attila Horányi, MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Arts, Debrecen, Hungary.
Villa dei Misteri, curator: Lili Rebeka Tóth, Etyeki Borkúria, Etyek, Hungary.
To the Bottom of the Goblet, Aqb Project Space, curator: Jan Gajdušek (MeetFactory), Budapest, Hungary.
MALEFICAE, curators: Dalma Eszter Kollár, Júlia Hermann, Flóra Gadó, Budapest Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
Breaking the Frame, Esterházy Art Award Exhibition, curator: Katharina Hoffmann, Esterházy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria
Rianás, outdoor installation, organizer: Project 833, curator: Tímea Fülöp, Boszorkánysziget, Szeged, Hungary
Transitional Objects, Transitional Landscapes, curator: Ajna Maj, Deák Erika Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2023
Breaking the Frame: Making Future, Esterházy Art Award Exhibition, curator: Vitus Weh, Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary
Eternit, organizer: Project 833, curators: Anna Zsoldos and Anna Seress, Budapest, Hungary
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Big Bang: Expanding Collection Horizons, curator: József Készman, Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary
Women’s Quota 02, curator: Krisztina Szipőcs, Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary
„Would you?”, curator: Domenico de Chirico, FELIX, Budapest, HU
Step by Step, curator: Daniel Hüttler, FKSE, Budapest, HU
UNPETRIFIED, curator: Lucia Gregorová Stach, Tomas Umrian Contemporary, Bratislava, SO
6 qm, curator: Oláh Orsolya, Kollab by, Budapest, HU
Prelude, curated by MAMA projects, New York, US
Handle with Care, curator: Popovics Viktória-Museum Ludwig, Liszt Institute, Brussel, BE
2023
Islands and Their Possibilities, curators: Júlia Salamon, Balázs Kicsiny, AQB Project Space, Budapest, Hungary
The eco-theatrical shape-shifter – landscape as a political agitator, curated by Like a Little Disaster, Museum of Contemporary Art Pino Pascali, Polignano a Mare, IT
Mediating Time and Charm, curator: Zsikla Mónika, Q Contemporary, Budapest, HU
Things Made by Saying, curator: Ajna Maj, Glassyard Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
Parallel Edition, with Galerie Rudolf Leeb, Vienna, Austria
An Ideal Meal, curators: Henriette Seibert and Viktor Seibert, Studio Hannibal, Berlin, Germany
2022
Keep It Between Us, curators: Júlia Salamon and Márta Czene, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary
Regresso, curators: Zsuzska Petró, Orsolya Lia Vető, Patrick Nicholas Tayler, CHB, Berlin, Germany
Fair For Art Vienna 2021, Galerie Rudolf Leeb, Bécs, AT
The Man Who Stepped in Paint, curator: Kitti Klaudia, MKE Profil, Budapest, HU
2021
A Better Time, They Say, 1111 Gallery, Budapest, HU
A Whale of a Bad Time/Spinning the Sticky Threads of Childhood Memories: From Cold War to Anthropocene conference, Sillye Gábor Művelődési Központ és Közösségi Ház, Hajdúböszörmény, HU
Walter Koschatzky Preis 21 (nominated), Bécs, AT
Fireworks, curator: Bubla Éva, Placcc Fesztivál 2021, Budapest, HU
Lasting Remains, curator: Ajna Maj, Studio of Young Artists’ Association (FKSE), Budapest, Hungary
2020
The Evil Whale, curator: Zsófia Kókai, ISBN, Budapest, Hungary
2019
Oft die Zukunft ist schon da, ehe wir ihr gewachsen sind, Internationales Willi Münzenberg Forum, Berlin, DE
For Marianne’s Memory Book, curator: Bea Istvánkó, PINCE, Budapest, Hungary
2018
Tokyo International Mini-Print Triennial, Tama Art University, Tokyo, JP
Heise Kunstpreis Dessau, Autohaus Heise, Dessau, DE
The 5th International Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland, RO
2017
Opdagelser 2017, Gallery Heike Arndt Dk, Kettinge, DK
Magic mirror in my hand…, Outdoor installation with EÖS project, Vienna, AT
Fresh Legs, Gallery Heike Arndt Dk, Berlin, DE
2016
Heartfield und Grosz, Montage_16, FMP1, Berlin, DE
Fundamental, The 5. Mediations Biennale, CK Zamek, Poznan, PL
Art Lab Kettinge, Gallery Heike Arndt DK, Kettinge, DK
In Vielfalt, Prize and Exhibiton, Eggenstein-Leopoldhafen, DE
2015
Unsere Leben wären alle ganz anders verlaufen…, Gallery2, Auguststrasse, Berlin, DE
2013
18 qm, Berlin, Art residency-collaboration, Berlin, DE
Soundscape Festival, Cres, Landart Week, Osor, HR
EatLandManArt, Landart Week, Boxtel, Landart Week, Boxtel, NL
2012
Best of Diploma, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest
Memberships
2019 – Fiatal Képzőművészek Stúdiója Egyesület, Budapest, HU
Works in Public Collections
Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary
MODEM, Debrecen, HU
Tama Art University Graphic Collection, Tokyo, JP
Hungarian 
English