Kata Benedek

Kata Benedek (b. 1990, Hungary) is a Budapest-born art historian based in Berlin. Kata has received BA and MA at ELTE Budapest, and soon receive her PhD at the Freie Universität Berlin: El Kazovszkij Revisited: LGBT and Queer Themes in Visual Arts in a Socialist and Post-Socialist Context. Her two primary interests lie in the geo-temporal modalities of state- and post-socialist Eastern Central European queer cultural history and in the contemporary intersectional political and cultural fields of memory politics and public space. Her activity in the latter is less academic than the prior. She is the founder of the notorious Hungarian IG blog Trash of Köztér (Trash of Public Space), and she is writing-related political commentary for various media outlets.

EDUCATION

2019 – present PhD project, Theatre Studies Institute, Freie Universität, Berlin El Kazovszkij Revisited: LGBT and Queer Themes in Visual Arts in a Socialist and Post-Socialist Context. Supervisor: Prof. Dr Doris Kolesch 

2013 – 2016 MA Art History, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest [The Artistic Practice of Gábor Altorjay in West Germany between 1967-1971] Supervisor: Prof. Dr Annamária Szőke. Graduated with honors. 2014 / w Programme studies at the Institute of Art History, Free University, Berlin Courses in African and Islamic Art at the Institute of Art History 

2012 – 2015 Mérei Ferenc College for Humanities and Social SciencesVarious courses, such as Queer Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Neoliberalism and Art, etc., 

2009 – 2013 BA, major in Art History, minor in Aesthetics, Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary)

CURATORIAL PROJECTS

2022 Into the Out: Anthropocene Utopies, Queer Dystopies, Backhaus Project, Berlin 

2021 @trashofköztér, critical platform for art in public space, Instagram 

2019 – 2022 Ladyfest Budapest, annual feminist showcase festival, Budapest 

2018 Popup Kino, Collected films by Altor Jay with exhibition, povvera, Berlin 

2017 Gábor Altorjay: Wanted Pictures. Off-Biennale, P60, Budapest

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Bleyer-Simon & Benedek & Rácz: Roma community media in Hungary since 1989, in Oxford Encyclopedia of  Race, Ethnicity, and Communication, Oxford University Press, (Forthcoming) 

Canon vs. History. Re/Opening the DAAD Archives, Ausstellungreview) Art Margins Online, (Forthcoming) 

Circulation of Queer information in State Socialist Hungary, Warsaw University Press: Ikonotheka 2023

2022 Genderphobia in Eastern Europe: Myths and Realities. Interview with Judit Takács, Green European Journal,  Brussels: GEF

2021 Opportunism Not Ideology: Fidesz's Campaign Against Sexual Minorities, Green European Journal, Brussels:  GEF

2021 Referendums in Hungary: Confirmation Bias, Green European Journal, Brussels: GEF

2020 New Stages, new Strategies for Female Visibility in the Hungarian Underground Music Scene. In: Female  Music Practice, MusicaFemina International Symposion, eds: Suchy–Reba–Szálka–Wackernagel, Vienna:  Verlag der Apfel.

Date of residency: 01.02.2024 – 28.02.2024