A portrait of a Hungarian village – Photo exhibition in Kapolcs

Kapolcs is pleased to announce the Horst Schmeck Memorial Photography Exhibition, Kapolcsi emberek, a Portrait of a Village, Sat June 10, 12:00 – 17:00, during Kapolcs Village Day.

A village day is always a charming and wonderful celebration, but this day opens at noon with something unique – a Memorial to a Kapolcs artist.  On exhibit in two venues, Kapolcs Cultural House, & adjacent Arts Valley Tourist Centre, will be the extraordinary photo exhibit, by Horst Schmeck, (1948-2017.)

The exhibition is organized to honour the Kapolcs/Cologne artist, known simply as Horst by all who love him.  A five year project culminated in more than half of the village being immortalized on life-size black&white prints.  Crowd-funded, and curated by the village, over 60 of the hundreds of images will be displayed on June 11 and thereafter. The opening reception will begin at 12:00 in the Kapolcs Cultural House Garden.  Village Day festivities and fun activities will continue from 13:00 throughout the day on the nearby Mill Island. The weekend exhibition is free and open to the public and weekday viewing available till June 17 by appointment from 13:00 until 17:00 pm.

It was in 1996, that Horst discovered Kapolcs.  A client had assigned Horst a job that was to change his life. He crisscrossed Hungary creating imagery for the travel guide Baedeker’s Hungary. Exploring the wine region of the Valley of the Arts, Horst was inspired by a for sale sign on a vineyard gate. After being encouraged by his Hungarian friend he bought it.  His Hungarian adventure began by impulsively acquiring a hillside vineyard and a Kapolcs Village farmhouse.

Horst spent over twenty summers in Kapolcs Village. He was a beloved, animated, and inquisitive man – and when not making wine, entertaining his friends, or restoring and renovating his Kapolcs retreat – he stood behind a camera. He was the go-to-photographer for orchestras, theatres, music academies, and cultural publications in Cologne.  

Horst had often explained his nomadic lifestyle, “Cologne was indispensable for work, but Kapolcs offered him a different kind, a more intimate community.” This photographic project was born from these transitions. So he obviously delighted in his countryside neighbours, and he knew them all.  The families, the mechanic, the Mayor, the farmers, the shopkeepers, and wine makers who peopled his village life, became the subjects of the KAPOLCSI EMBEREK exhibition.  

LOCATIONS

Kapolcs Kultúr Ház, Kossuth u. 62. and Arts Valley Tourism Center, Kossuth u. 64,

Garden between them and Mill Island in the Centre of the Village. Kapolcs 8294

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Source: Press release – Kapolcs