Budapest exhibition to showcase contemporary folk crafts

Living Folk Art – the 18th National Folk Art Exhibition will be open at Budapest’s Museum of Ethnography from 29 October until 11 April 2027. For Hungarian audiences, it offers a single venue for comparing present-day applications of traditional techniques.

According to the museum’s description, selection began with around six thousand entries and proceeded through eight regional exhibitions. This is the size of the competition field, not the number of objects displayed in Budapest.

The Hungarian Heritage House’s call for entries focused on objects rooted in traditional crafts that also suit contemporary use. Distinguishing the regional and national selection stages helps explain how an object reaches the final exhibition. Kultúra.hu also reported the forthcoming opening on 26 October.

Our suggested perspective for visitors is to consider the relationship between material, production technique and intended use. This can reveal differences in function between two similarly patterned objects; that assessment can be made at the actual exhibition.

The forthcoming Gauguin exhibition and BaHorKa’s storytelling concert connect to Budapest’s cultural offering through other genres. Thursday’s opening and details of the museum’s accompanying programmes are the next developments to watch.

The competition context and the object’s current use can be examined together: its description can also identify the maker and the technique used.