Budapest’s new attraction is like the Joker’s face, illuminated by the flames of the burning Louvre

Is This Art? An Immersive Experience in Budapest

Stop the presses! We’ve got contemporary art that could make even a statue blush! If you’ve got HUF 6,500-10,000 burning a hole in your pocket, you’re in for a treat. Grab your wallet and head to Budapest, where the critical questions, “What is a museum?” and “What is an exhibition?” are about to be answered—almost. The answer? A cheeky “yes.” Well, that clears everything up, doesn’t it?

But wait; it’s like a mousetrap, but for flu shots instead of small rodents! Now, I don’t know about you, but if art can catch my cold while sparking my curiosity, sign me up!

Now, this isn’t your standard gallery fare. No, no, my friends! Welcome to “Claude Monet – The Immersive Experience,” showing not in some highbrow gallery, but in the BOK hall next to the Puskás Stadium. This is modern art with a twist—a twist that would make a pretzel envious!

What’s the Buzz in the Hall?

So, I waltzed into this visual supernova after its VIP opening, and what do I find? A shopping mall vibe that had me tingling in ways I didn’t think were possible! And hold on, isn’t that a buffet table calling my name? It was like an influencer convention gone rogue. Picture this: everyone, except for yours truly, was an influencer. Next thing you know, I’m part of an Instagram story!

Expectations vs. Reality

Going in, I thought, “Oh great, another exhibition that’ll make root canals look like a luxury spa day.” But what I encountered was an absolute riot! It was radical, it was disruptive, and it was not going to let me kick back and doze off like an elderly pug at a family reunion.

The hilarity ensued in the first section, which was a museum parody that had me chuckling in disbelief. You’d swear you were in an actual Monet exhibition—walls adorned with panels detailing the life of the Master. But hold your horses; the ‘jokes’ were written by AI, which just screams peak contemporary art. It’s like asking a chatbot to tell a dad joke but slapping it through an art history filter!

A Vivid Daydream

Then came Room Two: absolute madness! Picture this—Monet stood there, hands behind his back, like a kid in timeout, while two of his girlfriends (a truly complicated romantic situation, I must say) were pushing him to the easel, which was manned by a tattooed fairy. This was no ordinary push; it was an intervention of epic proportions! Monet, trying desperately to escape. If only we could all run away from our responsibilities that easily, eh?

So, if you’re wondering whether art has finally broken into laughter while tripping over itself in contemporary manners, the answer is a resounding maybe—but isn’t that the point? In a world where art and life are getting curvier by the day, perhaps it’s a good thing to remember that visiting a museum doesn’t always have to feel like a dentist appointment without anesthesia.

Go on, brave the crowds, and be part of an experience! Because if you’re not giggling at the absurdity of it all, then dear reader, what’s the point?

Anyone who doesn’t mind paying HUF 6,500-10,000 for something like this can now view an impressive piece of contemporary art in Budapest. This fascinating piece of contemporary art asks the following questions:

What is a museum? And what is an exhibition?

And his answer is almost yes

A kind of mousetrap, but for flu shots instead of small rodents.

Despite the serious questions, a very funny exhibition can be seen not in a gallery in the capital, but in the BOK hall next to the Puskás Stadium, and its title is Claude Monet – The Immersive Experience.

photo_camera Photo: Kristóf Balázs/444

I watched this visual supernova after the VIP opening, so compared to the average visitor, I had the added experience that after entering the door of the hall, within a few seconds, my body began to physically tingle from the feeling that I was in a shopping mall, even though I could clearly see, that this is not the case. Photojournalist Kristóf shed light on the solution in front of the buffet table: except for us, a radio colleague and the duo Alexandra Borbély – Ervin Nagy, everyone was an influencer.

photo_camera Photo: Kristóf Balázs/444

I expected the Monet exhibition to be like those spectacular traveling productions that have been so popular since the turn of the millenium, attracting the kind of audience that feels that it is sometimes appropriate for a self-indulgent person to go to an exhibition, but galleries and museums are so they imagine it to be devastatingly boring and unpleasant, like a root canal done during a Catholic mass.

But it is much more radical than any of its predecessors I have seen!

The first section is a museum parody performed with subtle, dry humor. Everything looks almost as if we were at the beginning of a Monet exhibition in a large museum: the walls are lined with panels depicting the Master’s life, travels and favorite painting techniques. It’s just that AI wrote all the lyrics, starting with

The landscape fascinated him and made him want to capture it.

I entered the second room daydreaming: Monet, with his hands twisted behind his back, was pushed by two of his girlfriends to the collapsible easel, which was just then set up by a fully tattooed fairy rose, with a gesture that did not tolerate contradiction, extending a brush to the artist trying to escape. But the reality of the second room was much bigger than the dream.

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