hostile social and artistic context that had serious shortages of information ... concerning the ambitions of the Avant-Garde in general

When recalling the artistic atmosphere of the presently discussed period in Hungary (through memories, contemporary articles, images, etc.) at best we might be confronted with ongoing debates which still question and criticize, for instance, the legitimacy of non-figurative art (claiming that it is perhaps an attack against the system or a fascist tendency), not even mentioning the penetration of certain materialistic "pop" ambitions. (It is true, however, that these were at least debated issues, and that there was space left for those who supported the new.) The announced principle of "forbidden art" was flourishing (c.f. the concept of Galántai: Direkt tárgyak (1975) [Direct Objects (1975)] yet we cannot make outright generalizations (i.e. whether the word "flourish" denotes a weed that prevents the missing "artistic flourishing" from happening). Compared to these debates, (which represent the "upper" standard) even Concept has a strange connotation, especially since it has no "object" [trans. note: the Hungarian word for fine art is képzőművészet where the prefix "képző" means to "construct, form" and therefore art necessarily always constructs, forms or creates something] thus it is not surprising that for many representatives of the Avant-Garde, Concept Art is inconceivable.

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