Life and work
Adam Magyar was born in Hungary in 1972. He began taking pictures in his late twenties, when he started wandering Asian cities capturing their street life in images of Indian street vendors, wandering holy men, and students in an exclusive Himalayan school. Obsessed with finding innovative new uses for digital technology, Magyar's work quickly evolved from conventional documentary photography to the radically experimental and surreal. Among Magyar's numerous inventions is a way to insert motion into still images. In his attempt to comprehend the interface of time's infinite flow in the world's modern metropolises, he has developed techniques to capture, on a single visual plane, disjointed, fragmented images of parts of an individual or group on a crowded street. A theme that recurs throughout much of his body of work is based on interlinking yet distinct ideas and techniques that aid us to see the inherent beauty found in the everyday. His unique vision and technical abilities has inevitably led him to modify and even develop his own hardware and software. In his Urban Flow and Stainless works he uses the slit-scan photography technique, known also for use in photo finish cameras, as well as in other, often industrial, techniques. He uses a high-speed camera in his video series entitled Stainless, in which he captures at extremely high speeds densely populated urban areas. Magyar's work fuses the objective, even mathematical reality with the purely subjective, creating a unique fusion of technology and art. Magyar spoke at several image festivals and conferences including TEDSalon Berlin, Bits of Knowledge, Adam Magyar: Photographing the Unfolding of Daily Life, Admiralspalast, Berlin, Germany ''(2014)'', TEDxGateway, Adam Magyar, Mumbai, India ''(2014)'', PopTech: Pop Casts, Adam Magyar: Photos of Time, Camden, ME ''(2013)''Solo exhibitions
* 2024 ''Stainless'', - The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA * 2024 ''Matter'', - Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington, USA * 2023 ''Matter'', - ToBe Gallery, Budapest, Hungary * 2022 ''Urban Times'', - Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, Canada * 2019 ''Midnight Moment'' - Times Square Arts, New York, NY * 2019 ''Stainless'', Museo Casa Grande, Hidalgo, Mexico * 2018 ''Stainless'', B24 Gallery, Debrecen, Hungary * 2017 ''Stainless'', Alexanderplatz, 3 channel video installation, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX * 2015 ''Kontinuum'', Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY * 2013 ''Kontinuum'', Opiom Gallery, Opio, France * 2013 ''Kontinuum'', Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA * 2013 ''Kontinuum'', Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX * 2013 ''Kontinuum'', Light Work, Syracuse, NY * 2012 ''Kontinuum'', Faur Zsófi Gallery, Budapest, Hungary * 2011 ''Underworld'', BSA @ CHB, Berlin, Germany * 2011 ''Beyond Perspective'', Karin Weber Gallery, Hong Kong * 2006 ''Comearound'', Retorta Gallery, Budapest, Hungary * 2005 ''TaxiJam'', Miro Photo Gallery, Budapest, Hungary * 2002 ''Kashi Vishwanath Express'', Miro Photo Gallery, Budapest, HungaryGroup exhibitions
* 2019 ''Preparing for darkness #vol3'', Selected artists @ Kühlhaus, Berlin * 2019 ''Al Obour'', Saudi Art Council, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia * 2018 ''L’équipe du Festival Locomotion'', Nancy, France * 2018 ''Preparing for darkness #vol2'', Selected artists @ Kühlhaus, Berlin * 2018 ''Polylux'', Mecklenburgisches Künstlerhaus Schloss Plüschow, Germany * 2018 ''Preparing for darkness'', Selected artists at Kühlhaus, Berlin * 2017 ''Immanence, Pictura'', Groningen, Netherlands * 2017 ''Accentuated Reality'', Faur Zsofi Gallery, Budapest, Hungary * 2016 ''Envisioning the Future!'', Saitama Triennale 2016, Japan * 2016 ''Impact: Abstractions and Experiment in Hungarian Photography'', Alma, New York, NY * 2016 ''Infinite Pause: Photography and Time'', Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX * 2016 ''Langoureusement'', Association Light Matter, Metz, France * 2016 ''Photography and Film Constructs'', Ringling College Willis Smith Gallery, Sarasota, FL * 2015 ''Laps'', La Carreau de Cergy, Cergy, France * 2015 ''Public Eye: 175 Years of Sharing Photograph'', New York Public Library, New York, NY. * 2015 ''Night on Earth'', BSA @ CHB, Berlin, Germany * 2015 ''Ideas City Conference'', New Museum, New York, NY * 2015 ''Look3, Festival of the Photograph'', Charlottesville, VA * 2015 ''Subway'', Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, Canada * 2014 ''UNKNOWN: Pictures of Strangers'', Transformer Station, Cleveland, OH * 2014 ''Public Eye: 175 Years of Sharing Photograph'', New York Public Library, New York, NY. * 2014 ''Urban Spirit'', curated by Dr. Katia David and Ágnes Lőrincz, Galerie Wedding, Berlin, Germany * 2014 ''Megapolis'', Eres Foundation, Munich, Germany * 2014 ''METRO'', Reinier Gerritsen, Adam Magyar, David Molander, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY * 2014 ''Trailed Away'', Gallery Soso, Seoul, South Korea * 2014 ''Lapse, curated by Djeff and Fanny Serain'', Vasarely Foundation, Aix-en-Provence, France * 2013 ''Hungarian Art Photography in the New Millennium'', Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Hungary * 2013 ''Love Will Destroy Us In The End'', BSA at Art Suites Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey * 2013 ''Light of Day'', Transformer Station, Cleveland, OH * 2012 ''Breaking God’s Heart'', BSA @ Liebkranz Galerie, Berlin, Germany * 2012 ''Helsinki Photography Biennial'', Helsinki City Museum, Finland * 2011 ''Life as it seems'', Faur ZSofi Gallery, Budapest, Germany * 2011 ''Lens Culture International Exposure Awards:31 Contemporary Photographers'', Gallery 291, San Francisco; Speos Gallery, Paris; VII Dumbo, New York, NY * 2011 ''Young European Landscape BSA @ CHB'', Berlin; BSA @ Galerie Wolfsen, Aalborg, Denmark * 2011 ''Flashart'', Whart, Toulouse, France * 2010 ''Photographie Hongroise Contemporaine'', Faur ZSofi Gallery - Institut Hongrois, Paris, France * 2010 ''Separated by Daily Life'', Rhubarb East at Mailbox, Birmingham, AL * 2009 ''Defining Urban Life'', Karin Weber Gallery, Hong Kong * 2009 ''Art Sunday'', Karin Weber Gallery, Hong Kong * 2008 ''Jozsef Pecsi Scholarship Annual Exhibition'', Hungarian House of Photography, Budapest, Hungary * 2007 ''It depends on your point of view'', Metro Gallery, Budapest, Hungary * 2007 ''Bits, Bytes and Pixels'', Island6, Shanghai, China * 2007 ''Jozsef Pecsi Photography Scholarship Winners Exhibition'', Hungarian Academy, Rome, Italy * 2006 ''I Love LEDs'', Island6, Shanghai, China * 2006 ''Getting Along'', Island6, Shanghai, China * 2004 ''Press Photo Exhibition'', Ethnographic Museum BudapestCollections
His work is included in several public collections including: * Light Work, Syracuse, NY * Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX * Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO * New York Public Library, New York, NYPublications
*Contact Sheet 170: Adam Magyar, Light WorkScholarships and awards
*'2009'' International Photography Award, 1st place in Fine Art - Collage subcategory for Squares, 1st place in Special - Aerial subcategory for Squares, *''2006-2007'' Jozsef Pecsi Scholarship, *''2004'' Grand Prize, Hungarian Press PhotoReferences
External links