Homage to the Master: “In Search of Vera Molnár”

Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum has announced another exhibition for the new season that will bring art enthusiasts together. Titled In Search of Vera Molnár (À la recherche de Vera Molnár), the exhibition is a tribute to one of the greatest names in algorithmic and computer art, Vera Molnár. It will showcase works by 15 contemporary artists inspired by Molnár and her groundbreaking contributions to the arts, alongside Vera Molnar's works. Developed in collaboration with Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur e.V. and Broich Digital Art Foundation, In Search of Vera Molnár will welcome visitors from September 19, 2024, to January 26, 2025.

Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum is set to open an exhibition titled Calculations and Coincidences: Algorithmic Art from the Central Bank of Hungary Collection in September, featuring works by three pioneers of algorithmic art: Dóra Maurer, Vera Molnár, and Gizella Rákóczy. In addition, the museum has announced another exciting show for the new season. Focusing on the practice of Vera Molnár, one of the leading figures in computer art, the museum will host a new exhibition titled In Search of Vera Molnár. Opening on September 19, the exhibition will bring together works by 15 contemporary artists inspired by Molnár and her groundbreaking contributions to the art. 

The comprehensive exhibition will feature works by artists such as Antoine Schmitt, Refik Anadol, Erwin Steller, Mark Wilson, and Casey Reas, who have worked in video and augmented reality using algorithms, either by employing Molnár’s working methods or by referencing her visual world, alongside Vera Molnar's works. Additionally, the exhibition will showcase works by artists such as Arno Beck, Aurèce Vettier, Iskra Velitchkova, Mario Klingemann, Nake Frieder, Patrick Lichty, Samuel Yan, Snow Yunxue Fu, Tamiko Thiel, and U2P050. 

An Iconic Pioneer of Digital Art: Vera Molnár
In the 1960s, Vera Molnár experimented with simple algorithms, making systematic series of drawings, and later became one of the first artists to produce digital works through her work at the Sorbonne University's computer center. From the 1970s onwards, she made plotter drawings on perforated paper, and together with her partner, she developed the “Molnárt system”, a unique system written in the Fortran programming language that allowed for “1% disorder” in the algorithm. Molnár applied this system to her plotter drawings and later to her series of graphics and paintings. Molnár's Hommage series, inspired by the work of selected masters, includes Cézanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire, variations on the magic squares from Dürer's Melancolia I, and reinterpretations of works by Klee, Monet, Mondrian and Malevich.  

A homage to the master, who passed away last year at the age of 99, the exhibition In Search of Vera Molnár will be presented simultaneously with another new exhibition at Pera Museum, Calculations and Coincidences. Both exhibitions will welcome art enthusiasts from September 19, 2024, to January 26, 2025.

Pera Museum is open from 10:00 to 19:00 Tuesday through Saturday, and from 12:00 to 18:00 on Sundays. Admission to Pera Museum is free of charge every Friday from 18.00 to 22.00 during “Long Friday” and for students every Wednesday as part of “Young Wednesday”.