Dóra Maurer, a pioneering figure in Hungarian conceptual art whose work spanned six decades and explored the interplay of movement, time, and perception, has died at the age of 88. Her death, on , was confirmed by the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts, where she served as president since 2017.
Born in Budapest on , Maurer’s artistic journey began with training as a graphic artist in the 1950s. She quickly expanded her practice to encompass film, photography, painting, performance, and sculpture, becoming one of Hungary’s most important contemporary artists. While her career spanned 50 years, she gained significant recognition in the 1970s with avant-garde work that challenged conventional artistic boundaries.
Maurer’s work often centered on mathematical and complex system processes, reflecting a deep interest in how viewers perceive and interpret actions and forms. She wasn’t interested in simply *showing* movement, but in deconstructing it, presenting it in ways that forced the audience to actively engage with the concept of motion itself. Many of her pieces break down simple actions, allowing the viewer to experience them as movement rather than a static representation of it.
One of her most iconic pieces, Mit lehet egy utcakővel csinálni?
(What Can One Do with a Paving Stone?), created in 1971, involved Maurer caressing, throwing, and carrying a paver. The work, which obliquely referenced the student protests of May 1968 in Paris, has often been interpreted as a political statement. However, Maurer herself framed it differently, emphasizing the narrative possibilities inherent in a series of photographs documenting the act. “A paving stone is the material of fights—street fighting and so on—and what can you do with a paving stone? Here I made some examples of what I can do with the paving stone,” she explained to ArtReview. “We see ambivalent. You can consider it is as political. Mostly it is shown in women’s exhibitions, with which, as you know, I do not identify myself.”
Her exploration of movement continued in the 1972 series, “Reversible and Changeable Phases of Movement,” which featured arrays of photographs capturing Maurer performing gestures like throwing a ball in the air. These works, like much of her output, aimed to present options to the viewer, prompting them to consider the possibilities within a given action or form.
Maurer’s influence extended beyond her artistic creations. She was a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Budapest and a curator, nurturing the next generation of Hungarian artists. From to , she collaborated with Miklós Erdély on the Creativity Exercises course, and later participated in the InDiGó Group from to .
In recent years, Maurer’s work received increased international recognition, culminating in a major retrospective exhibition at the Tate Modern in and . She was represented by White Cube Gallery beginning in , alongside Carl Kostyál.
While critics have sometimes sought political interpretations of her work, Maurer consistently maintained that her practice wasn’t inherently political, suggesting that such readings were often a product of the historical context in which her art was created. Her innovative approaches profoundly influenced a generation of Hungarian artists and contributed to a broader appreciation of Central European conceptual art on the global stage.
Dóra Maurer’s legacy lies in her relentless experimentation, her intellectual rigor, and her ability to challenge viewers to reconsider their perceptions of the world around them. Her work remains a testament to the power of conceptual art to provoke thought, inspire dialogue, and transcend cultural boundaries.
