A mini-interview with Tamás Kőrösi, the artist behind the Analógia exhibition

We interviewed Tamás Kőrösi, the artist whose photographs make up the exhibition Analógia, which opens on 22 September. We talked about Lake Balaton, the photos and, of course, wine.

What are your earliest memories of Lake Balaton?

I can still clearly remember the moment when, at primary school bike camp, I realised that there was music other than Tamás Hevesi and Charlie Horváth playing in the kitchen, while pitting cherries at home. The eighth graders in the bus were listening to Offspring, and as soon as I got home, my first trip was to the record store, where I bought a cassette of their Americana album. I can still recall the moment when my dad put the cassette in the stereo of his green 120 Skoda. He was surprised at first, and then from then on, every time we went to Fűzfő, we counted how many times we could listen to the A and B sides.

As a child I only knew one aspect of Lake Balaton. When we were there, we spent most of our time in the water, so I missed out on the sunbathing and fish and chips scene. So when I started working with We Love Balaton eight years ago, it was like starting with a clean slate.

It was an exciting time when the gastronomic „revolution” exploded at Lake Balaton. As the region's gastronomy and tourism began to develop, We Love Balaton was established and it went from strength to strength. I met a lot of people during this time. The most memorable occasions were the ones when I accompanied a journalist to take pictures. I listened to the stories behind the places and the people. It was an inspiration to me, and I have developed a personal connection with many of my subjects.

That's the world you show us in your work. But the exhibition takes a different direction. Why did you decide to do that?

Indeed, presenting Lake Balaton to tourists in an attractive way is part of my everyday life. We have been communicating this with such intensity for many years that I thought it would be interesting to focus on another aspect of the lake as a contrast. To do this, I turned to analogue techniques and enlisted the help of a special raw material: expired cinematographic celluloid stock from the 1970s and 1980s.

It was an experimental analogue technique that created a world of images and colours that evoked the atmosphere of 50 years ago in photographs taken in the summer of 2022 and spring of 2023. I am also personally fond of retro memorabilia of Lake Balaton, so I was happy that this exhibition showed this rather hidden face of the region we all love.

The exhibition is hosted in Villa Gyetvai, which is also a winery. What is your favourite wine?

I'm basically more of a white wine drinker, although I've recently learned to appreciate red wines as well. My favourite from the Villa Gyetvai range is the Riesling. It has a lot of fruit, but still goes beyond simple, light white wines.