The Europe Connects exhibition is the opening event of the new Balatonfüred Modern Art Center, literally translated from Hungarian as Modern Art Storage Facility, abbreviated as MOMŰ. The unusual Hungarian name reflects to the spirit and language of the reform period of the mid 19th century that was a defining epoch in the development of Balatonfüred. MOMŰ contains the art and photographic sections of the Szöllősi­Nagy—Nemes Collection. The Collection, containing modern and contemporary international and Hungarian geometric art, settles finally in Balatonfüred after some thirty years in Paris and subsequently in Delft, The Netherlands. The creation of MOMŰ is part and parcel of the events of the Veszprém—Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture. The opening exhibition, consisting of two shows presents a cross-section of the fine art and photographic part of the Collection. The fine art portion, entitled The Playing Field of Images, is curated by András Rényi, while the photographic section, Encounters, by Rita Somosi.

András Szöllősi­Nagy (hydrologist, university professor) and Judith Nemes (artist painter, member of the Hungarian Széchenyi Art Academy) started to collect art at the beginning of the 60s while living in Budapest as a young couple. The humble beginnings concentrated on classical modern Hungarian living avant-garde artists active right after World War II. The European School was a very important art move- ment in Hungary that was closed by sheer political force after the communist takeover in 1948. The collectors moved to Paris at the end of the 80s. In France a new concept emerged for the continuation of building the collection. The idea was to amass works of Hungarian artists, including photographers, who lived in France during the 20th century and a few years later, after their stay in Paris, to bring the works back to Hungary. That few years expanded into three decades. In the mid-90s a major change occurred again in their concept as international constructive—geometric—concrete art became the focus of their collection. Next to the contemporary Hungarian geometric art, French, Swiss, German, Dutch, Swedish, North- and Latin-American as well as Japanese artworks became part of the collection that gradually grew up to a few thousand pieces. A few years back the Collection returned to Hungary and found its final place in Balatonfüred. It will be housed permanently at MOMŰ with periodically changing “permanent exhibitions” and constantly varying temporary international events.