It is possible to use vague concepts, but better not to. This could be the motto of the initiative launched this year by the journal Liget, now already past its first “semester”. In Spring 2007 renowned artists and scholars attempted to define such concepts as sense of proportion, soul, machine, environment, growth, key concept, myth. The intellectual basics are continuing in the autumn semester with an examination of seven basic concepts: name, knowledge, imagination, work, humour, power and history. And an eighth has been added especially for the Budapest Autumn Festival: contemporary art. A composer, a writer and an architect will examine the theme in talks followed by a discussion to give a clearer idea of what we mean today by contemporary and whether the word “art” still has any meaning.

Founded in 2006, Royal Bones, the Danish circus company has highly skilled members who are equally trained in circus, dance, theatre and music. The play is directed by Lars Rudolfsson, who is possibly the most influential figure in Swedish music theatre, and has worked both with the ABBA and the Royal Swedish Opera. In this work with Royal Bones, whole artists can prove their talents in every second of the play, he evokes Shakespeare’s world with phenomenal artistes and musicians drawn from strange fairy tales and king dramas. Goblins, kings, traitors and magicians, mad lovers and spleeny princes fill Rudolfsson’s stage in the production that is a truly magnificent spectacle but difficult to define through its genre.

Following experiments by a mad professor the entire population of the French capital falls asleep. The magic streets and cafés of Paris sink into deep silence, only six people who are not affected by the rays of the mysterious scientist remain awake: the guard on top of the Eiffel Tower and five passengers on a plane. In 2005 a young French composer, Yan Maresz, was commissioned by the Musée du Louvre to write music to the 1925 silent film by the legendary French director, René Clair [While Paris Sleeps]. His work for chamber ensemble and live electronics simultaneously comments minutely on the film and serves as psychologising incidental music. The piece will be brought to Budapest by the Ensemble Court-Circuit, founded in 1991, perhaps France’s freshest and most promising chamber music ensemble, under the direction of Daniel Kawka.

An exhibition about the human body. More precisely, about what is literally and figuratively hidden below the surface, whether the intestinal system, the individual’s intrauterine period, or the functioning of the female breast. The three young artists approach themselves with differing means, differing technique and differing attitude, making the journey into themselves in different ways. Mária Chilf’s watercolours are reminiscent of the illustrations in anatomical textbooks or natural science school textbooks, but they attempt to represent the human mind. The short animated film by Ivó Kovács guide the viewer into the human body. The works by Csilla Kőszeghy are a critique of the medical and social representation of the body and her main theme is the female breast.

The exhibition 3-3 in 2B Gallery featuring three Japanese women and three men from Japan, reports on the current state of contemporary Japanese visual art. The men are from Osaka and have been exhibiting together in Japan for more than ten years. Their similar visual approach and expressive, detailed methods are reflected in their oil paintings on canvas as well as in their giant woodcuts and computer prints. The three women are from New York, and their exhibition is combined with a live performance. Rumi Tsuda’s work was inspired by the tea ceremony: she creates a painting collage on her white kimono, then puts it on. Kazuko Miyamoto’s dance to birdsong is an integral part of her installation, while Nobuho Nagasawa, an urban planner, is creating a site-specific installation for the Budapest exhibition.