The Art of Banksy
The 2020 exhibition in Budapest was staged in collaboration between Godot Contemporary Art Institute and TulipánTündér at the Tesla Loft. The project attracted a new audience to the visual arts beyond Godot’s own exhibition spaces.
Godot · Budapest · since 1999
The experiment
continues.
Gallery. Duma Theatre. Children’s Boat. Godot Institute.
The story of a workshop in the life of the city.
A part of the city's history.
Perhaps already
We met.
In 1999, a gallery opened on Madách Imre Street. The stories that begin here now reach far beyond the walls of the first location.
Around Godot a cultural workshop emerged, from which stage initiatives, creative communities and new institutions sprang. The founding of the Duma Theatre and the establishment of the Godot Institute are two defining chapters of this story.
Their influence is also present in everyday city life: in evenings organised around performances, in families’ shared theatre experiences, and in the conversations that spring up around exhibitions. Godot’s story is the story of places and people – and of the work that turns a single initiative into lasting cultural presence.
1999Madách Imre Street 8
A title from which stories began.
The gallery
The beginning was.
The Godot Gallery was founded by Zoltán Sáfár and Bálint Kaucsek in 1999 on Madách Imre Street 8. It was a space where contemporary art could become part of everyday urban life.
While exhibitions shape a gallery’s history, it is the long‑term collaborations that truly write its story. Returning artists, collectors who remember their first purchase, conversations with opening‑night guests — all of these threads weave Godot’s present identity. Beneath every step that Godot takes lies this personal attention.
2004The first evenings: 2003 · Regular operation: 2004
02 / Dumaszínház · Leaving from the Godot Café
A little stage.
National Echo.
One of the most influential initiatives in the history of Godot is now an independent, widely recognised institution in Hungarian cultural life.
The Dumaszínház began in the Godot Café. Its founders, Litkai Gergely, Sáfár Zoltán and Ardai Tamás, created a space where young comic writers could step directly onto the stage with a single microphone before the audience. The personality of those opening evenings gave rise to a new performing culture and a new audience.
The early phases of the careers of Zoltán Kőhalmi, Tibor Bödőcs, Péter András Kovács (KAP), István Dombóvári, Péter Aranyosi and Ádám Kiss are also linked to the Godot stage. Behind the names that would later become nationally recognised lay the chances for self‑presentation, regular performances and workshop work that developed hand in hand with the audience.
Since then, the Dumaszínház has forged its own institutional path. The significance of the joint launch is exactly evident here: what was given a place on this stage has far outstripped its original performance space and has permanently shaped Hungarian popular culture.
2013The launch year was the 2018-, based on a report on five years of operation.
03 / Dumaszínház Children's Theatre
The first
theatrical experiences.
Pille Tamás, artistic director and director, took a decisive role in the artistic work of Dumaszínház Gyerekhajó. The theatre created for children and families opened a path to a new audience for the Godot workshop.
Dumaszínház’s Gyerekhajó welcomed the young audience with fairy‑tale readings, music and puppetry. On the Danube, the project—also performed aboard the ship TRIP—offered a different kind of encounter with the theatre: the stories were enriched by the experience of a distinctive urban setting.
In the repertoire, the. Pinocchio and the Hard Hat and Potato Ear is featured. The latter was a joint production with Csukás Theatre in Balatonszárszó, directed by László Magács; in Pinocchio, László Szacsvay portrayed Dzsepettó.
Gyerekhajó concludes the story of Godot, standing on its own as a separate chapter. The productions devised for a young audience carried forward the same aim: to create an opportunity for a personal encounter with culture, from the very first theatrical experiences.
2016The beginning of the Godot Art Expo's history
04 / Godot Art Expo · since 2016
Godot Art Expo.
Providing a generation with space.
From the 2016 pop‑up initiative to the Young Generation Art Fair and the Godot Art Expo, a platform for artists to introduce themselves has been built, which in 2026 is entering its eleventh year. A wide range of young artists have been given, and continue to have, the chance to present their work to a larger audience, meet collectors, and forge professional connections.
Expo provides a space for one of the crucial early steps in a career: when works created in the studio first appear to a broader public. The collaboration that began with the Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetem Jumpstart program in 2025 strengthens this work, forging a link between university training and an independent artistic career.
Encounters can continue even after the exhibition. ByGodot carries the relationship between artworks and collectors further onto the internet, while ARTCRUSH opens a path to contemporary art through playful exploration.
2019The Institute and the Laboratory Open.
05 / Godot Institute · 2019 · Óbuda
2019. Opening
the Godot Institute
The history of the Godot Institute began long before its opening. Since 2014 Sáfár Zoltán and Laczkovich Borbála have been working on creating a large‑scale contemporary art institution. The idea took root in 2019 in the former Goldberger factory, where the Godot Contemporary Art Institute and the Godot Laboratory Gallery opened. Borbála, as co‑founder, curator and artistic director, shaped the Institute’s professional identity.
An exhibition
It can be an independent world.
The Institute creates opportunities for a creative idea to unfold across multiple arenas, intertwining in its connections. The works refer to one another, the space becomes part of the welcoming experience, and visitors can spend time immersed in an artistic world.
Alongside the museum‑scale exhibition, the immediacy of the workshop endures. The Lab gives space to young creators and experimental projects; the Institute and Gallery link together different bodies of work, generations and audiences.
Exhibitions that carried the story forward.
With the opening of the Institute, the workshop continued in large‑scale exhibitions. Different artistic worlds, new audiences and international connections illustrate what the new institution has made possible.
Bukta Imre: Let us cultivate our gardens
The 2022–2023 exhibition gave form to Imre Bukta’s creative world. The combination of paintings and installations unfolded a complex picture of rural life, memory and social experience within the Institute.
Miklós Szüts and Erzsébet Vojnich
Two independent painters’ oeuvres were set in dialogue at the joint exhibition. The space, the silence and the structure of the pictures create room for deepened attention: that encounter in which the viewer’s own experience also comes alongside the works.
From Godot to the Venice Biennale
Koronczi Endre’s exhibition **“Kérem, sóhajtson, Széchenyi Úr!”** was realised at the Godot Intézet in 2024, with the collaboration of Cserhalmi Luca, the institute’s curator at the time. The pieces displayed here and the joint effort became the foundation for the Pneuma Cosmic proposal, which won the 2026 opportunity to showcase the Hungarian Pavilion at the Velencei Képzőművészeti Biennále.
The story shows what it means to make Godot an artistic endeavour: to give space, professional work and a background for an idea that can take it from here onto the international stage.
Dr Máriás: Long live dictatorship!
The jubilee retrospective brought together several phases of his oeuvre. In addition to the public‑policy satire, it also showcased painterly experiments and personal stories, revealing the complex artistic trajectory behind the widely known visual world.
Time and space for creation. Without boundaries.
The Godot international residency programme, already in operation today, supports artists beyond mere exhibition opportunities. A change of environment, time that can be devoted to focused work, and new professional contacts can lay the groundwork for the next chapter of an artistic career.
Val-d’Aigoual, France
The Mentőcsónak scholarship offers a creative residency at a château in southern France. The programme includes a stand‑alone exhibition opportunity and mentoring organised by Godot.
Hága · Hollandia
The professional residency advertised in partnership with the NGO Dei offers artists new international connections.
Marrákes · Morocco
With the support of the Gauder Artists' House, the residency taking place at the Riad Al Massarah provides an opportunity to discover a different cultural milieu and to gain the creative insights that arise from it.
The allocation of residencies is subject to professional selection; the current opportunities and terms are set by the Godot calls for applications.
Between the great chapters.
A workshop
Has many facets.
The institutions are bound together by decades of everyday cultural work. Small initiatives, collaborations and new encounters give the story its depth.
Install
Godot also helped establish the Telep Galéria: it supported the launch of a new, independent cultural space.
Literature and Improv
Many dozens of literary evenings and improvisational theatre events brought new voices and audiences to Godot.
Mezőszemere
The work at the artist camp creates space for creation, for time spent together and for long‑term professional connections.
Joint work for personal reasons
For an institution.
Arca is there.
Behind every venue and initiative are people. Artistic decisions, organisation, financial backing and decades of relationships: Godot is built on this collaboration.
People behind Godot
Founders and leaders
Founders
Sáfár Zoltán
and Borbála Laczkovich
- Sáfár Zoltán
- Founder of the Godot Gallery and the Godot Institute.
- Laczkovich Borbála
- The co‑founder, curator and artistic director of the Institute – art historian.
Their joint work is bound together by a love of art and culture, and a belief in art’s role in building community. They create a space where the freedom of creation and personal encounters both find room.
Co‑founder of the Godot Gallery · Financial Director
Kaucsek Bálint
As a co‑founder of the Godot Gallery and the Godot Institute, you work on the financial framework that supports their operations. Your role is to provide a stable foundation for the creation of artistic concepts and for the development of the institution.
Acting Director · Curator
Lukács Gergő
The day‑to‑day operations of the Godot Institute and the coordination of artistic work are supported. As Deputy Director and curator, she works at the intersection of the professional direction and implementation of exhibitions.
Gallery Manager · Art Collector
Kozák Gábor
Since 2000 he runs the Godot Gallery. As gallery director and collector he builds long‑term relationships with contemporary artists and collectors, and the core of his work is the presentation of works and artistic dialogue.
Godot today / Three exhibition venues · Two Budapest addresses
Let's meet.
personally.
Godot Institute
Large‑scale exhibitions in the former Goldberger factory.
1036 Budapest
Adolf Fényes Street 21.
Godot Laboratory Gallery
Young creators, experimental projects, ideas taking shape.
1036 Budapest
Adolf Fényes Street 21
Godot Gallery
The gallery that opened in 1999 is now on Bartók Béla Street.
Budapest
Bartók Béla Street 11–13.