The beginnings of the Video Studio Gdansk are connected to the I National Congress of “Solidarity”, organised in Gdansk in 1981. At first, the independent “Solidarity” filmmakers documented the union’s most important events, however soon the first documentaries were produced. Video Studio Gdansk has been operating for almost 40 years, and its archive today consists of several thousands of video materials. It mostly comprises own videos, created by the Studio: raw footages (of the most important oppositional events, like strikes, clashes, protests), documentaries, reportages, few feature films, and numerous recordings of television theatre, public debates, cultural events, etc.

Location:
- Gdańsk Grodzka 20, Poland 80-841
Topics:
Date of founding:
- 1981
Featured items:
- Candidate, documentary film, 1981
- Margaret Thatcher Visits Gdansk, video, 1988

Film Notations of European Solidarity Centre

Film Notations of European Solidarity Centre are biographical interviews, conducted with democratic opposition activists and creators of independent culture in socialist Poland. They are first-hand testimonies of people who organised illegal gatherings, demonstrations, art exhibitions, film screenings, literature circulation etc. Collection includes rare interviews that cannot be seen anywhere else.

1970s witnessed the birth of Polish neo-avant-garde milieu of film artists. Their works constitute the core of the impressive collection of short and experimental films created by visual artists. Polish 20^th and 21^st century art abounded in interesting productions of this kind, which today are known as video art. Filmoteka is a department of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, which conducts research, collects, digitalises, and publishes aforementioned films to general public.

Location:
- Warszawa Pańska 3, Poland
Topics:
Date of founding:
- 2010
Featured items:
- I Could Live in Africa. Documentary short film
- Oko i ucho. Animated short film

Fine Art Archive (Czech Republic)

The Fine Art Archive consists of diverse documents connected to Czech and Slovak art of the twentieth and twenty first century. Catalogues, books, invitations, journals, photography, slides, cuts and other items have been gathered continuously since the mid-1980s.

Location:
- Náměstí Smiřických 49, 281 63 Kostelec nad Černými lesy, Czech Republic
- Pod Terebkou 15, 140 00 Praha 4 - Nusle, Czech Republic
- Poupětova 1, 170 00 Praha 7 - Holešovice, Czech Republic
Topics:
Date of founding:
- 1984
Featured items:
- Space, Architecture, Fine Arts, in Czech, 1983. Exhibition catalogue

First River Daugava Festivity in 1979

In 1979, the Museum of the River Daugava (then the Dole History Museum) decided to organise the River Daugava Festival. The event was a great success, thanks to the involvement of many creative and competent personalities. Afterwards, the director of the museum was reprimanded by the authorities, because the festival did not have any Soviet content. Items in the collection reflect the festival and its political aftermath. The museum was formed in the 1970s in order to preserve the archaeological and cultural heritage of this part of the River Daugava, as well as Dole Island, which was partly flooded after the construction of the Riga HPP. It is located at the former Dole manor building.

Location:
- Dolesmuiža, Latvia 2121
Topics:
- alternative lifestyles and resistance of the everydays
- folk culture (e.g. folk dance movements)
Date of founding:
- 1979
Featured items:
- Explanation letter of director of the Dole History Museum Daina Lasmane in 1979