In the middle of the 1980s, John P. Jacob, an American writer and curator, started to collect materials for a portfolio series. The focus of the first portfolio (I. Portfolio) was body art, and Jacob decided to dedicate the second (II. Portfolio) to the photo-based works by East European artists. He was invited to Budapest to conduct his research in the Hungarian capital, since Liget Gallery wanted to show the collection.

II. Portfolio consisted of a few hundred works by some sixty artists. It was shown by Liget (II. Nemzetközi Portfolio, Liget Galéria, Budapest, 1986). Later the List Visual Arts Center at MIT also showed interest in presenting the material, though in a rearranged, selected format. This exhibition, which consisted of works by approximately thirty-five artists (Out of Eastern Europe: Private Photography. List Visual Arts Center, MIT, Cambridge, 1987), later became a wandering exhibition in the USA.