COURAGE

connecting collections

The seminar entitled "Working together. The review of Polish archives, libraries, and museums" took place in 2015 as an event reviewing the first five years of the Archives of Transition 1989-1991. Its aim was to present and discuss the content of the archives, libraries, and museums dealing with the Polish diaspora in Western Europe, especially cultural and political opposition. During the meeting, the first effects and activities realised by the Archives of Transition team were also presented.

"Resistance in Art, the Art of Resistance" was a discussion on the Bulgarian National Radio, program "Hristo Botev", broadcasted on 6 April 2016. Journalist Mitko Novkov, art expert and curator Krasimir Iliev and historian Ivan Elenkov debated the characteristics of the socialist period with a focus on art. They discussed, among other, the theme how art became transformed into a center of ideological persecution, and the resistance of artists.

Polja was founded in 1955. At the time, the magazine’s editorial staff and correspondents were young and unknown writers, critics, and artists, which distinguished Polja from other similar Yugoslav magazines. Since its establishment, the magazine has explored culture, art, and social issues. Polja’s launch was closely connected with Tribina mladih [Tribune of Youth], an organization of students from the University of Novi Sad. Tribina mladihmembers, mostly artists, were those critical both towards contemporary art and the state. Polja published literary, film, and art criticism, as well as translations of artistic and theoretical texts from both abroad and from minorities living within Yugoslavia. Prints of contemporary visual art were also included alongside the articles.
Digitization of Polja began in autumn 2016 and was completed in autumn 2017, under the sponsorship of the Cultural Center of Novi Sad, which is financed by the government of the Autonomous Province in Vojvodina. Since then, all issues of Polja have been available to the public online.

A retrospective exhibition of the Studio of Young Artists

Budapest Gallery, 19 October 2016.  – 8 January 2017.

The exhibition surveyed the past and the roles of the Studio of Young Artists from its establishment until the political transformations of 1989. The history of this distinctive institution of the Kádár regime emerged through the presentations of archival material, exhibition documents, publications, posters, photographs, and original artworks.

The first part diaplayed documents of the collective surveys organized in prominent and symbolically important locations beginning in the early 1960s, as well as the solo and smaller group shows organized from the 1970s onwards in the Studio Gallery.

The second half of the exhibition consisted of a selection from the Studio Collection comprised of works created by former members of the organization. The selection on display (organized into thematic sections) focused on forgotten and unfamiliar sounding names and unusual, atypical works, thus casting a fresh glance on this heterogenuous collection, which deserves a better fate.

Although the concept of the exhibition was based on an extensive research period, one of the emphasized goals of the display was to collect further documents and memories. The materials which arrived over the course of the show were continously incorporated into the documentary section and were also added to the online research archive (http://studioarchivum.tumblr.com/).