The Time of an Artwork / The Artwork through Time

The Time of an Artwork / The Artwork through Time
An Event Series for the International Research Project VIVID [RADICAL] MEMORY
Budapest, October 11 - 12, 2007
Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (Andrássy út 69-71, Budapest 1062)
Labor (Képíró u. 6, Budapest 1053)

As part of our general research on the regional development of conceptual art and historical aspects of the subject, we are examining how art projects emerged in countries with antidemocratic regimes. (Such countries would include Franco's Spain, the dictatorships of South America, and the "existing" Socialist regimes of east Central Europe.) We examine the systems of networks that existed in these places, how such movements appeared in the public eye at home and internationally, and use historical comparison to help us better understand both the age and the works themselves. The aforementioned movements in art are not mere accumulations of historical facts, but living traditions that are still making their mark today; the most convincing proof of this is the direction in art practiced by young artists on the international stage, termed "New Conceptualism" by several critics. This is a 21st-century phenomenon that often alludes to its antecedents, though now in a different form, and under different circumstances.
The theme of the Budapest meeting will be The Time of an Artwork / The Artwork through Time, which refers to our intention to devote presentations, symposia, and conversations to the historical and current interpretations of artistic creation, as well as to issues of reconstruction, re-creation and re-contextualization. It is common knowledge that important works have often only become widely known long after their creation, and sometimes only then did they surface at all - indeed, there are even works that could not come into being at the time of their conception, but only decades later; yet historical consciousness ties them to the age in which the idea was originally conceived. Some important works have been lost or destroyed, then surface again through reconstructions, while existing ones reenter the public eye in a new form through some new artistic program or through "appropriation", or simply as a result of new artistic perspectives. We might well ask what the implications of this are for understanding and for interpretation; are we dealing with something new, or is this the fundamental nature of tradition itself? Which version of a work is the "real" one - or are they all?

VIVID [RADICAL] MEMORY
(A research project, November 2006 - November 2007)
http://www.c3.hu/vrm/index_en.html

Brief Description: The conceptual art of the 60s and 70s as a part of cultural tradition, with particular attention to artistic projects of social and political import from countries under antidemocratic regimes (countries and regions in south and east Central Europe and Latin America). A comparative historiography and study of this little-known tradition and its networks of connections, and its effects.

Goals: The goal of this research project is to explore, systematize, interpret, and present connections in the historical record, with particular attention to aspects of historical fact that continue to affect art today. This will also involve documentation, interpretation, and the work of today's "activists". The forum will include a collaborative Internet project, as well as a conference, presentations, and workshops in all participating countries.

Organizer:
Antoni Mercader, Universitat de Barcelona
http://www.ub.edu/homeub/welcome.html
Co-organizers:
Iris Dressler - Hans D. Christ, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart
http://www.wkv-stuttgart.de/
Miklós Peternák, C3 Center for Culture and Communication Foundation, Budapest
http://www.c3.hu/

Sponsors: European Comission "Culture 2000", Hungarian National Cultural Foundation

Venues:
Labor
Collaboration between the C3 Foundation, the Young Artists' Studio, and the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts
Képíró u. 6, Budapest 1053
http://www.labor.c3.hu/

Opening Exhibition:
The Time of an Artwork / The Artwork through Time
2007 October 11 - November 25

Miklós Erdély: Moral Algebra. Solidarity Action (1972, reconstruction)
György Jovánovics: Construction Pressing into the Ceiling (1971)
Little Warsaw: Cyrill & Method (2005)

Opening: Thursday, October 11, 19:00
with the participation of Zsolt Keserue (President, FKSE - SYA Association), Frigyes Kőnig (Rector, MKE ), Miklós Peternák (Director, C3)

The Time of an Artwork / The Artwork through Time
International Symposium within the [VRM] Project
Friday, October 12, 10:00 - 17:00
Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Screening Room
Andrássy 69-71, Budapest 1062

Program:

10:00
Opening Remarks (Zoltán Szegedy-Maszák, artist and Vice Rector of the University)
Brief introduction to the VIVID [RADICAL] MEMORY project. (Hans D. Christ, Antoni Mercader, Valerie Rubinstein, Miklós Peternák)
Jesús Carrillo: Conceptual Art Historiography in Spain
11:30 - 13:00
Gábor Hushegyi: From HAPPSOC to Conceptualism - from the Prague Spring to Normalization in Czechoslovakia
Dóra Maurer: Why? (Between Isolation and the Community)
Elżbieta Wysocka: Conservation, digitalization, and restoration of video documents of Tadeusz Kantor's plays from the Cricoteka collection
14:00 - 15:30
László Beke: Notes on the Beginnings of East-European Conceptual Art
Edit Sasvári: "Not like that!": The "Dissident Venice Biennale" of 1977
Erzsébet Tatai: Living Conceptual Art
16:00 - 17:00
Annamária Szőke: Introduction to the Action of Gábor Altorjay
Discussion (the participants of the symposium, with Antoni Muntadas, Hans D. Christ, László Beke, and Miklós Peternák)

Gábor Altorjay: 15 Actions for Marta Minujin (1967)
Premiere
Friday, October 12, 18:00
Aula and Screening Room, Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts
Exhibition
October 15 - 21