COURAGE

Mbledhje koleksionesh

In 1972 Przemysław Kwiek and Zofia Kulik moved in together to an apartment in Warsaw Praga, near popular sites of the district, i.e. Targowa street, Wileński Station, and the Różycki Bazaar. The apartment had belonged to Kwiek’s family for generations. In its separate part, albeit with a common kitchen and bathroom, still lived Kwiek’s mother and four of his siblings. Nonetheless, Kwiek and Kulik used one of their two rooms to found the Studio of Activities, Documentation and Propagation (PDDiU). It served as their studio, archive, and space for holding exhibitions: 
usually slideshows with commentary for invited guests from Poland and abroad. The book summarising the artistic career of KwieKulik interprets the name of the Laboratory in the following manner:

“The three parts of the PDDiU name characterise the working method of the KwieKulik duo. Activities: transformations of material and space and dissenting behaviours were inseparably linked with recording them, i.e. the Documentation. KwieKulik documented methodically their own activities and the ephemeral art of other authors. The next stage, that is, the Propagation, included original presentations, which involved managing the selection of gathered documentation; each time the artists would create a scenario for their presentation.”

Many years later PDDiU will change its name to KwieKulik Archive.

The program of Direct Week was originally planned to be held in Budapest, but after being banned by the cultural authorities, Galántai offered his Chapel Studio for the event. Organized by Gyula Pauer and Tamás Szentjóby, Direct Week started with a manifesto summarizing the concept and thereby inviting artists for participation. The title reflected on the aim of the direct connection between the artwork and the audience, as proof of the iconoclastic attitude followed by the avantgarde artists. The aim was to prompt visitors to react and therefore to involve them not only as observers but also as participants. As part of the “avantgarde festival,” several actions, events, and artworks were created: Tamás Szentjóby: Punishment-preventive Autotherapy; Gyula Pauer: Recording of the Pseudo ad; Gyula Gulyás: Body Marks; Miklós Erdély: Brushwood is the Proletarian of Fuel; Béla Adamis: Action with the film roll; etc. Participants during the week: László Beke, Gábor Bódy, Miklós Erdély, Gyula Gulyás, Miklós Haraszti, Péter Legéndy, Gyula Pauer, Tamás Szentjóby, Endre Tót, etc.

Exhibition Szövegek / Texts, August 19–25, 1973, organized by Dóra Maurer and Gábor Tóth. Conception: Dóra Maurer

Szövegek / Texts was the first international exhibition of visual experimental poetry in Hungary including concrete texts, visual poetry, text-based conceptual artworks, and other poetry related experiments. The conception of the exhibition came from Dóra Maurer who, with the help of Gábor Tóth, has worked on an international collection of text based works for years. The exhibition at Balatonboglár was accompanied by concrete poetry actions, such as Hommage à Tristan Tzara by Dóra Maurer, or Fire/Ice by Tibor Gáyor.

Participants: Gábor Attalai, Imre Bak, Ugo Carrega, Robin Crozier, Miklós Erdély, Tibor Gáyor, Jochen Gerz, Michael Gibbs, Tibor Hajas, H. W. Kalkmann, J. H. Kocman, László Lakner, János Major, Slavko Matkovic´, Dóra Maurer, David Mayor, János Nádasdy, Maurizio Nannucci, Clemente Padin, Géza Perneczky, G. J. De Rook, Tamás Szentjóby, Bálint Szombathy, Miroljub Todorovic´, Endre Tót, Gábor Tóth, Timm Ulrichs, Janos Urban, Jirí Valoch, Ben Vautier, Franci Zagoricnik and others.

Exhibition Tükör / Mirror / Spiegel / Miroir, August 5-11, 1973, organized by László Beke

The exhibition was organized by art historian László Beke in 1973. It addressed the theme of the mirror, which had been in the focus of artists for decades and had also been used by avantgarde artists. The exhibition had a double focus in its approach. On the part of the organizer László Beke, it focused on the symbolic meanings of the mirror. On the part of the participating artists, the mirror was regarded as a tool for self-reflection. On a higher level, the mirror as a symbolic object also implied political criticism: mirroring art in a politically compulsory way. The exhibition was the first international mail art exhibition organized in Hungary. Participants: Francis Picabia, Angelo de Aquino, Gábor Attalai, Balázsovics Mihály, András Baranyay, Ben Vautier, Canada Art Writers, Gustave Cerutti, Dalibor Chatrny, Gáyor Tibor, Dóra Maurer, Tom J. Gramse, Klaus Groh, Jerzy Kiernicki, Jiří H. Kocman, Romuald Kutera, Péter Legéndy, János Major, David Mayor, Christian Megert, Anette Messager, Steffen Missmahl, Géza Perneczky, Sándor Pinczehelyi, Martin Schwarz, Jörg Schwarzenberger, Mieko Shiomi, Zdzisław Sosnowski, Petr Stembera, Tamás Szentjóby, Ádám Tábor, Endre Tót, János Tölgyesi, Janos Urban, Jiří Valoch

Kassák Theater: King Kong, August 13, 14, 16-18, 1973 (Participants: István Bálint, Péter Breznyik, Éva Buchmüller, Péter Halász, Marianne Kollár, Anna Koós, Miklós Kovács, István Szeghő, Can Togay)

The members of the alternative theater of Péter Halász and Anna Koós visited Balatonboglár for one week in 1973. Their experimental theater pieces King Kong and Play with Birds were both performed in several versions while they were there.

King Kong was a three-day-long play characterized by ritual scenes and elements. The central “character” of the play was King Kong, an enormous hairy monkey as tall as the height of the chapel inside. He welcomed visitors as they arrived. The hidden references to the oppressive regime were encoded in both fabled elements and erotic symbols. Through the transformation of a character (from a man into a woman), the play intended to illustrate the possibility of defeating power. However, after occupying the position of the enemy, the whole procedure restarts from the beginning. Questioning the boundaries of social and personal morality, the theater piece reflected on the oppressive strategies used by organs and institutions of power. It was later performed at the Dohány Street apartment theater.