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Invisible history of exhibitions. Parallel chronologies - exhibition

art always has its consequences

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The larger framework of the project, Art Always has its consequences is a long-term international collaborative platform, that focuses on invisible, alternative histories through genres and forms of art practices such as artist text, archives, and conceptual design, which have had restricted international visibility and accessibility so far and thus are often missing from the canonized narratives of contemporary art in Eastern Europe (www.artalways.org)

The "Invisible History of Exhibitions" project looks at the history and the current interpretations of the exhibition, as the dominant format of contemporary art production and presentation. "History" in this context is interpreted as constructed narratives based on events that constitute shifts in the notions of art (art history) and the modes of its presentation (exhibition history). While in western countries mainstream art institution hosted curatorial group exhibitions that constitute the landmarks in the history of exhibitions, in Eastern Europe between the 1950s-1980s progressive art events could often only happen in "second publicity", in private flats and off-site spaces outside of public art institutions so they are deeply embedded in the historical conditions of the public sphere. With this symposium we attempt to trace and introduce a different methodology to be able to include Eastern-European events in the international discourse on exhibition theory.

Parallel Chronologies. Invisible History of Exhibitions
documentary and research exhibition

Parallel Chronologies investigates the exhibition as a cultural phenomenon and a genre on its own right focusing on the period determined by the state socialisms of the Eastern European region. The project intends to break with the usual ways both international and local art events and publications either ignore or exoticize this field. For this aim we present a network of professional relationships, exhibitions, events, and art spaces instead of the sheer display of artworks from the period.
The exhibition contains two archives dealing with neo-avant-garde art from Belgrade and Novi Sad. The prelom kolektiv has studied several significant events of the SKC, the Student Cultural Center in Belgrade in the 70s, and kuda.org new media center has collected the most important documents of the neo-avant-garde in Novi Sad. The third section of the exhibition presents progressive art events from the 60s-70s in Hungary. The exhibition and event documentations from Hungary are structured around a research asking various Hungarian art professionals about the art events from this period they find the most significant in relation to their own practice.

Instead of aiming at an objective history gained from the synthesis or reconciliation of differing individual points of views we rather would like to trace the idiosyncratic pattern of difference and accordance, the map of blind-spots and legends. The exhibition also addresses chronologies as important channels of mediating art events of an epoch. Chronologies play a defining role in transforming atomic events into histories and canons especially in the case of Eastern-European art events that happened in the second publicity during the 60s and 70s.

On view - in Labor: May 21 - June 13 (except May 30)
in Krétakör Bázis: June 2 - June 13
(Tuesday and Thursday 4 p.m. - 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.)

Programs in Hungarian:
guided tours: June 2, 6 p.m. Labor, later Krétakör Bázis
June 11, 4 p.m. Labor, later Krétakör Bázis
Discussion about the genre of reconstructional and documentary exhibitions in Krétakör Bázis, on June 11, 6 p.m.

organizer: tranzit.hu
contact: Ágnes Szanyi, office@tranzitinfo.hu, +36 70 7798132
curators of the exhibition: Dóra Hegyi and Zsuzsa László, kuda.org Novi Sad, prelom kolektiv Belgrade

The exhibition Parallel Chronologies and the symposium Invisible History of Exhibitions is part of the international project Art Always Has Its Consequences co-financed by the Culture 2007 program of the European Union.

supported by the National Cultural Fund, Hungary

Partners: Artpool Art Research Center, Krétakör Bázis
Special thanks to: Hungarian National Gallery, Szent István Király Múzeum, Székesfehérvár, Foksal Galllery Warsaw, Balázs Béla Studio, MTI, Budapest Gallery, Dobos Archive, László Beke, Orshi Drozdik, Edit Sasvári, Tamás St.Auby and others

Technical support: Ludwig Museum – Contemporary Art Museum, Krétakör Bázis

Answers by: Gábor Andrási, Judit Angel, Gábor Altorjay, László Beke, Balázs Beöthy, Róza El-Hassan, Dániel Erdély, Miklós Erhardt, Maja and Reuben Fowkes, János Fodor, Andreas Fogarasi, Éva Forgács, Péter Fuchs, József Havasréti, Sándor Hornyik, Tibor Horváth, Tamás Kaszás, Zsolt Keserue, Lilla Khoór, Szabolcs Kisspál, Gábor Klaniczay, Júlia Klaniczay, Péter Kovács, Márta Kovalovszky, Katalin Ladik, Dóra Maurer, András Müllner, László Najmányi, Gyula Pauer, Miklós Peternák, Katalin S. Nagy, Katarina � ević, Société Réaliste, Tamás St.Auby, János Sugár, Annamária Szőke, Erzsébet Tatai, Gábor Tóth, Tibor Várnagy

Related
Invisible history of exhibitions - international symposium

External Links
Art Always - project website
Exhibition History - archive

Downloads
Inquiry - responses.pdf (pdf, 116 kb)