Blinken OSA Archivum
HU OSA 362-0-1 Artworks and Preparatory Materials by Group Inconnu
BookIconSeries Description
Context
Hierarchy
Statistics
Folders / Items in this series
Identity Statement
Title
Artworks and Preparatory Materials by Group Inconnu
Identity Statement
Date(s)
1982 - 1989
Identity Statement
Description Level
Series
Identity Statement
Extent and medium (processed)
4 Archival boxes, 0.5 linear meters
1 VHS PAL, 0.03 linear meters
Context
Name of creator(s)
Group Inconnu
Content and structure
Scope and content (abstract)
This series includes artworks and preparatory materials related to the social and political activities of Group Inconnu. Much of these pieces were made for the group's exhibitions, public performances and demonstrations.
Content and structure
Scope and content (narrative)
Group Inconnu was founded by independent artists who organized their first joint exhibition in Cegléd on May 15, 1978. This was followed by many other performances, film screenings and exhibitions. In the early years, the group was based in Szolnok, but by the beginning of the 80s the center of their activity shifted to the capital. After moving to Budapest, in the decade preceding the regime change, Inconnu had an active role in the opposition movement. In many respects they became pioneers, active in the international mail art scene, shaping and applying the concept of the action theater they organized public events and political performances, while their efforts in graphic art greatly contributed to the improvement of the quality of Hungarian samizdat literature. Within the group, the BM – Scandal Art Group was founded in 1983, and the Artéria Gallery, a venue for their events in a private flat, was operated in Budapest between 1984 and 1985, where various exhibitions and other political events were held on more 30 occasions. During Károly Grósz’s American visit in 1988, the group went on a hunger strike against restrictions on travelling abroad from Hungarys, and in June 1989, a national commemorative garden was installed in the public cemetery of Rákoskeresztúr, where 300 headstones were placed in memory of the martyrs of the 1956 revolution. They also participated in international events of alternative arts, one of which was Europe Against the Current Festival in August 1989, held in Amsterdam, where Inconnu exhibited. During their years in Budapest, most of their exhibitions were specifically designed to provide – by the means of art – an alternative to the monopolized, state-controlled propaganda, reflecting on critical social and political events and phenomena of the eighties. In addition to exhibitions, their works also appeared at opposition mass gatherings, so the artworks remembering the victims of the 1956 revolution and their posters opposing the construction of the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric power plant were frequent visual elements of the unofficial political events. As a result of their activities, their exhibitions cancelled by the authorities had at least as much impact as the actually organized ones. The most well-known of them was the one entitled The Fighting City in 1986, when the entire material of the exhibition was seized by the police in the morning of the exhibition opening, during a house search conducted in the apartment of Tibor Philipp. Despite this, the exhibition was opened, copies of the 'confiscation resolutions' were placed on the walls, and the event received significant foreign press coverage. In addition to exhibit materials, the collection also holds works prepared for mass gatherings, including a commemorative series on the March 15th revolution and the victims of the retaliation afterwards. This series contains the results of many experimental attempts to interpret the events of 1956, among them there are colored versions of a series of photographs taken in the streets during the revolution, as well as several portraits of Imre Nagy. Most of these were exhibited in the apartment of Tibor Philipp in Nádor (at that time Ferenc Münnich) street, Budapest. The series mostly contains pieces by the members of Group Inconnu, namely by István Elek (elek is), Péter Bokros, Róbert Pálinkás Szűcs. Others, like Ágnes Háy (György Krassó’ s partner), are loosely connected to the group, but due to their formal and thematic similarities, their work has also been placed in this series.
Content and structure
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
The series contains artifacts of a good condition. Due to the nature of the series, no materials have been removed.
Content and structure
Accruals
Not Expected
Content and structure
System of arrangement
The series is arranged alphabetically.
Conditions of access and use
Conditions governing access
Not Restricted
Conditions of access and use
Conditions governing reproduction
Reproduction is allowed for non commercial purposes.
Description Control
Archivist's note
Processed by Örs Lehel Tari, July 30, 2019.
Description Control
Rules or Conventions
Fonds and series level descriptions are based on ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description (Second Edition, 1999) by International Council on Archives.
HU OSA 362-0-1 Artworks and Preparatory Materials by Group Inconnu
BookIconSeries Description
Context
Hierarchy
Statistics
Folders / Items
Identity Statement
Title
Artworks and Preparatory Materials by Group Inconnu
Identity Statement
Date(s)
1982 - 1989
Identity Statement
Description Level
Series
Identity Statement
Extent and medium (processed)
4 Archival boxes, 0.5 linear meters
1 VHS PAL, 0.03 linear meters
Context
Name of creator(s)
Group Inconnu
Content and structure
Scope and content (abstract)
This series includes artworks and preparatory materials related to the social and political activities of Group Inconnu. Much of these pieces were made for the group's exhibitions, public performances and demonstrations.
Content and structure
Scope and content (narrative)
Group Inconnu was founded by independent artists who organized their first joint exhibition in Cegléd on May 15, 1978. This was followed by many other performances, film screenings and exhibitions. In the early years, the group was based in Szolnok, but by the beginning of the 80s the center of their activity shifted to the capital. After moving to Budapest, in the decade preceding the regime change, Inconnu had an active role in the opposition movement. In many respects they became pioneers, active in the international mail art scene, shaping and applying the concept of the action theater they organized public events and political performances, while their efforts in graphic art greatly contributed to the improvement of the quality of Hungarian samizdat literature. Within the group, the BM – Scandal Art Group was founded in 1983, and the Artéria Gallery, a venue for their events in a private flat, was operated in Budapest between 1984 and 1985, where various exhibitions and other political events were held on more 30 occasions. During Károly Grósz’s American visit in 1988, the group went on a hunger strike against restrictions on travelling abroad from Hungarys, and in June 1989, a national commemorative garden was installed in the public cemetery of Rákoskeresztúr, where 300 headstones were placed in memory of the martyrs of the 1956 revolution. They also participated in international events of alternative arts, one of which was Europe Against the Current Festival in August 1989, held in Amsterdam, where Inconnu exhibited. During their years in Budapest, most of their exhibitions were specifically designed to provide – by the means of art – an alternative to the monopolized, state-controlled propaganda, reflecting on critical social and political events and phenomena of the eighties. In addition to exhibitions, their works also appeared at opposition mass gatherings, so the artworks remembering the victims of the 1956 revolution and their posters opposing the construction of the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric power plant were frequent visual elements of the unofficial political events. As a result of their activities, their exhibitions cancelled by the authorities had at least as much impact as the actually organized ones. The most well-known of them was the one entitled The Fighting City in 1986, when the entire material of the exhibition was seized by the police in the morning of the exhibition opening, during a house search conducted in the apartment of Tibor Philipp. Despite this, the exhibition was opened, copies of the 'confiscation resolutions' were placed on the walls, and the event received significant foreign press coverage. In addition to exhibit materials, the collection also holds works prepared for mass gatherings, including a commemorative series on the March 15th revolution and the victims of the retaliation afterwards. This series contains the results of many experimental attempts to interpret the events of 1956, among them there are colored versions of a series of photographs taken in the streets during the revolution, as well as several portraits of Imre Nagy. Most of these were exhibited in the apartment of Tibor Philipp in Nádor (at that time Ferenc Münnich) street, Budapest. The series mostly contains pieces by the members of Group Inconnu, namely by István Elek (elek is), Péter Bokros, Róbert Pálinkás Szűcs. Others, like Ágnes Háy (György Krassó’ s partner), are loosely connected to the group, but due to their formal and thematic similarities, their work has also been placed in this series.
Content and structure
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
The series contains artifacts of a good condition. Due to the nature of the series, no materials have been removed.
Content and structure
Accruals
Not Expected
Content and structure
System of arrangement
The series is arranged alphabetically.
Conditions of access and use
Conditions governing access
Not Restricted
Conditions of access and use
Conditions governing reproduction
Reproduction is allowed for non commercial purposes.
Description Control
Archivist's note
Processed by Örs Lehel Tari, July 30, 2019.
Description Control
Rules or Conventions
Fonds and series level descriptions are based on ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description (Second Edition, 1999) by International Council on Archives.