[spectre] Fwd: Artpool (Budapest) summer events - and worrying news

Wed Jul 17 15:18:51 CEST 2024

-------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht --------
Betreff: 	Artpool summer events - and worrying news
Datum: 	Wed, 17 Jul 2024 14:01:10 +0200
Von: 	Artpool Art Research Center <artpool at artpool.hu>

Dear Friends and Colleagues!

You are welcome again this year in Kapolcs, in the Valley of Arts, at 
Artpool's ten-day summer event in *Area 51* and at the *Galántai House*. 
This year's presentation –"Telematic Society, Art in the 
Fourth Dimension" – (curated by György Galántai) will reflect on the 
state of culture and Artpool, and will revive previous Artpool projects 
and events. In an ever-changing context, ideas, images, videos and 
sounds are reinterpreted and redefined...

Date: 19-28 July 2024, daily 10:00–18:00
https://www.facebook.com/events/446265434978555

——

*Unfortunately, we also have some worrying news to report:*

We didn't talk about it until now, but it seems we can't keep it 
a secret any longer:
after the first six very successful years following our joining the 
Museum of Fine Arts in 2015, from 2021 Artpool continued to operate as 
a department of the then-established Central European Research Institute 
for Art History (KEMKI) <https://kemki.hu/en/>.
Here, however, for the fourth year, incomprehensible, unexplained things 
are happening around Artpool and its founders, György Galántai and Julia 
Klaniczay.

Today, the Museum of Fine Arts would like to keep Artpool's huge 
collection, but would rather not respect the commitments made in the 
2014 Donation Contract and wants to exclude Artpool's creators 
and founders from the Artpool Art Research Centre they created.

Our Donation Contract with the Museum of Fine Arts – in addition to the 
preservation and museum management of the collection –, guaranteed the 
continued operation of the Artpool Art Research Centre as an independent 
museum department and, more specifically, the preservation of the spirit 
based on the "Active Archive <https://artpool.hu/archives_active.html>" 
concept developed by György Galántai, and the continuation of the 
internationally recognised operating practice established since 1992.
Despite this, in addition to a number of measures to make 
Artpool unimportant and impossible to operate, György Galántai was 
expelled from Artpool in January this year (his access card was 
invalidated and his contract was not renewed) and for more than half a 
year he has been allowed only as a guest in his own study, without free 
access to his own documents or the collection he has created).
Similarly, the presence of Júlia Klaniczay is planned to be restricted, 
and her recent 70th birthday, to which many artists and friends sent 
contributions (artworks, videos, texts), was not allowed to 
be celebrated at Artpool.

Dávid Fehér <https://kemki.hu/en/contentitems/details/24-David_Feher>, 
the head of the Central European Research Institute for 
Art History (KEMKI) – and "temporarily" also head of the Artpool 
department for two years – wants to see the founders of 
Artpool excluded, and to this end he considers the discrediting of the 
founders in front of the staff and the restriction of their work to be 
acceptable.

We know nothing about the real aims and reasons!
There is no justification, explanation or any personal or 
professional communication to clarify them; neither Dávid Fehér 
nor László Baán, Director General of the Museum of Fine Arts, has 
replied to official or private letters.

We believe that this unjust situation must be urgently remedied, and we, 
founders of Artpool must be guaranteed peaceful working conditions and 
unrestricted access to the collection we created.

It is inconceivable, morally and professionally unacceptable that 
Artpool, as part of the Museum of Fine Arts, should continue to be 
associated with a leader (Dávid Fehér) or a department (KEMKI) that 
does not accept the identity of the of the founders, who are still alive.

There is no reason why the Museum of Fine Arts should not change this 
decision, which has proved to be a mistake, and 
restore the contractually guaranteed autonomy of the Artpool Art 
Research Centre, with a suitable head selected by a competitive tender.

We would appreciate your support in our struggle to end the absurd 
situation around Artpool, to respect the 2014 Donation Contract and to 
ensure that Artpool founders have a secure working environment for the 
rest of their lives.

If you would like to help us, please, write directly to the Director 
General of the Museum of Fine Arts, Dr. László Baán: 
laszlo.baan at szepmuveszeti.hu
(cc: artpool at artpool.hu).

with warm greetings and hugs:
*Julia Klaniczay and György Galántai*

P.S.: Under the current conditions in Hungary, one would hardly expect 
that artists and critics (including art historians from the Central 
and Eastern European region and similar regional art institutions) who 
are in any way dependent on Dávid Fehér and KEMKI, and who are 
financially or professionally indebted to the art historians who play a 
leading role there, would dare to make their opinions heard.

But let's hope that there are others in the artworld who know what 
Artpool and its founders, György Galántai and Júlia Klaniczay, 
have achieved, and will not stand idly by and watch our exclusion and 
the destruction of our oeuvre.

---

*Some informative links from our website <https://artpool.hu/en>:*

https://artpool.hu/institute/about.html
https://artpool.hu/2015/press_conference.html (press release about 
joining the Museum in 2015)
https://www.artpool.hu/institute/artpool_40-conference.html

ARTPOOL - The Experimental Art Archive of East-Central Europe
(History of an active archive for producing, networking, curating, and 
researching art since 1970) 
<https://www.artpool.hu/2013/Artpool_book_en.html>

THE MUKHINA PROJECT
INTERPRETATIONS OF BEING IN GYÖRGY GALÁNTAI’S OEUVRE 
<https://www.artpool.hu/2018/muhina_konyvismerteto_en.html>

Artpool Art Research Center
Museum of Fine Arts - Central European Research Institute for Art History
H-1135 Budapest, Szabolcs u. 33., D. ép.
tel.: +36-70-683-1872
http://www.artpool.hu
facebook.com/artpool.budapest <http://facebook.com/artpool.budapest>

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