Photo series of spontaneous actions at the chapel: Once we went, May, 1972 (Photo: Dóra Maurer, participants: Miklós Erdély, György Jovánovics, Tamás Szentjóby, Tibor Gáyor)

The first private dance house was on 6 May 1972, at Könyvklub at Liszt Ferenc Square in Budapest, where Ferenc Novák and his followers showed the simple form of széki dance (Szék, Sic is a Romanian village). The event was organized by dancers of the Bihari Dance Ensemble, Jolán Foltin, Lajos Lelkes, Antal Stoller. The dancers of the Bartók, the Vadrózsák, the Vasas Dance Ensembles also took part in it; the music was provided by Béla Halmos, Ferenc Sebő, Péter Éri. The main supporter of the event was György Martin who helped to Béla Halmos and Ferenc Sebő too. Martin showed them the Collection of Szék by László Lajtha and other records what later became the music collection of dance house movement. Halmos and Sebő learnt by Sándor Tímár in 1971 how to play music for dancers.

"Music and dance like in Szék” was read on the invitation for the first private dance house in 1972. Opposite the entrance, there was a photo by Péter Korniss who also spent a lot of time in Szék and documented the traditional Transylvanian peasant culture. At the door, Lajos Lelkes and Antal Stoller welcomed the guest like in Szék. Originally the organizers wanted to organize the traditional dance house of Szék, but later there were ethnographical, sociological lectures at the dance houses.

During the year 1972, there were three more private dance houses at the Könyvklub.

The end of the 1972 Béla Halmos, Ferenc Sebő, Mihály Sipos travelled to Szék because they wanted to learn about the dance house of Szék. Here Béla Halmos heard the band of István Ádám "Icsán” and started to learn folk songs by them. At Budapest when Béla Halmos organized the dance houses, the idol for him was the dance house of Szék where that was a natural event every time.

During the years the dance houses at Budapest became more and more popular where the youth had possibilities to learn and hear about that information and interest which were not allowed at school or universities. The HVDSZ, VDSZ, VASAS, ÉPÍTŐK were the main Ensembles at the dance houses. From 1973 the members of the Bartók Dance Ensembles taught folk dances at Fővárosi Művelődési Ház. New folk music bands were founded like the Muzsikás and the dance house movement became popular at all around Hungary. 

„Problemos“ yra Vilniaus universiteto filosofijos žurnalas, leidžiamas nuo 1968 metų. 7 dešimtmetyje Lietuvos filosofų bendruomenė dėjo daug pastangų, kad šis žurnalas taptų aukšto lygio akademinis leidinys.  Jame buvo spausdinami ne tik originalūs straipsniai, bet ir Vakarų filosofų vertimai. Kultūros administratoriai tokią iniciatyvą sutikimo su dideliu nepasitikėjimu. Antai iš 1972 m. pasitarimo LTSR Aukštojo mokslo ministerijoje matyti pastangos pakreipti žurnalą į „teisingą kelią“. Filosofai, šio žurnalo autoriai buvo kritikuojami už pasyvią laikysena sovietinės ideologijos atžvilgiu. Anot Algimanto Jankausko, griežtėjant kontrolei, Problemų žurnalo branduolys net svarstė apie savilaidos galimybę.  Tačiau buvo apsispręsta laikytis kitokios linijos – įsteigti ir pradėti leisti knygų seriją  "Filosofijos istorijos chrestomatija". Ji buvo leidžiama 1974-1987 metais. 

A diagram The Stages of the Evolution of Art from 1972 is a graphic extension of the idea which Ludwiński presented two years earlier in the text Art in the Post-art Epoch. Ludwiński often used images and diagrams to better explain his thoughts on history and future of art. As a man of a spoken word, he rarely wrote and rather talked, discussed, and argued in an oral way, helping himself with some notes and sketches. On the other hand, Ludwiński’s drawings are a testimony for his visual imagination. In this case, the evolution of art is presented through overlapping of next rings, analogically to the rings visible in the tree’s section.  

The Stages of the Evolution of Art in a suggestive way show the dependencies and development directions between the main genres in the modern art, as well as design its forthcoming tendencies, through the conceptual and impossible art (thus the streams developed at the turn of the 1960s and the 1970s, all to the phase 0, when art is supposed to disappear in the reality of science, technology, and social life, acting through empathy and over-intellectual understanding).

Diagram is a repository of Zacheta Lower Silesian Fine Arts Association in the Modern Museum Wroclaw and it is presented on the exhibition in two languages: the original (Polish) and in English translation.

Pogrindyje publikuota spauda buvo gerai organizuota ir konceptualiai pagrįsta savilaidos forma. Kolekciją sudaro du pogrindžio leidiniai, tai Lietuvos katalikų bažnyčios kronika ir Rūpintojėlis. Kronika kaip pogrindžio leidinys išliko ilgiausiai, savo publikacijose pateikdama sovietų skleidžiamoms žinioms alternatyvią informaciją. Jei Kronika buvo inicijuota katalikų kunigų, tai Rūpintojėlis buvo labiau tikinčiųjų iniciatyva, kuris tapo pripažintu leidiniu dėl aukšto kultūros ir intelektualinio lygio.    

Kolekciją sudaryta iškeltos šaltinių: Lietuvos ypatingajame archyve yra saugomos iš KGB paveldėti leidiniai, taip suskaitmeninti Kronikos leidiniai, patalpinti internetiniame puslapyje http://www.lkbkronika.lt. 

This picture shows the honorary diploma given to Hristo Ognyanov by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1981 on the occasion Ognyanov’s 70th birthday and in gratitude for his activities defending freedom of religion (Source: CSA, F. 1264). It is associated with the History of the Bulgarian Church, written by Hristo Ognyanov for broadcasts on Voice of America in the period 1953–1957 (CSA F. 1264, op. 1, a.e. 249–251). In this and in programs on Radio Free Europe, Ognyanov critically discussed communist propaganda against religion. Ognyanov’s program "Eleven Centuries of Christianity in Bulgaria" received an award by The Catholic Broadcasters Association of America. Under the name "Religion and Atheism in Bulgaria under Communism," he delivered a series of lectures in 1974. In Bulgaria, Ognyanov's activities, including those on religious subjects, were considered by the authorities as "subversive propaganda".

Cardboard box with a large, red, stenciled, symmetrical question mark on the outer top of one side and the inner bottom of the other side. On the outer back side, a series of ten photos arranged in a grid demonstrating the possible combinations of similar boxes in an open and closed state.

On the third photo the box on the left is marked with an arrow pointing to a handwritten caption reading “that is this box.” Under the photo appears the typewritten title of the work and the following sentence: “The aim of the experiment is to examine the sensory and esthetic effects of generally asked questions.” Beside the photos, above the label the typewritten name of the author is visible.

The handwritten commentary suggests that a box can be interpreted alone as well (this concrete example incorporates two differently positioned, painted question marks). Looking at the photos, one can conclude that more—though not necessarily identical—copies exist, which were given away (as this example got to the archive).

Politics did not constitute the primary context of Péter Türk’s oeuvre, but a subtle, sometimes ironic, criticism of the system can be observed in his works produced during the first half of the 1970s. During this period, he created geometric, but more and more conceptually oriented works, pursuing visual, semantic-logical investigations, which formed an implicit statement in the eyes of cultural politics at the time.

The question marks appearing in several series of his works are “visual conundrums,” which come into play via their color, position, material, constellation and, last but not least, their variations. Contemplating the object, the viewer becomes involved in a conceptual-associative process.

During our visit, we first wanted to define what is a generally asked question. According to professor Beke, “how are you?” or rather “what’s up?” is a good example. Hearing (or reading) a question of this type it is worth noting that this still concerns the sensory effect.

The cantata Lenini sõnad (Lenin's Words) is a purely ironic work. It was formally dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union. Tormis used extracts of texts by Vladimir Lenin. The irony lies in the fact that these were extracts which demanded equality between nations and the right of self-determination. Since the author was Lenin himself, the authorities could not blame Tormis for anything. Whether the authorities understood the irony or not remains unknown. It has not been widely performed, and even not at all since the restoration of independence, but it is often quoted in the press as a curious case. This cantata is definitely not forgotten. For example, Lenini sõnad was one of the works mentioned in the obituaries of Tormis. The original manuscript and a later written copy are currently stored in the Estonian Theatre and Music Museum.

The card contains three cut and glued press clippings containing reports on trials for “offences against the people and the State by enemy propaganda.” As a criminal act aimed against the people and the State, enemy propaganda was defined in the 1951 Criminal Code as propaganda by illustration, writing, or public speech at rallies or otherwise, aimed against the state structure and social system, and against political, economic, military or other important institutions of the people’s government. Strict imprisonment was stipulated as punishment for the perpetration of such a crime.

Two press clippings refer to trials against Vlatko Pavletić (Zagreb, 2 December 1930 – Zagreb, 19 September 2007), the then editor-in-chief of the magazine Kritika, a publication of  the literary organization Matica hrvatska and the Croatian Association of Writers. The third clipping refers to a trial against journalist Smiljana Rendić (Split, 1926 – Trsat, 1994), because of her article “Izlazak iz genitiva ili drugi hrvatski preporod” [‘Exit from the genitive or the second Croatian revival’], published in 1971 in the issue no. 18 of the same magazine, which was therefore banned. Together with a group of officials of Matica hrvatska,  Pavletić was arrested in 1972 and then sentenced to a year and a half of strict imprisonment as a Croatian nationalist on charges of “attempting to overthrow and alter the state structure.” Rendić was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and was banned from public activity for one year after her release. They demonstrate a number of cases of prosecution against members of the Croatian Spring that followed the suppression of that reform movement in Croatia at the end of 1971. A significant part of this prosecution encompassed cultural institutions and humanist intellectuals. The work of Matica hrvatska and its magazine Kritika were banned by the communist authorities. The collection includes a number of press clippings about these events, grouped in several topics in the categories for Culture (filing folders KUL 320 and KUL 491) and Domestic affairs (filing folder UP 27 and UP 28), and in the dossiers Public Persons category. The documents are available for research and copying.