Painter. Graduated from the Hungarian Academy of Arts in 1960. His masters were Gyula Papp and Aurél Bernáth. His art is rooted in the realist tradition. At the beginning of his career, his style was influenced by surnaturalism and Rembrandt, and it was later influenced by pop art, conceptualism, and hyperrealism. He created a unique style, building on these influences. The themes of his works are defined by his interest in photos, books, and documents. He uses them to create depictions of historical and social issues, consistently using painterly means. In 1968 and 1969, he exhibited at the Iparterv exhibitions. He won the stipendium of the DAAD Künstlerprogram in 1974. He settled in West Germany in 1976. In his German period, he was interested in issues concerning the identity of art. He has taught as a professor at the University of Essen since 1982. His works were shown at the Venice Biennial (1972, 1976, 1990) and Documenta 6 (1977). He currently lives in Berlin and Budapest.
Pavel Landovský was a Czech actor, playwriter and signatory of Charter 77. After an unsuccessful period at the Academy of Mechanical Engineering, he decided to devote himself to the theatre. At first, he worked in the district theatres in Šumperk, Klatovy and Pardubice. Later, from 1965–1976, he became one of the leading figures of the Prague Drama Club (Činoherní klub). He wanted to study drama at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU), however, he was never admitted. The end of his official acting career in pre-1989 Czechoslovakia is linked to his critical approach to the regime. Landovský’s critical attitude was confirmed by his signature of Charter 77. Under pressure from the police authorities, and after several short-term prison sentences, he decided to emigrate from Czechoslovakia to neighbouring Austria in 1978. He successfully performed there as an actor. From 1982–1996 he was engaged at the Vienna Burgtheater. He returned to the Czech Republic in the mid-1990s.
Pavel Landovský was also involved in the literary side of the theatre, writing several plays. When he was still allowed to officially act, the plays Hodinový hoteliér (1969) and Případ pro venkovského policajta (1972) were performed. During “Normalization”, he produced several radio plays under the names of other authors (e. g. Karel Steigerwald). His plays were also published in samizdat volumes. Typical features of Landovský’s work are farces emerging from trivial, everyday situations, his distinctive language and slightly vulgar humour.
-
Vieta:
-
Praha, Prague, Czech Republic
-
Vienna, Austria
Ján Langoš was born on 2 August 1946 in Banská Bystrica and was a Slovak politician associated with the Democratic Party. He studied from the beginning of the 1970s at the Institute of Technical Cybernetics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He was one of the key dissidents during the 1980s in former Czechoslovakia. During this time he was as well active in the underground university and after November 1989 he served as a Minister at the Department of Home Affairs (1990–1992) of the former Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, appointed by president Václav Havel. In 1994 he entered the parliament as a candidate of the Christian Democratic Movement. Between 1995 and 2000 he was chairman of Democratic Party and in 2002 he ended his function as a member of the National Council. In 2003 Langoš founded the Nation's Memory Institute, where until his death he was a member of its Governing Board. He proposed many laws and legal standards about freedom of information. He died on 15 June 2006 in a tragic traffic accident.
Leonhard Lapin is an Estonian architect, artist and poet. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts as an architect in 1971. He was active in the avant-garde from the 1960s. Since the avant-garde was prohibited during the Soviet period, he could not find work as an architect, nor exhibit his artwork officially. He and like-minded artists organised semi-legal or illegal exhibitions. He was also active in the 1970s, editing manuscript magazines and creating texts and illustrations. Some of his work was shown outside the Soviet Union in Western countries in the 1970s, and it was highly praised. Since 1990, he has been a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts, and since 1995 he has been a professor.
-
Vieta:
-
Tallinn , Estonia undefined
Emese Kinga Latkóczy-Osváths’ grandparents were displaced members of a family belonging to the nobility originating from Slovakia and having several ties to the Smallholders Party. The other branch of the family participated in the 1956 revolution and suffered persecution afterward. Emese Latkóczy was born in Toronto in 1961. Like other members of the CHRR, she grew up within the large and lively Hungarian community, whose popular activities at the time included the Hungarian weekend school and Hungarian scouting groups. The family moved to New York in 1973, where her parents acquired a travel agency. She met László Hámos, one of the founders of CHRR, in the framework of the Hungarian scouting organization. She became a professional actress very early and was admitted to New York Film Academy at the faculty of acting. She graduated as a film director. She spent her compulsory high school volunteer period in 1977 –1978 at CHRR, thus supporting the organization from a very early period. She worked in the film industry, with which she became disillusioned at an early stage, while at the same time growing increasingly committed to working for the human rights of Hungarian minorities in East Central Europe. Later, she became chief executive of the HHRF and then head of the Budapest office. She is currently director of the HHRF.