In the exhibition „FACTS FOR REAL: COLLECTIONS AND COMMUNITIES”
THE FIRST COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS EXHIBITION OF THE BLINKEN OSA ARCHIVUM
The Blinken OSA Archivum, currently updating its public image with a new logo, website, and catalog, launched a research-based program to continuously (re)contextualize its documents and themes. This initiative exemplifies “collective curating” and “community archives” through its community-driven research and exhibition project, Facts for Real: Collections and Communities. The exhibition is the first to showcase a carefully selected collection of items from the Archivum’s versatile holdings, creating a web of interconnected stories that cover the main historical events as well as private histories of the Cold War era and its aftermath.
The exhibition at the Galeria Centralis of the Archivum presents previously unseen materials from the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute’s collection, such as the correspondence of the popular music program of the Hungarian station, Teenager Party, as well as photos depicting the inner workings of the Radios. Samizdat materials, such as György Dalos’s novel, 1985, are on display, with the original illustrations made by László Rajk. The exhibit also includes numerous materials from our extensive audiovisual collection, such as videos documenting the major events of the Hungarian regime change made by the Fekete Doboz Foundation, and the home movies of the Private Photo and Film Foundation offering insiders’ perspectives of personal lives in Hungary throughout almost the entire 20th century. The materials relating to major historical events are complemented with more down-to-earth, personal narratives, such as the letters sent to the Radio Liberty from the Soviet Union, or a selection of the drawings by Gertrud Bortstieber, the wife of philosopher György Lukács, included to the letters sent to her family from the post-1956 exile in Romania, on public view for the first time.
Between 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.
Tours of the building: Exhibition Hall and archive in a museum space. Once a year, the public is invited to explore the Goldberger building, an industrial monument.
The basement of the building site contains records of the fieldwork that supported Radio Free Europe’s broadcasts during the Cold War, along with a collection of human rights documents.
Tours depart every odd hour from 5:00 p.m till 11:00 p.m., with English available on request.