ARTPOOL ART RESEARCH CENTER
GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE INSTITUTION AND ITS OPERATION (2012)
PRACTICAL PROJECTS
■ Curating and coordinating exhibitions and events to present contemporary trends, media, practices and
resources in art, and to cooperate with other cultural institutions in initiating joint projects.
■ 400 exhibitions, lectures and art events (at the Artpool Art Research Center and from 1997 at the Artpool
P60 art space)
ARCHIVE AND LIBRARY
■ Permanent collecting and documenting of activity, publicly accessible documentation, library, sound and
video archives, including reading room service.
■ Unique documentation center and place of research concerning the progressive, non-official Hungarian
art tendencies from the 1970s, and the Hungarian samizdat art of the 1970s and 1980s (including alternative
art scenes and groups, contemporary music, underground art magazines, etc.). Materials available for
research include the following: artists’ publications, manuscripts, personal letters, press cuttings, photographs,
invitation cards, posters, catalogs, sound documents, films, videos, and artworks. There are an estimated
500,000 individual items.
■ The only documentation center and research venue for international art tendencies and movements
from the 1960s onward in Hungary (fluxus, performance, conceptual art, installation art, sound poetry, radio
and sound art, visual poetry, artists’ books, mail art, artists’ stamps, artists’ postcards, artists’ periodicals,
copy art, samizdat, computer art, video art, public art, street art, gender, etc.).
■ The collection of sources available to the public at the Artpool Art Research Center covers 400 meters of
shelving (artists’ document folders, approximately 8,000 books and catalogs and 5,000 periodicals).
■ According to our computer databases, we have documentation from or about 7,200 artists, artist groups
and art institutions.
In addition to the traditional library and archive materials, the following special sources are available for research:
Sound Archive.
About 1,250 cassettes or CDs and 200 LP records are accessible to researchers
(the oldest items are from 1972). This archive holds approximately 2,000 sound pieces or sound
documents. The most substantial part of the archive is made up of sound recordings by György
Galántai (interviews, documentation of lectures, performances, banned punk-rock music of the
1980s, new wave), while the rest of the collection (sound works, sound poetry, new music recorded
on cassettes, records and CDs) has been acquired in exchange for Artpool´s publications over the
years. 400 cassettes with sound pieces of the 1970s and 1980s were donated to Artpool by Klaus
Groh. Individual documents or works of the sound archive are regularly broadcast on various radio
programs.
For a list of the digitized sound material, visit www.artpool.hu/sound/
Video Archive.
This archive contains about 2,000 digitized VHS cassettes and DVDs (about 2,500
hours worth). The oldest items are video transcripts of experimental films of the Balázs Béla Studio
and cultural documents that have been recorded from Hungarian TV since 1984. Artpool’s own
recordings, Gábor Tóth’s recordings and donations, exchanged materials, and video works received
as contributions to Artpool´s projects since 1992 (including video anthologies and works,
performance videos, fluxus, actionism, scenes from alternative theatre, independent films, reports
on festivals, etc.) have significantly enlarged the archive.
For a complete list of the digitized videos, visit www.artpool.hu/video/
Photo Archive. This archive contains about 15,000 photographs and slides, documenting the art
events and culture of Hungary from the early 1970s, art photographs, and reproductions of artworks
and photo documents of projects organized by Artpool in the 1980s. György Galántai took the
majority of the photographs; other significant photographers in the archive include Dóra Maurer,
László Lugosi Lugo, Attila Pácser, Júlia Veres and László Haris.
Posters of underground, avant-garde, experimental art events, exhibitions, festivals and concerts
from the 1970s onward. Around 3,000 pieces (of which ca. 1,100 pieces are the deposit of Tamás
Szőnyei). The Hungarian art posters, which include a significant number of posters of alternative,
underground, pop-rock and new wave concerts, have recently been digitized and have thus
become more accessible to researchers.
THE COLLECTIONS
Through its artistic exchanges, connections and organizational activities, and with the help of donations and
deposits from artists, Artpool has accumulated several collections of worldwide significance that are unique in
Hungary. Among others, the archive holds the following collections: Artistamps, Artists’ Bookworks, Visual
Poetry, Artists’ Periodicals, Sound Poetry, Hungarian Conceptual Art from the 1970s and 1980s, Mail Art, etc.
The Hungarian materials dating from the early 1970s in the collection of the Artpool Art Research
Center consist mostly of conceptual art works, photo/slide works, photo-documents, artists’ postcards,
cartoons, artists’ publications, artists’ posters, concrete and visual poetry works, as well as
works received as a result of international contacts with artists (publications, small prints, visual
poetry works). Provenance of this part of the collection: partly as a deposit by György Galántai, and
partly as gifts by György Galántai, Gábor Tóth, Dóra Maurer, Imre Bak, Gábor Attalai, etc.
Some complete projects can also be found (“Tükör/Mirror/Spiegel/Miroir”, Balatonboglár Chapel
Studio, 1973, organized by László Beke; “Szövegek/Texts”, Balatonboglár Chapel Studio, 1973,
organized by Dóra Maurer and Gábor Tóth).
From the end of the 1970s: As a result of the Galántai–Artpool projects, a considerable quantity
of artworks and documents arrived continuously from Hungary and abroad, which facilitated the
establishment of several international collections, among them probably one of the world’s largest
artistamp collections with more than 9,000 individual sheets of stamps (including the estate of the
Canadian artist and philatelist Mike Bidner).
Some complete projects from the end of the 1970s and the 1980s:
■ Complete materials of the “Museum of Hungarian Avant-garde Art” project by András Bán from
1979 with the participation of 46 Hungarian artists – donated to Artpool in 1991.
“Buda Ray University”, a network project by György Galántai based on his correspondence with
Ray Johnson (1982–1988). The number of participating artists over the years reached 580.
■ Complete materials of the exhibition “Hungary can be yours! / International Hungary” (an
exhibition of “historical significance” held at the Young Artists’ Club of Budapest in 1984 with works
by 110 artists).
Collection of Hungarian Samizdat Art (art and literary reviews, publications, about 200 items).
The great majority of the archived materials of the ten-year “DATA – Daily Action Time Archive”
(1980–1989) project by Pete Horobin (aka Peter Haining) from Scotland – donated to Artpool in
2010.
Complete materials of the “Things To Think About In Space” (Commonpress 37) project by Mario
Lara (USA) from 1980 – donated to Artpool in 2010.
From 1992: The already existing collections are continuously growing with contemporary works
thanks to Artpool’s yearly international projects (curated by György Galántai) and the artistic
exchanges between Galántai and artists worldwide. (All important projects are documented on the
Internet, where all the works can be accessed.)
The most interesting projects from the 1990s onward (with hundreds of international participants),
which represent a significant addition to the collections, can be consulted on the pages of
www.artpool.hu
Donations, gifts, exchange partners
Throughout the years, Artpool received considerable amounts of documentary and collection
materials from the following persons and institutions:
Gábor Attalai, Imre Bak, Vera Baksa-Soós, András Bán, László Beke, Mike Bidner, Julien Blaine,
René Block, Ugo Carrega, Livia Cases, Patricia Collins, Francesco Conz, John Evans, Klaus Groh,
Peter Haining, József R. Juhász / Studio erté, Tamás Kaszás, Béla Kelényi, Mario Lara, Dóra
Maurer, Géza Perneczky, Giancarlo Politi, Guy Schraenen, Hans Sohm, Adriano Spatola, Gábor
Tóth and others.
Ars Electronica, Baltic, Centre Georges Pompidou, C3 (Center for Culture & Communication),
DAAD Berlin, Dokumenta Archiv, Ernst Museum, Essl Collection, Foksal Gallery Foundation,
Forschungsstelle Osteuropa, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Le Lieu – Centre en art actuel, Ludwig
Museum – Budapest, MACBA, MUMOK, Műcsarnok / Kunsthalle, Trafó, WHW, ZKM, etc.
RESEARCH & EDUCATION
■ Art research (covering the period from the end of the 1950s), focus on discovering new sources of art and
support of researchers with scholarships.
■ Organizing lectures on the history of contemporary art through cooperation with various university
departments (including practical training and special classes for university students) and publishing
anthologies about current topics in art as educational aids.
ACCESSIBILITY OF THE ARCHIVE AND THE COLLECTIONS
The already processed and arranged collections in addition to the archive materials are free and accessible to
researchers by appointment. Books, catalogs, and art documents are readily available, and video and sound
documents can also be studied. Research is aided by free electronic databases, which are continuously
expanded and updated.
In the case of significant research projects, arrangements can be made for the ongoing use of all research
facilities. Since 1996, additional information (reviews, full-texts, bibliographies, chronologies, images and
sound documents, etc.) has been available for researchers on Artpool´s website: www.artpool.hu.
At the present time (2012), the majority of the special collections (except artists’ books and a part of the mail
art collection) are preserved in boxes and drawers in the Artpool Archive and only very limited research is
possible. Although primary registers to all collections were created in the 1990s, the works are still not
catalogued and “research-safe” storage conditions are not yet available. These facts make it difficult for
researchers to locate relevant information. Only scholars working on significant research projects or preparing
exhibitions are given access to selected pieces.