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.