Galántai 80

Harry Ruhé (NL)

Galántai 80

Mon, Apr 19, 2021 at 11:40 PM

Dear György,

My interest in art ‘from the East’ started in the early 1970s, when I visited Hanns Sohm’s archive in Markgröningen; I saw beautiful pieces from Milan Knížák, Happening artist from Prague. Since then I made rubber stamps for Endre Tót in Budapest, sent art magazines (Flash Art, Kunstforum) to Petr Stembera (who sent documentation about his actions in return), organized an exhibition for Ladislav Novák in 1976… and there was a lot of mail art exchange these years.

I don’t know exactly when we had contact for the first time. In our archives here, in Amsterdam, Artpool is represented with many beautiful and adventurous publications.

Collecting books, printed matter, (photo) documentation on new artforms is important. That is, among other things, what Artpool did all those years, and I hope that it stays the ‘open’ place that it is now.

I have known fascinating archives, like that of Hanns Sohm in Germany, Gilbert B. Silverman in the USA, but as soon as they end in a museum they are ‘dead’; at least that’s how I see it.

I wish you at least twenty years extra (in good health) to continue the important work you are doing. Harry Ruhé, Amsterdam, April 19, 2021