Souvenirs for the Future

"I was browsing through the autographed copy of Illegal Avant-garde – The Chapel Studio of György Galántai in Balatonboglár 1970-1973 and remember when I and my friend, Alpár Bujdosó, visited you in Boglár. [...] You showed us your kingdom and were proud of it; and we were proud of you that you made a project like that happen in the middle of that regime! [...] Even today my heart is filled with a familiar warmth from the past when I think back to that visit. Thank you, Gyuri!" Paul Nagy (F/H)

Souvenirs for the Future

"I don’t know anyone else whose perspective is so unrestrained by conventions as his. It is as if he exuded a stylish nonchalance; from the first moment, his behaviour suggested trust, even though we had not had much to do with each other before then. [...] I am grateful to fate that I was able to be a witness to the world of Balatonboglár. The world of freedom." Rudolf Ungváry (H)

Souvenirs for the Future

"I first heard of György Galántai in connection with a secret meeting of Hungarian visual artists with their Czech, Moravian and Slovak colleagues. This unique event took place on 26 and 27 August 1972 in his studio in Balatonboglár and played a crucial role in establishing an unofficial Slovak art scene, which I later joined. I covered the activities of the unofficial Slovak art scene in my essays, studies and texts.

It was only much later that I learned about the remarkable Artpool project. During my first visit, I finally met György Galántai and Júlia Klaniczay, open-minded, friendly non-conformists. True personalities. People passionate about their work, which they see as their mission. I still admire their work, which is the Artpool archive. I admire their patience, dedication to the idea of collecting documents on free art production in times of unfreedom, the evidence of cross-border cooperation that could have been prevented neither by communist ideology nor by the secret police. It is hard to say what I value most in Artpool, whether its activities or György´s and Júlia´s civic courage." Zuzana Bartošová (SK)

Souvenirs for the Future

"György Galántai’s most amazing quality is that he was spot on about things even in their retrospective historical context. Let me explain. He became a leading figure of the Hungarian underground scene early, very early on. And he was never wrong. [...] For me he was the world’s bravest arts organizer, the most entertaining sculptor (see his creations made from factory waste), a teacher who shaped people’s personalities in a big way (along with Miklós Erdély and Dóra Maurer), [...] I don’t need to talk about Artpool since it is a historic achievement that has secured a place for Gyuri and Juli – who has been Gyuri’s companion for life as long as I remember." Gyula Kozák (H)

Souvenirs for the Future

How important it has been for you that your father, György Galántai, is a leading artist of the Hungarian neo-avant-garde?

Zsolt Galántai: Of course, it affected my development in many ways. I think that what was decisive, however, was mostly his spirituality. I was always much harder to embrace his art than the moral, worldview, and philosophical thought that underpinned it.

Souvenirs for the Future

"[...] "[...] for me, your art is neither elitism nor its opposition, it is not a rupture between the mainstream and the off scene. For me, it is a magical, complex and unified universe that transports one into fantastic worlds and, as a brick that builds relationships of the actual, real world. It is freedom and responsibility. Thank you, György." Lilijana Stepančič (SLO)

Souvenirs for the Future

"György Galántai has been fighting for more than half a century – with determination but with as peaceful means as possible – for the freedom of Avant-garde culture and for the establishment, expansion and preservation of a free counter-empire of art – a global intellectual and art network – which defines itself against secular and ecclesiastical empires." Ádám Tábor (H)

Souvenirs for the Future

"The [Duchamp] project opened up perspectives on a different world of thought, especially for the art scene in Eastern Europe, whose official art had been dominated by Socialist Realism. The international project In the spirit of Marcel Duchamp was ground-breaking in the way that it advanced the reception of Duchamp in the Mail Art network. [...]
The exhibition was held in conjunction with a symposium at Eötvös University in Budapest. [...] On this legendary evening, 21 artists and art critics each gave five-minute lectures. The symposium represents the first time that discussion concerning Duchamp and his significance was taken beyond a concrete Mail Art project. The supporting programme accompanying the exhibition brought together people who did not operate in the Mail Art network.
This Mail Art project and the symposium significantly advanced the reception of Duchamp, especially in Eastern Europe.
For these reasons, Duchamp enthusiasts have remained grateful to you, György Galántai, even to this day. With your efforts, you made Duchamp known in Eastern Europe." Kornelia Röder (D)

Souvenirs for the Future

"Gyuri, it is a cherished memory of mine when you had your facade action at noon on Friday, 29 May 1987. It contextualised the work we did and us, participants in it; and there was Juli’s lipstick mark on my right cheek: the stamp of our friendship. These days Artpool is integral to the Museum of Fine Arts" Judit Geskó (H)

Souvenirs for the Future

Diane Siprelle (USA)

Souvenirs for the Future

György Rőczei (H)

Souvenirs for the Future

"I can’t imagine Gyuri at rest. I think even when he sleeps, he dreams of realizing things unimaginable for me. [...] The events, performances and exhibitions of the Galántai House in Kapolcs, its activities for Parallel Culture. His wise yet mischievous smile is often evoked in me. He is essential if one wants to know and say something valid about the Hungarian avant-garde from the sixties to the present day." György Durst (H/E)

Souvenirs for the Future

"When I think of you, György Galántai, one word comes to mind: “courageous.” Even a brief encounter with your tenacious resolve proves that Goulash Communism was correct: you were, and remain, a “dangerous element.” No wonder the state recorded, restricted, restrained, regulated, controlled, and circumscribed you throughout the 1970s and 1980s, as your intrepid resolve and sheer determination, coupled with a mischievous sense of irony and playfully wicked exuberance, would threaten any who cower before one who represents such unrestrained truth." Kristine Stiles (USA)

Souvenirs for the Future

"Your ideas on the active archive, your approach to basic research and on an open and inclusive institution – to mention but a few – were crucial for me at the time when I was looking for my ‘academic’ voice and position. [...] You enter the room and it kicks off an interaction; you tell us a story, a truth, or a theory, which is greater than itself (and myself) and I catch myself quietly nodding. After you left the research room, I often noted down these torrents of complex thoughts and I’m still carrying them with me – wherever I go." Katalin Cseh-Varga (H/A)

Souvenirs for the Future

Joël Hubaut (F)

Souvenirs for the Future

"Overcoming failures requires handrails that provide support in everyday life. I wouldn't search for samples of your absolute visual vision, but I’ve always been proud of your supportive presence. I felt it was important.
Contemporary visual art is also the art of perseverance — especially in the microclimate we live in — and when I suffer from a “reality illness,” you infiltrate my thoughts as an example; then I have gained and will always gain energy from you. " [...] Zsolt Gyarmati (H)

Souvenirs for the Future

"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." Harry Ruhé (NL)

Souvenirs for the Future

On the photo: László Baán, the 60-year-old director of the Museum of Fine Arts, congratulates György Galántai, Kassák and Munkácsy award-winning Meritorious Artist, who is celebrating his 80th birthday. After that together they inaugurated Endre Tót's sidewalk table relocated to the entrance of Artpool.
“The most effective way of illustrating the different epochs is through drawing attention to masterpieces that encapsulate the aspirations of the given period, having served as a source of inspiration for many and which, viewed from the distance of the past, tower over their contemporaries like the peaks of a mountain range.” (Elek Petrovics)