ARTISTS´
MONEY - SHARE
JENŐ
LÉVAY
PERSONIFIED THOUGHTS
Trading in the Exchange of Ideas
The Danube
Ropeway Loading Dock, the building of the "Island of Exchange" is located
in the riverbed of the Danube between 1721 and 1722 kilometers of the
river above Esztergom, on the border of the country. It is approximately
80 meters from the riverbank, placed on an iron construction resting on
two pillars. The level of the floor is about 15 metres above water level,
the area of the building is 200 square meters covered with a raised roof.
Thanks to the designers and the builders of the Danube Ropeway Loading
Dock coal was carried from the Dorog mines to the dock from 1927 till
1963, where it was loaded onto barges. This way the building incorporates
the work and fate of several thousand people over a period of 36 years.
The one-time real operation of the building can still serve as a model.
The reconstruction is started with a metaphoric restart of the ropeway,
when, instead of coal, different layers and wide ranges of unknown cultures
are transferred in the Space of Exchange, first in the form of a register
of stockholder artists. The works of art collected can be considered only
as stocks in a symbolic sense at the moment; various "imprints of thoughts"
on numbered sheets of paper of A4 format constitute the first intellectual
contribution in kind, the metaphoric equity capital of the joint stock
company.
The Island of Exchange is the free market for ideas and obsessions, dreams
and fancies, hopes and desires, sufferings and beauties of a country that
is beyond everyday reality. Boundaries are not arbitrarily drawn lines
here, they do not divide some plane into smaller or larger pieces. The
surface of the boundary is pulsating, its extent is continuously changing,
it is the gentle texture of inviolable networks of infinite numbers that
embrace one-another without displacement. A book, a hairstyle, a song,
a picture on a washing-powder box or a word that is still understood by
some people could become a border station.
Crossing the border between different cultures - in the realm of ideas
- means getting accustomed to knowledge. We can be border stones or passengers
alike, as our notions about time are different, too. This is also referred
to by the most respected currency used in stock exchanges - by the "Khairos"
- which is rarely seen in the everyday life of the bourse as something
inconvertible. The internal currency in ordinary use is e.g. the "Mind-crumble"
(expression by József Attila Endrődy), which is convertible.
Its smaller units are: hours, minutes, seconds. This means of payment
has a rate for gold, which allows actual exchange of ideas of their export-import
even according to ordinary, earthly customs regulations.
One of the main programs of the "Island of Exchange" is to promote trading
in the exchange of ideas. It is often the case in reality that the representative
of an idea does not benefit from earthly goods in proportion to the idea.
And this condition could last longer than a lifetime.
The "Island of Exchange" supports the Unknown. Its support and provision
will decrease as the given idea strengthens in everyday life. This inverse
proportion is indicated by the index of the "Island of Exchange". One
of its most significant components is the index number that designates
the momentary place of the idea concerned between the unknown and total
integration. Therefore, ideas floating near the unknown indicate the maximum,
ideas deeply rooted in reality show the minimum. This evaluation is independent
of quality, it only indicates the relation to the unknown. The determination
of quality ranking various judgments or intervention does not belong to
the scope of the stock exchange as an institution but it is the job of
those who keep an eye on the market, too - that of art historians, creative
brokers, gamblers (catalysts of the exchange), users and entrepreneurs.
The attitude of the "Island of Exchange" is not characterized by making
judgments but by looking at cultures simultaneously in a comprehensive
way.
The point is that as many of the infinite multitude of ideas doomed to
eternal wandering in space as possible should find their cultivators even
if for a short time.
IN THE HOMESPUN OF NEIGHBORING LIGHTS
The
"metaphoric restart" of the Danube Ropeway Loading Dock took place in
December 1994 at the Dorog Miners´ Bath in the presence of almost
100 people interested. There were participants from different layers of
society present such as children, university students, workers, managers
of the mine, architects, writers, politicians, artists of different interest
and orientation. 57 of them subscribed for 60 Thought-Stock shares
Among those subscribed there was an unrealized design of an architect,
a collection of autographs, good wishes, an idea, wills for performing
something, a dream, a painting, a sculpture, installations, photos, short
stories, a film, personal belongings, prayers, memories, prophecies -
all of them stamped and numbered on the spot.
From the design of the ropeway the 57 pillars can be read - leading from
the mine to the Danube. A one-time engineering decision and the present
time fine arts decision ordered the very same number of pillars to the
ropeway of imagination. Thus the first shareholders became the "constructional
pillars" of the ropeway as well as "the pages" of a graphical album. The
most important question and a challenge at the same time for me was the
following: how may a page be a drawing of mine with a "title" of an other
person´s name, with the "contents" of an other person´s manifestation?
How should I make a good use of the gestures transferred to me? The poet
Sándor Weöres wrote about the same feeling in his poem In
Aeternum.
THE SHAREHOLDERS OF THE FIRST 60 THOUGHT-STOCKS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
001: Balázs János, 002: Dr. Tokodi András, 003: Pick József, 004: Kaján Imre - Európai Közép Galéria, 005: Wieszt József, 006: Sebestyén Judit, 007: Miavecz Jenő, 008: Kaposi Endre, 009: Kaposi Tamás, 010: Kaposi Antal, 011: Lepel László, 012: Földi Péter, 013: Szabó Csaba, 014: Pottyondi Péter, 015: Rajk László, 016: Ferenczi Gábor, 017: Ferenczi Gábor, 018: Hink Sonia, 019: Kalmár László, 020: Kuncze Gábor, 021: Csontó Lajos, 022: Bencze László, 023: Koronczi Endre, 024: Szabics Ágnes, 025: Fehér Ernő, 026: Matyók László, 027: Pesty Fekete Doboz Kft., 028: Tóth Istvánné, 029: + Simsay Ildikó, 030: Szily Géza, 031: Bakos Ildikó, 032: Cs. Nagy Lajos, 033: Lévay Jenő, 034: Pick Józsefné, 035: Kovács Lajos, 036: Nagy T. Katalin, 037: Beck György, 038: Posch Győző, 039: Sebestyén Zsuzsanna, 040: Krasznahorkai László, 041: Sebestyén Jenő, 042: Glozer László, 043: Siki Laci, 044: Vadas Szabolcs, 045: + Gyuró Anna Eszter, 046: Komoróczky Tamás, 047: St. Auby Tamás, 048: Nagy István, 049: St. Auby Tamás, 050: Beöthy Balázs, 051: Beöthy Balázs, 052: Spilák Klára, 053: Gyarmathy Katalin, Hegedűs Viktória, 054: Swierkiewicz Róbert, 055: Monari Mész András, 056: Szakál Csaba, 057: Eperjesi Ágnes, Várnagy Tibor, 058: Pintér Sándor, 059: Závada Pál, 060: Fata György 001: Balázs János, 002: Dr. Tokodi András, 003: Pick József, 004: Kaján Imre - Európai Közép Galéria, 005: Wieszt József, 006: Sebestyén Judit, 007: Miavecz Jenő, 008: Kaposi Endre, 009: Kaposi Tamás, 010: Kaposi Antal, 011: Lepel László, 012: Földi Péter, 013: Szabó Csaba, 014: Pottyondi Péter, 015: Rajk László, 016: Ferenczi Gábor, 017: Ferenczi Gábor, 018: Hink Sonia, 019: Kalmár László, 020: Kuncze Gábor, 021: Csontó Lajos, 022: Bencze László, 023: Koronczi Endre, 024: Szabics Ágnes, 025: Fehér Ernő, 026: Matyók László, 027: Pesty Fekete Doboz Kft., 028: Tóth Istvánné, 029: + Simsay Ildikó, 030: Szily Géza, 031: Bakos Ildikó, 032: Cs. Nagy Lajos, 033: Lévay Jenő, 034: Pick Józsefné, 035: Kovács Lajos, 036: Nagy T. Katalin, 037: Beck György, 038: Posch Győző, 039: Sebestyén Zsuzsanna, 040: Krasznahorkai László, 041: Sebestyén Jenő, 042: Glozer László, 043: Siki Laci, 044: Vadas Szabolcs, 045: + Gyuró Anna Eszter, 046: Komoróczky Tamás, 047: St. Auby Tamás, 048: Nagy István, 049: St. Auby Tamás, 050: Beöthy Balázs, 051: Beöthy Balázs, 052: Spilák Klára, 053: Gyarmathy Katalin, Hegedűs Viktória, 054: Swierkiewicz Róbert, 055: Monari Mész András, 056: Szakál Csaba, 057: Eperjesi Ágnes, Várnagy Tibor, 058: Pintér Sándor, 059: Závada Pál, 060: Fata György