COURAGE

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In 1948, when the Czech poet Ivan Blatný emigrated from Czechoslovakia, the State Security confiscated his property including belongings, such as family photographs, official documents, correspondence and manuscripts of poems. After the investigation of Blatný’s emigration had been closed, these materials were acquired by an employee of the Pedagogical Faculty of the University in Brno, who was in contact with the State Security. He placed these documents in a cupboard at the Department of the Czech Language and Literature, where they remained, unnoticed, for many years. In 1973, when another employee of the Faculty, Jiří Rambousek, had to leave the University because of political reasons, he decided to hide these document in his own apartment. At that time, the building of the Faculty was renovated and Blatný’s documents risked being destroyed or thrown out. These documents were hidden in Rambousek’s flat for nineteen years. In 1993, Ivan Blatný’s materials which were confiscated by the State Security in 1948 were purchased by the Museum of Czech Literature from Blatný’s cousin Jan Šmarda.

The first retrospective exhibition of Braco Dimitrijević was held in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb (then the Contemporary Art Gallery) in February 1973, and included all of the works from the "Casual Passer-by" cycle. (Dimitrijevic 2004: 14) This was also the first conceptual exhibition in this part of Europe, and according to Braco Dimitrijević, the most credit for the exhibition was due to the then director of the Contemporary Art Gallery, art historian Božo Bek. A poster for the exhibition was created by the well-known avant-garde artist Ivan Picelj, and the exhibition was well-attended by Zagreb's cultural circles.

The exhibition was the first presentation of Dimitrijević's works to the Zagreb public, and at the same time the first presentation of subversive works from Republic Square (today's Ban Jelačić Square) and Marshal Tito Square (today's Republic of Croatia Square), which the artist himself characterized as a kind of youthful rebellion against the cult of personality.

The exhibition that was to be held in the gallery of the Belgrade Cultural Centre in 1974 was cancelled at the last moment on the grounds that in his paintings Mića Popović was pursuing ‘pamphlets and provocations’. Among the work to be displayed was the ‘Ceremonial Painting’ created in 1974, which among other figures depicted the President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito. The figures in the picture represent luxury and the power of the ruling elite. It was to be prominently displayed in the exhibition.

The catalogue of the exhibition included a foreword written by writer and at that time dissident Dobrica Ćosić. Ćosić noted: ‘that a generation was worn out by ideological struggles and satirisation.’ In an article titled ‘The Fumes of Dobrica Ćosić’, the Komunist newspaper attributed this to an obscure ideological orientation and that the political implications of some of the author’s messages [are showing] that the author, instead of cultivating his good literature, was writing poor philosophical-political columns.

The function of the Orfeo house in Pilisborosjenő broadened after the outbreak of the so-called “Orfeo issue” in 1973, which meant an attack on the group by the communist cultural political leadership. No serious measures were taken against the members of the group, but the company was banned from every community centre. It became impossible for the studio to continue work. This emergency gave the idea of creating a rehearsal and performance room in the mansard of the house. Between 1974 and 1976, in addition to rehearsals, performances were held on the top floor.