Христо Ганев (1924 - ) млад приема комунистическите възгледи и става член на Работническия младежки съюз (РМС). По време на втората световна война се включва в комунистическото съпротивително движение и е най-младият партизанин в бригадата „Чавдар“. След налагането на новата власт, Христо Ганев е сред младежите, изпратени да се образоват в областта на киното в СССР. През 1954 г. Х. Ганев завършва кинодраматургия във Всеросийския държавен институт по кинематография (All-Russian State University of Cinematography) в Москва, дипломира се като сценарист с биографичен филм за живота на Никола Вапцаров, режисьор Борислав Шаралиев – „Песен за човека” (1954). Филмът е поръчков, един от първите на одържавената в 1948 г. кинематография, целта е да се създаде епично-монументална представа за поета работник-комунист. Филмът е пуснат по екраните, макар да има и отрицателни реакции от цензурните органи: въпреки, че е издържан основно в духа на тогавашната естетика, сценаристът и режисьорът се опитват да постигнат „един по-интимен, човешки ракурс спрямо образа на поета“ (Станимирова 2012: 63).
Втората половина на 1950-1960те години са време, когато в българската култура се развиват ярки дарования във всички области на културата, но се запазва и засилва и натискът на властта върху интелигенцията. Забранен с Министерско постановление е филмът „Животът си тече тихо...“ (1957) с режисьор съпругата на Христо Ганев – Бинка Желязкова. Дългата история на обсъждане на сценария на Христо Ганев (първоначално под името „Партизани“, променен на „Животът си тече тихо...“) показва механизмите и институциите на цензурата в социалистическа България. И в следващите съвместни игрални филми режисьорката Бинка Желязкова и сценаристът Христо Ганев поставят неудобни за властта въпроси за моралната криза, замяната на комунистическите идеали за високи партийни постове и битов комфорт, критикуват търсенето на врага в собствените редици, конформизма и компромиса.
През 1971 г. Христо Ганев, заедно с писателите Благой Димитров, Валери Петров, Марко Ганчев и Гочо Гочев, отказват да подкрепят телеграма, подготвена от Съюза на българските писатели (СБП), заклеймяваща Нобеловия комитет, удостоил руския писател Александър Солженици с авторитетната награда. Заради откритата си позиция четиримата членове на БКП са изключени от партията, а безпартийният Благой Димитров е изключен от писателския съюз. На всички е наложена 5 годишна забрана за творческа дейност, период, през който Христо Ганев се издържа като снима рекламни продукции в телевизията. Въпреки това Х. Ганев остава верен на идеалите, съвместните филми на Христо Ганев и Бинка Желязкова („Животът си тече тихо”, „А бяхме млади”, „Басейнът”, „Голямото нощно къпане”, „Нощем по покривите”) са пронизани от вяра в идеята, на която са се посветили през младостта си, и от горест, че тази идея се изкористява. Във филмите си творците сблъскват позиции и нравствени ценности, разкриват моралната деградация на системата, използването на властта за лични облаги. Филмите им се отличават с авангардни режисьорски решения, както и с драматургична конструкция със силни драматични образи, с ярки и запомнящи се ситуации, впечатляващи детайли.
Голями са заслугите на Христо Ганев за развитието на анимационното кино като идейна и като графична парадигма. В сценариите за анимация Ганев поставя „темата за моралната криза и безпътицата във време на социалистическия императив за ‘активния положителен герой’. Със символния език на условното, нелинейно, фрагментарно и асоциативно сюжетостроене, в абсолютна свобода от идейни матрици, той е могъл да каже своята дума за смисъла на живота, за упадъка и предателството спрямо идеалите.“ (Матеева 2014) Експресията на визията е постигната основно съвместно с режисьора Анри Кулев.
През целия период на държавен социализъм Христо Ганев изпъква както с творчеството си, така и с откритата гражданска позиция в защита на свободата на словото и творчеството – подкрепя публично забранени творби в различни области на културата; обявява се срещу репресивни мерки срещу интелектуалци, като отправя директни обвинения затова към ЦК на БКП.
След политическата промяна Христо Ганев продължава чрез анимационни сценарии да поставя теми, интерпретиращи екзистенциалните проблеми на модерния човек – за свободата и компромиса; за пораженията на консуматорската стихия, егоизма и самодоволството, ерозиращи ценностната система; за любовта и самотата. Филмите по сценарии на Христо Ганев имат и днес голям обществен отзвук и получават широко признание.
След политическата промяна Христо Ганев е удостоен с редица (държавни) отличия и награди (Наградата за изключителен принос към българското кино и култура на Министерството на културата, 2007; орден „Стара планина“, 2010; почетна грамота и годишната държавна награда „Св. Паисий Хилендарски“, 2011; медал „Иван Вазов“ на Съюза на българските писатели, 2014 г.) Запомняща се остава мисълта на Христо Ганев при получаването на наградата за култура „Св. Паисий Хилендарски“: "Моят дълъг и шарен живот, преминал през монархия, социализъм и демокрация, ме е научил да посрещам с малко скептична дистанция наказанията и наградите, с които съм бил удостояван. Знам, че и двете често са били незаслужени" (по Дончева 2014: 37)
Филмография
Песен за човека (1954), сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Борислав Шаралиев
Две победи (1956), сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Борислав Шаралиев, Веселин Ханчев
Животът си тече тихо... / Партизани (1957), сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Бинка Желязкова
А бяхме млади (1961), сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Бинка Желязкова
Празник на надеждата (1963) Документален, реж. Христо Ганев
Дяволът в черквата (1969) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Иван Веселинов
Малкият (1976) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Генчо Симеонов
Хипотеза (1976) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Генчо Симеонов
Басейнът (1977), сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Бинка Желязкова
Голямото нощно къпане (1980), сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Бинка Желязкова
Гайда (1982) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Анри Кулев и Николай Тодоров
Сафари (1984) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Анри Кулев
Веселякът (1987) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Анри Кулев
Просешко трио (1988) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев
Нощем по покривите (1988), сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Бинка Желязкова
Нежното чудовище (1994) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Анри Кулев
Десетият кръг (1998) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Анна Харалаптиева
Сламеният човек (2001) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Анри Кулев
Поет и пегас (2003) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Анри Кулев
Парцалът (2007) Анимация, сц. Христо Ганев, реж. Анри Кулев
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Местоположение:
- Sofia, Bulgaria
Gadó was born in a Jewish middle-class family. Both of his parents were deported in the Second World War, but they were among the few who survived. In the post-war era, members of the family joined the Hungarian Communist Party, and he was raised in this spirit. He started his career as a convinced communist and a more or less loyal cadre of the regime in the 1950s, and he remained a communist until the 1960s. Beginning in 1958, he worked at the archives of the party daily Népszabadság [Freedom of the People], from where he was fired for one of his articles in 1963. He took a position at the Central Statistic Office (KSH), which was kind of a depot for ideologically deviant social scientists and intellectuals. At both places, he had some degree of access to confidential papers of the Hungarian News Agency (MTI). At KSH's library he started to read the foreign press extensively. Furthermore, a friend living in Switzerland got him a subscription to the Neue Zurcher Zeitung (and also paid for it), so Gadó was well informed in foreign affairs. His views changed as a result, and he ceased to be socialist. He left the Worker's Union in 1965 and the Party in 1967.
1967 was a year of revelations for him: the Six-Day War demonstrated that Jews did not need to accept the role of the victim, but could act as self-confident agents fighting for liberty. For Gadó, helping nurture this sense of confidence and develop a dissident stance towards the Kádár regime were two sides of the same coin. He started to rediscover his Jewish heritage, and as a consequence he came to appreciate the historical role of the middle class in Hungary. He found that the regime's official cult of the proletariat prevented the middle-class from fulfilling its role in contemporary society, so he came to regard socialism as a dead end. In terms of foreign policy, the regime took a pro-Arab, anti-Israeli position, and it represented Israel as the aggressor, which further distanced Gadó from Kádárism.
He started to produce leaflets using a toy-press made for children in 1970/71. On the leaflets he printed slogans like "The press is lying about Israel!" He also wrote on walls with chalk, and he was arrested for this in 1973. The following year, he was imprisoned for 9 months. The political police never tried to turn him into an agent. Personal circumstances may have played a role in this: Gadó personally knew Sándor Geréb and Pál Hajdú, leaders of the III/III Department at the time, who had been members of the Hungarian Workers' Youth Association (MADISZ) after the Second World War, together with Gadó.
After he was released, he considered emigrating, but he was not given a passport. It was also difficult for him to get a permanent job: he made his living doing translations. In the early 1980s, he became involved in samizdat production via György Krassó. Once Krassó asked Gadó if he had a copy of Villon in the emigré poet György Faludy's translation, because he wanted to publish it in samizdat. Gadó lent him the book. Through Krassó, he met Demszky, János Kenedi, and János Kis, and he became involved in the activities of the democratic opposition. He published in several organs of the press, including Hírmondó and Beszélő, he produced independent samizdat brochures. In 1986, he allied with Jenő Nagy and Tamás Mikes to launch Demokrata. This organ was supposed to address the less educated strata of society, and it was also radical. They aimed to reach a wider audience than the other samizdat periodicals.
In 1987, Gadó started his own samizdat journal, Magyar Zsidó [The Hungarian Jew]. It was released in 800-1000 copies. Gábor Demszky provided a typewriter, and Attila János Ötvös printed the journal. Costs were covered by Gadó himself, and it was a more or less self-sustaining investment. In spring 1988, the third issue was confiscated by the police, but György Krassó, who was then already living in exile, mimeographed the copy he had, and sent it to Demszky from London. Demszky then reproduced it in Budapest in multiple copies.
He made his living as a translator and also as a distributor of samizdat materials. He was constantly under surveillance by the political police. After the change of regimes, he became the first legal Hungarian correspondent of Radio Free Europe.
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Местоположение:
- Budapest, Hungary
Henryk Gajewski (born 1948) is an artist, a photographer, a film director, a theoretician, and a cultural activist. In the years 1972-1978 he ran the Galeria Remont and subsequently, until 1982, the Post Remont gallery, an experimental arts and education centre open to new trends in culture. Gajewski organised the international festival of performance art, the International Artists’ Meeting (I AM) in 1978, and was one of the main promoters of punk music in Polish People's Republic. Soon after the introduction of martial law, he emigrated to the Netherlands where he lives today.
Gajewski was born in Białystok. As a student of Faculty of Electronics at the Warsaw University of Technology he founded Galeria Remont in the “Riviera” Student Dormitory, which he managed with Andrzej Jórczak and Krzysztof Wojciechowski until 1977. Initially Gajweski conformed with conceptualism, dominant in contemporary art at that time, however he would gradually turn towards sociocultural contexts and conditions of artistic activities. Already in his first exhibition at Remont Gajewski titled Ona (Her) in 1972 he confronted two types of images of women: from the press and popular newspapers and those made by kindergarten and primary school-age children. Two years later Gajewski created Book for Elise (Książka dla Elizy) for his daughter. The work featured blank spaces, which were to be filled in the subsequent years with photographs taken at various locations and in different situations as his daughter grew up. The book itself was meant to circulate among the artists, Gajewski’s friends, in fashion similar to mail art.
Gajewski's fascination with child's imagination manifested itself most significantly in Other Child Book (Inna książka dla dziecka) a project carried out between 1977 and 1981 with participation of 250 artists from 29 countries (i.a. Dick Higgins, Alison Knowles, and Henryk Stażewski). The books that had been sent in were presented in 1979 at the Palace of Culture and Science and in the main hall of Warsaw University of Technology. The aim of the initiative was to create books for children that would instil sensitivity and creativity, thus substituting textbooks, which teach submission and routine. Gajweski organised actions and workshops with children dedicating great attention as to how stimulating creativity can impact and the social reality.
Educational work and activities were just one of many means that Gajewski used in an attempt to escape the ivory tower of modernist art. Others included playing with audience, as in case of the fictitious meeting with Andy Warhol in 1974. Gajewski designed a poster with the image of the creator of pop art, his name, date, and a note: “exhibition opening, meeting”. Also, as a part of the hoax, even a luxury apartment at one of high-profile Warsaw hotels was to be rented for Warhol. Once the audience gathered in large numbers at Galeria Remont at the time indicated on the posters, it turned out the American artist did not arrive. The point of this action was indeed a “meeting” however not with Andy Warhol, but rather with the persons arrived at the venue.
The interpersonal, existential sense of a meeting was highlighted once more in 1978 during the International Artists’ Meeting, abbreviated as “I AM” or “I am”. It was the first review of performance art of such extent in Central and Eastern Europe. It was this event that contributed to the establishment of performance art as an art category as such. Also, thanks to the concert of The Raincoats I AM symbolically introduced punk to Poland, i.e. a first official punk performance, that within a year and half triggered a proliferation of Polish bands, and made Remont a permanent venue for punk events.
Gajewski worked closely with Jan Świdziński and shared his concept of contextual art — an art consisting primarily of communication between persons in various situations and negotiating meanings between different contexts. The communication aspect of art seems to be crucial for Gajewski, which partially explains his interest in punk. Interpersonal art that relied on communication had to transcend institutional frameworks and be in touch with the social transformations’ dynamics. Gajweski perceived punk, with all its vividness, expression, and provocativeness, as an extremely significant manifestation of social life, a popular culture phenomenon, which could not be disregarded. Having avid interest in futurology, he tried to combine artistic praxis with sociological forecasts, which led him to the formulation of the concept of “pre-facts”, i.e.events that cause the occurrences of particular facts in the future. The phenomenon of punk in the late 1970s can be interpreted as a “pre-fact” of the nearing social unrest.
From 1978 to 1981 Remont was probably the most important spot on punk community’s map of Warsaw. It hosted concerts and Sound Clubs (rock, world, reggae, and ska music events), as well as meetings of fans and artists. Gajewski photographed the colourful punk community, shot films with musicians, e.g. Tilt Back in 1980 and Passenger in 1984, published a cassette tape with the recordings of performances during the 1st Polish New Wave Festival in Kołobrzeg in 1980, and finally, published the PUNK, Post, and Post Remont leaflets and fanzines.
Meanwhile, in 1978, Galleria Remont closed down and was replaced by Post Remont, a centre focused on education and cultural activism, open to new trends, styles, and genres, breaking with a typical profile of a gallery. Punky, experimental Post Remont was an act of defiance both aimed at the world of conceptual art, visibly exhausted in the late 1970s, and at the trivial and idle popular culture offered by entertainment industry. Post Remont hosted presentations of artists’ books, mail art, video art, happenings and performance art. Its activities were interrupted by the introduction of the martial law in December 1981.
Shortly afterwards, at the beginning of the following year Gajewski left for Amsterdam, where he continued his artistic activities. He presented his complicated life story in Identity, a 1985 film addressing the issues of origins, religion, language, and fatherland from the perspective of a Polish immigrant in Amsterdam. “I was born in Bialystok, Poland, the home-town of Ludwik Zamenhof, the creator of the Esperanto language. (Esperanto was designed as an international language.) Since 1982, I have lived in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Here I communicate with people in English. My children, Eliza and Pierre, write to me in French and I answer them by recording my voice on an audio cassette (I cannot write in French). I was taught Russian for 11 years, as was every educated Polish citizen, but I cannot identify myself with that language. Slowly but surely I am forgetting my mother tongue and, at the same time, my English is too poor for me to adequately express myself. Say hello to Ludwig Wittgenstein, but tell him that besides language there is also FEELING.”
Gajewski continues his career as an artist and a filmmaker. His works were presented at i.a Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Le Centre Pompidou in Paris, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, MACBA in Barcelona, Centraal Museum in Utrecht, and Verzetsmuseum in Amsterdam. Apart from his artistic pursuits, Gajewski runs a tango dance school.
His activities in the 1970s and early 1980s were met with unappreciative and distrustful reactions of the authorities of Polish People's Republic. Gajewski’s wide contacts abroad raised suspicions, while artistic provocations and promotion of punk bands caused distrust. The world of art also displayed disapproval, repulsed with Gajewski’s legitimisation of loud-mouthed punk bands.
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Местоположение:
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Местоположение:
- Kraków, Poland
Galántai, György is an artist, researcher, cofounder of Artpool, art director of the Artpool Art Research Center and curator of Artpool’s website. From 1963 to 1967, he studied painting at the College of Fine Arts in Budapest. From 1970 to 1973, he was the initiator and organizer of semi-legal exhibitions, actions, and happenings in an unused chapel in Balatonboglár, which he had rented from the Catholic Church; his Chapel Studio was finally closed down by the police. Subsequently, Galántai’s artistic activities were restricted and tightly monitored.
In 1970, Galántai abandoned painting and began to experiment, primarily with graphic art, visual poetry, sound poetry, and performance and mail art. In 1975, he created his first metal sculptures. He has also made prints, paintings, kinetic and sound sculptures, actions, and performances. He is the author of several multimedia installations and communication projects.
His view of art bears close affinities with the spirit of Fluxus, defining the task of art as inventing conceptual objects, creative situations, and spiritual spaces. In spite of this, the idea behind the Artpool project is to create an active archive: the way in which it operates also generates the material to be archived. As an artist, Galántai was already involved in the mail art network when Artpool was founded, so the network offered a natural framework for this kind of operation and provided sources for growth. Artpool issued calls, organized events, released publications, and extensively documented the events of the local neo-avant-garde scene. The active archive concept can be seen as an open artwork in itself or an activist kind of art practice.
During the socialist era in Hungary, Galántai organized underground exhibitions, so he was considered a “dangerous element” by the authorities because he allegedly spread western propaganda. He was monitored by the III/III department of the State Security Services, who opened a dossier called “Festő” [Painter], which focused solely on his activity. In 1998, he made public the content of the dossier on the internet: http://www.galantai.hu/festo/default.html.
Galántai, György received a fellowship from the DAAD in 1988/89 and was guest artist at Arizona State University in 1990.
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Местоположение:
- Budapest, Hungary