Over the years Blinken OSA has held approximately 50 public events every year. Despite all the new difficulties in 2017,  professional operation continued and professionalism prevailed. The archives staged about 65 public events, such as exhibitions (4), hosted events (11), public lectures, film screenings (15), public talks and debates, student events and a theatre performance.

Exhibitions

On February 2, 2017 Blinken OSA opened The Symbols of SocialistArt exhibition. In 1974, art historian Nóra Aradi, the omnipotent guardian of socialist realism in Hungary, published a book entitled “The Symbols of Socialist Art”. With the help of contemporary artists from the Central and Eastern European region, the exhibition “The Symbols of Socialist Art” – REVISITED explored and critically re-evaluated this visual dictionary, while also investigating the role of its author in the making of the art history of the second half of the 20th century in Hungary.

The next major exhibition that followed was Red Africa: Things Fall Apart, which opened in April. It featured artists, filmmakers and groups from across Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Drawing on film, photography, propaganda and public art, the exhibition presented interdisciplinary reflections on African connections to the Soviet Union and related countries.

Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires: The Soviet War. The Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan which began on the 27th of December 1979 marked the beginning of 10 years of bitter warfare. Only a decade later, following the Geneva Accords signed during the spring of 1988, did the Soviet troops finally leave the country, on the 15th of February 1989. During the military retreat the Soviet army had to withdraw about 110,000 soldiers, 500 tanks, and 2,000 cannons and mortars. The symbolic end to the military intervention came when the last Soviet soldier, General Boris Gromov, Commander of the Fortieth Army, walked across the Amu-Darja bridge.

The new historical exhibition in Galeria Centralis depicted this deadly decade, an era known as ”the Soviet Vietnam”, with the help of hitherto unseen photos, objects and films.

Somewhere in Europe – Gaudiopolis

In the framework of the What’s Left? program series, the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives organized the exhibition Somewhere in Europe following the central theme of the OFF-Biennale, focusing on the utopistic community of Gaudiopolis.

The research and exhibition project included both archival materials and works of contemporary art reflecting on the ideas and realities of a Children’s Republic,  while also exploring the period of the 2nd Republic of Hungary.

Film Screenings and Hosted  Events:

Through 2017 Blinken OSA hosted several screening programs: some were independent events, and many were complementary elements of major exhibitions or other programs. From Eisenstein’s “October” through human rights documentaries showing the best films of Verzio Film Festival within the series of screenings organized under the title "Re Verzio"  attracting many people. The program What’s Left provided an opportunity to screen rare Soviet films such as Eisenstein’s “Red October” (1928) or Nikolai Evrenov’s classic “Storming of the Winter Palace”, 1920.

Our hosted events were rich in independent NGO programs ranging from workshops and roundtable discussions to screenings and conferences.

Blinken OSA participated in two state-organized events: the hugely popular Night of the Museums and Cultural Heritage Day. Both days attracted substantial audiences.