Press Room

Sharpen your perspective – The 16th Verzio Film Festival is coming soon
Posted: 04/November/2019

Sharpen your perspective – The 16th Verzio Film Festival is coming soon

Between November 12th and 17th, Verzio Film Festival invites you on an amazing trip around the world via the finest human rights documentaries, which will be shown in Budapest, Debrecen, Kecskemét, Pécs, Szeged, and Szombathely. The festival offers three thematic sections that put the state of media, the life of young people, and the Anthropocene age in the limelight.

 
Budapest: Screening and Talk by Dani Gal
Posted: 25/October/2019

2019 | Budapest: Screening and Talk by Dani Gal
29 October, 6.00 to 8.00 pm

Venue: Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society archives | Arany János u, 32, Budapest 1051, Hungary
Hosted by: Katalin Székely, Creative Programme Office, Central European University – Open Society Archives

Part of  2019 artist-in-residence, Blood Mountain Projects
Discussion chaired by Prof. Hedvig Turai, art historian and critic

 
Dot.To.Dot – new curatorial visitor program starts
Posted: 15/October/2019

Dot.To.Dot – new curatorial visitor program starts, targeting the Hungarian contemporary art scene run in cooperation between OFF-Biennale and IMPEX
with the lecture of our first international guest, Farid Rakun.

Dot.To.Dot is a newly established curatorial visitor program aiming to boost the links between the members of the Hungarian and international art scenes. We plan to invite 4-5 international curators and critics yearly with stimulating professional backgrounds for a short research trip to Budapest/Hungary. Based on preliminary dialog the tailor-made program of our guests includes meetings with Hungarian art and cultural players sharing common interests and research topics. Additionally, we also organize public events in order to offer a platform for discussion for a wider audience.

 
Archival courses in AY 2019/20
Posted: 04/September/2019
Courses offered by the faculty and staff of Blinken OSA at CEU’s Budapest Campus in AY 2019/2020 include: Makers of the Past: Manufacturing Stories (Facts, Evidence, Proofs) István Rév, Ioana Macrea-Toma, 2 cr, PhD | Department of History Archives, Evidence and Human Rights András Mink, Iván Székely, Csaba Szilágyi, 3 cr, MA | Department of Legal Studies/History Archives and Evidentiary Practices Specialization Csaba Szilágyi et al, 9 cr, MA | Department of History
 
1989 from a Different Angle – Storytelling as a Community Building Mechanism
Posted: 03/September/2019

1989 from a different angle – Storytelling as a community building mechanism – a visit and a great learning experience at Blinken OSA

On September 2, 2019, a group of 30 teachers and students from 12 different Eastern European countries visited the OSA . The group was participating in a program co-organized by the US State Department and World Learning. They had visited important East and Central European sites of the 1989 transition such as Prague, Bucharest, Timisoara and finished their tour in Budapest to collect the memories of 1989, the communism and post-communism through the eyes and experiences of those who were witnesses to those times.

 
Visegrad Scholarship Results at Blinken OSA
Posted: 29/August/2019
Visegrad Scholarship at the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives We are happy to announce that the evaluation of the last submitted Visegrad applications has finished and the final list of winners and reserves has been approved by the Council of Ambassadors.
 
Collective Dreams and Bourgeois Villas – Site Plan of the Hungarian CIRPAC Group
Posted: 04/July/2019

Collective Dreams and Bourgeois Villas – Site Plan of the Hungarian CIRPAC Group

Blinken Open Society Archives, Galeria Centralis

May 4 – September 15, 2019

Joint opening of the exhibition and the 2019 edition of Budapest100 entitled In the Footsteps of Bauhaus: May 3, 2019, 6 p.m.

Greetings by:

István Rév, Director, Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives at CEU

Bálint Kádár, President, Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre

In interwar Hungary, the CIRPAC group was one of the most important representatives of “Neues Bauen” [New building] movement. Farkas Molnár, József Fischer, and their associates, who were linked to Bauhaus and its mentality in several ways, ventured beyond the framework of architecture. Addressing social issues, they wrote publications and organized presentations and exhibitions—even if it meant confrontations with the authorities. Thus, besides architectural achievements, their site plan also presents the complex political conditions of the 1930s.

 

 
Invitation to create the web frontend of Blinken OSA’s Yugoslavia Archive portal
Posted: 04/July/2019
The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (Blinken OSA) at Central European University is inviting bids to design and build a web frontend for Blinken OSA’s Yugoslavia Archive Project (YAP) portal, a search and discovery interface for selected archival materials (digital and/or metadata).
 
“We like: music, sports, films… Coca-Cola, love… just like you!”
Posted: 02/July/2019
In April 2019, Blinken OSA donated over 100 letters written by children of Sarajevo to their peers in the US during the war (1993) to the War Childhood Museum. Now in the permanent collection of the museum, the letters will be exhibited after their authors have been contacted. A recent article published on Balkan Insight features one of the letters’ authors, while the whole story of the collection and its repatriation is revealed.
 
children's war letters from Sarajevo
Posted: 02/July/2019
In April 2019, Blinken OSA donated over 100 letters written by children of Sarajevo to their peers in the US during the war (1993) to the War Childhood Museum. Now in the permanent collection of the museum, the letters will be exhibited after their authors have been contacted. A recent article published on Balkan Insight features one of the letters’ authors, while the whole story of the collection and its repatriation is revealed.
 
Visegrád ösztöndíj a Blinken OSA Archívumban
Posted: 06/June/2019
Visegrad Scholarship at the Open Society Archives Practices of Inquiry We invite applicants from the fields of history, the arts, philosophy and sociology to reflect on the conditions of knowledge production during and after the Cold War. This reflection exposes the intellectual and professional practices (journalistic, sociological, artistic, political, archival) that both reflected and shaped the meaning and scope of the Cold War phenomenon. Please scroll down to see the additional subtheme: "Archival Truth Regimes" 
 
Felhívás
Posted: 05/June/2019
As of June 15, 2019 (the anniversary of the execution and later the reburial of Imre Nagy, former Hungarian Prime Minister), the originally independent 1956 Institute (and its Oral History Archive), which since 2012 has operated as one of the departments of the National Széchényi Library is incorporated into Veritas Historical Research Institute, which through its activities makes a mockery of its name. This decision by the Hungarian government is a humiliation of historical science. The 1956 Institute, as the most important scientific research institution in the field of recent Hungarian history, has always considered the finding and presentation of historical facts as its main task.
 
Job Advert: Principal Information Scientist Wanted
Posted: 05/June/2019
Chief Archivist/Principal Information Scientist  The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (OSA) at Central European University (CEU) invites applications for the Chief Archivist/Principal Information Scientist position. Blinken OSA, one of the most important Cold War and human rights archives in the world, is looking for a highly talented, innovative, socially committed and technologically skilled person with foresight and impeccable integrity.   Blinken OSA wants to make an exciting appointment that allows the Archives to hire someone either with requisite academic degrees in the humanities or information science, or relevant practical experience, in a university, corporate or NGO setting, in digital and information technologies.   Digital Archivist – Audio-Visual Collections The successful candidate will work in a team that is responsible for the long-term preservation, management and access to the video, photo and sound collections at OSA. The main duties involve digitization of video and audio materials. The Digital Archivist has excellent technical skills with a special focus on ffmpeg-based open source solutions. The work requires high-level troubleshooting skills; proven experience and practice in identifying, locating and managing software for video and sound editing (professional level); database management skills (user level); and digital asset management skills (user level). This is a part-time (20 hours/week) position. The initial contract is for four months, with a possibility of extension for seven more months in 2020. Slavic Archives Specialist  The successful candidate will work together with the Acting Chief Archivist on managing, providing access to, developing and promoting Blinken OSA's Slavic language (primarily Russian, Polish and Czech/Slovak) archives and samizdat collections. The Specialist conducts research in these collections and uses them for educational purposes. The successful candidate will perform cataloging work, data normalization and physical and intellectual processing tasks on these collections, following Blinken OSA's Archival Management Workflow. The Specialist also assists in the overall mission and projects of the Archives.
 
Posted: 05/June/2019
Job advert: Blinken OSA  is looking for a Digital Archivist. This is a part time, four months position for the Audio-visual Unit with the possibility of extension.
 
Keretezés – Emlékhelyek és emlékezetek
Posted: 04/June/2019

2019. június 16., vasárnap, 11:00–13:00: Vezetett séta a Blinken OSA Archívumtól a Jászai Mari térig. Június 16-a Nagy Imre kivégzésének és újratemetésének évfordulója, idén a Vértanúk teréről a Jászai Mari térre áthelyezett emlékmű újraavatásának napja. A Blinken OSA Archívum sétáján meglátogatunk több, Nagy Imre emlékéhez kötődő helyet, hogy a megemlékezés változó értelmezési kereteit felidézzük.

 

 
Blinken OSA Archívum – Múzeumok Éjszakája 2019 Program
Posted: 03/June/2019

A curatorial tour of the exhibition at Galeria Centralis: Collective Dreams and Bourgeois Villas – Site Plan of the Hungarian CIRPAC Group. Contemporary dreams and villas – Montage making workshop with Lili Thury graphic designer: What does a contemporary bourgeois villa look like, what are the newest ideas concerning the housing crisis? Current architectural magazines will be cut into pieces and then put together into a montage to be used as a means to express our own vision about contemporary architecture and social issues. The montages could be used to make flyers, posters and fanzines that can be printed and taken home.  

 
Tetemrehívás – Kegyetlenség és kegyelet: 1956–1989–2019
Posted: 01/June/2019

Respect and Mercilessness: 1956-1989-2019
All day screening of archival video footage on three screens from 1989 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the reburial of the executed Prime Minister, Imre Nagy and his closest political allies.

By attending this event visitors can express their solidarity with the current situation of the 1956 Institute and with the primacy of historical facts over a distorted historical narrative.

 

 
Posted: 31/May/2019
Meghosszabított határidővel, július 15-ig várja a nevezéseket a VERZIÓ Filmfesztivál VR-szekciója.
 
Refugee DocsMap Published
Posted: 24/April/2019
Blinken OSA launched Refugee DocsMap, a visual geographic catalog of recent documentary films on the global refugee experience in the 20-21th century. 
 
Szarajevói gyerekek leveleit adta vissza Boszniának a Blinken OSA
Posted: 11/April/2019
Blinken OSA has a collection of English language letters written by children of Sarajevo in 1993, to their peers (“Dear unknown friend”) in the United States as part of the Pen Pals for Peace Program initiated by George Soros. In the past few weeks we have processed and digitized the letters. We keep the digital copies and two of our colleagues, Csaba Szilágyi (Head of Human Rights Program) and József Bóné (Head of IT) took the originals to the War Childhood Museum in Sarajevo.
 
Verzió Fesztivál: Nevezési felhívás
Posted: 30/March/2019
Verzió welcomes applications to its 16th festival edition taking place November 12-17, 2019. Festival locations: Budapest, Kecskemét, Pécs, Szeged (Hungary). The documentary film festival invites you to submit your film in one of the following categories:
 
1989: lesz-e? – A harminc évvel ezelőtti eseményekre emlékezünk
Posted: 28/March/2019

Will there be a 1989?

From March 14 to 15, 2019 Blinken OSA organizes a series of programs to commemorate the events in 1989. 

 

 
Baló Györgyre emlékezünk
Posted: 25/March/2019
For more details, please visit the Hungarian version of our website.
 
Memories about the NATO Bombing of Serbia
Posted: 22/March/2019

MEMORY SCREENS: Landmarks in the 1990s Generation’s Memories about the NATO Bombing of Serbia

Curated by Mila Bajic (MA Nationalism Studies) in cooperation with the Blinken Open Society Archives

Wednesday, 27 March 2019, 11am

Blinken Open Society Archives at CEU

Arany János utca 32, 1051 Budapest, Hungary

 
Ráadás vetítések a 15. Verzió legnépszerűbb filmjeiből: Erdők ideje
Posted: 19/March/2019

Encore screenings of popular films from Verzió 15
February 7 – March 21

THE TIME OF FORESTS
Directed by Francois-Xavier Drouet, France, 2018, 103min, French
*English and Hungarian subtitles
Synopsis:
As the symbol of authentic, preserved, wild nature, forests are undergoing an unprecedented phase of industrialization. Heavy mechanization, monoculture, fertilizers and pesticides, loss of traditional know-how, forest management—all follow the intensive agricultural model at an accelerated rhythm. The Time of Forests is a journey to the heart of industrial forestry and its alternatives. A living forest or a green desert, the choices of today will define tomorrow's landscape.
Trailer:

 
Mi a nép? – Workshop diákoknak
Posted: 20/February/2019

 These workshops focus on various aspects of freedom and democracy and look at ways of dealing with the past.

 
Sergei Loznitsa: The Trial – Film Screening
Posted: 18/February/2019

Unique archive footage reconstructs one of the first show trials, masterminded by Stalin, which unfolds as a theatrical performance with actors - prosecutors, witnesses, defendants, judges - lying to themselves, to the audience and to the world. The drama is real, but the story is fake. The film gives an unprecedented insight into the origins of a deadly regime, which made the slogan "Lie is Truth" its everyday reality.

 
The Illusion of the Republic - Exhibition
Posted: 01/February/2019

THE ILLUSION OF THE REPUBLIC

November 16, 2018 – March 3, 2019
Galeria Centralis
(Blinken OSA – Radio Free Europe Archives)
1051 Budapest, Arany János u. 32.

Opening ceremony: November 16, 2018, 5:00 p.m.

Opening speech (in Hungarian): László Majtényi (Chairman, Eötvös Károly Policy Institute)

This year is the centennial of the proclamation of the first Hungarian Republic, which took place on 16th November 1918. To honour this occasion, the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (OSA) presents The Illusion of the Republic exhibition, focusing on the rootless nature and the fall of the three Hungarian republics that were established in 1918, 1946 and  between 1989 1990.

Curator: András Mink

Presented by Eszter Csákányi

 
Aaron Swartz Fellowship
Posted: 31/January/2019
The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (Blinken OSA) at Central European University, one of the initiators of the Open Access Movement, each year, awards one fellowship honoring the work, legacy and memory of our friend, Aaron Swartz, either to an unconventional technology expert early in his/her career, or a scholar or activist working at the intersection of humanities, social sciences and technology studies or technological solutions. The $10,000 fellowship is principally intended for those, with or without a degree, who have strong practical skills in developing technological tools to make knowledge and data broadly available to the public; who have an interest in challenging information management practices in libraries and archives; who are ready to contribute to building innovative visual taxonomies or catalogs based on unorthodox ideas; and who can challenge the control of information by governments and publishers to promote civil liberties and online activism.
 
Encore screenings of Verzió 15 at Blinken OSA:
Posted: 31/January/2019

WELCOME TO SODOM – Where do our used phones end up? What kind of lives emerge from our electronic waste?
After the screening, Logan Strenchock, CEU’s Sustainability Officer, will ask our guests, Gergely Simon from Greenpeace Hungary and Ervin Tihanyi, head of electronic waste handling at Intermetal Recycling, about their experiences during their visit to Sodom.