Press Room

Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop: Baloney, 2017
Posted: 28/September/2017

On 24-25 September, a two-day workshop evoked the spirit of Gaudiopolis, the self-governing children’s republic, with the participation of children from Cseppkő Children’s Home and  Fészek Waldorf School in Solymár - under the creative guidance of Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop, Budapest (AUW).

 
War Crimes Expert Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni Dies
Posted: 27/September/2017
A leading figure in human rights law and international criminal law, Cherif Bassiouni was the chairman of a United Nations commission investigating crimes committed during the Yugoslav Wars in 1992-1995.
 
Cultural Heritage Days
Posted: 18/September/2017

This year, Blinken OSA participated in the European Heritage Days, and its building, the Goldberger House (built in 1911) was open to the public.

 
Data Consulting Service Available
Posted: 18/September/2017
Blinken OSA professionals help you to develop your research data strategy when designing a project, planning your research, or writing your thesis.
 
Cultural Heritage Days
Posted: 14/September/2017

This year, the Blinken OSA will participate in the European Heritage Days, and its building, the Goldberger House (built in 1911) will be open to the public. As the highlight of the visit, the archival repository will be open to visitors as well. During the two-day event there will be guided tours in Hungarian, on both days at 10:00 a.m. and at 4:00 p.m. (English tours will be organized on demand).

Also, our current exhibition, Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires: The Soviet War exhibition closes this weekend. On Sunday at 6:00 p.m., as part of the finissage there will be a guided tour of the exhibition (in Hungarian, and in English on demand).
September 16-17, 2017

 
Finissage - Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires: The Soviet War
Posted: 12/September/2017

September 17, 2017, 6:00 p.m.

Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires: The Soviet War exhibition

Curatorial tour by András Mink, Historian, Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives

English language tour by Zammis Schein (Sándor Mesterházy), Private Collector

Galeria Centralis, Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives

1051 Budapest, Arany János utca 32.

The Soviet intervention in Afghanistan unleashed the last major international armed struggle of the Cold War period. Retrospectively, it seems paradoxical since Afghanistan had never been a central area of the Cold War before this conflict broke out. The Soviet leadership was initially reluctant to intervene and indeed, it proved to be a fatal decision in every way. It brought a bloody war to Afghanistan with an appalling toll of human life and great suffering. The moral, political, financial and military strain also contributed to a great extent to the collapse of the Soviet empire. In addition, the Soviet intervention reduced the Afghan state to chaos, and the disastrous global consequences of this state failure are still unresolved.

 
Data Consulting Service Available
Posted: 04/September/2017
Blinken OSA professionals help you to develop your research data strategy when designing a project, planning your research, or writing your thesis.
 
Data Consulting Service Available
Posted: 04/September/2017
Blinken OSA professionals help you to develop your research data strategy when designing a project, planning your research, or writing your thesis.
 
Pre-Session Week Begins at Blinken OSA
Posted: 04/September/2017
As in previous years, the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (Blinken OSA) hosts incoming students from the various departments of the Central European University for short orientation sessions introducing them to the world of archives in the 21st century. The sessions are held every day of the current week (September 4-8, 2017).
 
Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires: The Soviet War
Posted: 05/August/2017

Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires: The Soviet War - Exhibition

VERNISSAGE: June 21, 2017, 6:00 p.m.

Opening Remarks by

András Mink, Historian, Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives

Zammis Schein (Sándor Mesterházy)

In cooperation with
Zammis Schein Collection
Afghan Center for Kabul University
Muzeum Shuravi, Yekaterinbur
Oriental Collection, Library of the Hungarian Academy of Science

Curated by Mihály Dobrovits, András Mink
Advisor: Zammis Schein

special thanks to

Shaharzad Akbar OSF-Kabul, Anthony Richter, OSF-New York, Julia Sakr-Tierney, OSF-New York

Galeria Centralis, Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives

1051 Budapest, Arany János utca 32.

 

The exhibition is open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day except Monday from June 22nd until September 17th, 2017. Free admission.

 
Poverty Revisited conference videos available online
Posted: 19/July/2017
All the presentations and panel discussions of the September 2016 OSA conference “Poverty Revisited”, organized on the occasion of making the documentary heritage of outstanding sociologist István Kemény publicly accessible, are now available online here. The 28 short films (in Hungarian) also include the illustrations and background materials of the presentations and discussions.
 
Library migration promo
Posted: 28/June/2017
Blinken OSA library records have been integrated into CEU Library Catalog.In a joint initiative with CEU Library to better serve the CEU community and the broader public, the records of Blinken OSA’s extensive collection of periodicals, films, and reference books related to the Cold War, Communism, international human rights and the archival profession are now available through the CEU Library catalog.Magazines, journals, daily newspapers and small-circulation regional publications, running to more than 6,400 titles, document life "behind the Iron Curtain" and the history of Communism in the Central and East-European region.The film collection includes over 4,000 titles, in almost 100 languages, with an exceptionally broad range of documentary, propaganda and fiction films as well as submissions to the Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.Library and Film library materials of Blinken OSA can be requested as usual at the Blinken OSA Research Room in Goldberger House.
 
Call For Papers for the Blinken OSA Symposium
Posted: 26/June/2017
Spectrum of Communism | A kommunizmus kísérleteNovember 16-17, 2017Commemorating the centennial of the Bolshevik revolution within the framework of the 2-year WHAT’S LEFT? program series, Blinken OSA invites historians, social scientists, artists and a broad community to take part in the forthcoming 2-day symposium SPECTRUM OF COMMUNISM, which addresses artistic and intellectual legacy of 1917 and dynamics of left-wing political thought and artistic practice in a transnational context. The prospective participants are invited to apply directly to one of the following sections, outlining how their presentation fits within a broader range of questions. Selected participants are expected to hold 20 minutes presentations and take part in general discussion on the set of questions addressed by their section. The symposium will take place at The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (OSA) at Central European University (CEU) which is a repository of important collections related to the history of the Cold War and grave international human rights violations, and a laboratory of archival experiments on new ways of assessing, contextualizing, presenting, and making use of archival documents. The symposium will be accompanied by film screenings within the framework of 14th Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.Application deadline: July 30, 2017. No registration fee.Program Committee at Blinken OSA, CEU:András MinkOksana Sarkisova Ivan Székely Katalin Székely Csaba Szilágyi Katalin GádorosNora UngárIn cooperation with Péter Apor (Institute of History of Hungarian Academy of Science) and Dan Cirjan (CEU, Department of History)To apply, please send a brief (max 500 words) paper abstract and CV by July 30, 2017 to info@osaarchivum.org with the subject 2017SYMPOSIUM followed by the title of the section.
 
Hungarian Government Threatens to Shut Down Central European University
Posted: 25/June/2017
On April 10, 2017, President of the Republic of Hungary Janos Ader signed into law amendments to Hungary’s national higher education legislation which restrict academic freedom for CEU and other international universities operating in Hungary.
 
Blinken OSA Archivum  - Night of the Museums 2017 Program
Posted: 20/June/2017
Blinken OSA Archivum  - Night of the Museums 2017 Program  16.00- 24.00 Exhibition in Galeria Centralis: Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires: The Soviet WarThe Soviet intervention in Afghanistan unleashed the last major international armed struggle of the Cold War period. Retrospectively, it seems paradoxical since Afghanistan had never been a central area of the Cold War before this conflict broke out. The Soviet leadership was initially reluctant to intervene and it proved to be, indeed, a fatal decision in every way. It brought a bloody war on Afghanistan with an appalling toll of human life and great suffering. Its moral, political, financial and military strain also contributed to a great extent to the collapse of the Soviet empire. In addition, the Soviet intervention pushed the Afghan state into chaos, and the disastrous global consequences of this state failure are still unresolved. For those visitors to the exhibition who are willing to participate in a quiz, the Fruccola café, which will be open all night, will offer a taste of genuine Afghan food.17:00/19:00.   Guided tour of the exhibition by the curator16:00-24:00  Tours of the building: Exhibition hall and archive in a museum space. The industrial monument that is the Goldberger building is opened up to public view once a year. The basement of the building holds records of the fieldwork that underpinned Radio Free Europe's broadcasts during the Cold War, as well as the collection of Human Rights documents. The tours are in every two hours. Music:  21:00  DJ Sztyepp 
 
 The Soviet Invasion and Its Aftermath: The Afghan Tragedy
Posted: 19/June/2017

The Open Society Foundations and the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives cordially invite you to the roundtable discussion

The Soviet Invasion and Its Aftermath: The Afghan Tragedy

DATE / Tuesday / June 20, 2017
TIME / 5:00 p.m.
PLACE / Blinken OSA Archívum, 1051 Budapest Arany János u. 32/ Research Room

Speakers:

András Mink, Historian (Blinken OSA)
Anthony Richter, Regional Director (MENASWA)
Orzala Ashraf Nemat,Director (Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit); senior teaching fellow (the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London)
Rangina Hamidi, founder and president of Kandahar Treasure
Ghizaal Haress, assistant professor (the American University of Afghanistan)
Almaz Saifutdinov ,the Chairman of the Board of the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation in Tajikistan
 
War has devastated much of Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion in 1979. The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives are opening an exhibit that depicts the war from multiple perspectives, from the story of the Afghan communist movement to the anti-Soviet rebellion. The exhibit ends with the regaining of state sovereignty but the beginning of an even bloodier civil war, international incursion and present-day conflagration with the National Unity government controlling only slightly more than half the national territory. To open the exhibit, the Archives and Open Society Foundations are hosting a roundtable discussion on June 20th at 5pm to put Afghanistan’s history of conflict in a more contemporary context. Three prominent Afghan educators and civil society leaders will reflect on the Soviet invasion from their personal experiences as refugees as well as its consequences for the future of Afghanistan. Additionally, a representative from Tajikistan will speak to the war’s regional repercussions, both past and present.

Orzala Ashraf Nemat is Director of Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit and a political ethnographer and a senior teaching fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. With more than 16 years of experience in development practice, research, programmatic review, and academia, Dr. Nemat is a dedicated Afghan scholar and leader. Her doctoral thesis on Development Studies from SOAS focused on the role of international interventions in changing local governance relations in post-2001 Afghanistan. She is the founder of Humanitarian Assistance for Women and Children of Afghanistan (1999), was a guest scholar at Cher Michelson Institute (CMI) in Norway, and has worked with several international organisations such as the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and ICCO (Netherlands). Dr. Nemat has served on the governing boards of various national and international development organisations in Afghanistan and is currently a trustee of Afghanaid (UK). Dr. Nemat’s work is globally recognised by Amnesty International’s Italian Section (2000), and she was a Yale World Fellow (2008) and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2009). Her work has been published on different aspects of Afghan women’s lives, and she is currently focusing on publishing chapters of her doctoral thesis in academic journals. Dr. Nemat occasionally writes Op Eds and blogs for The Guardian and Open Democracy, and is a frequent commentator on Afghanistan for the BBC World Service and Al Jazeera English news channels.

Rangina Hamidi, as the founder and president of Kandahar Treasure, the first women’s private social enterprise in Kandahar, Afghanistan, provides life changing economic opportunity for rural Afghan women, giving them a for profit platform for Kandahar’s unique embroidery work. Rangina is also most recently Principle of Al-Mizan private school in Kabul. As one of Kandahar’s leading voices for Afghan women, she has guided the development of groundbreaking networks for women, establishing pioneering women’s gatherings, social programs and activities for all women in Kandahar. Her work in Kandahar began when she returned to the country in 2003. She had escaped her native Afghanistan in 1981, at the age of four, during the Soviet occupation. Rangina moved first to Pakistan and then in 1988, settled in the United States with her family, receiving her education at the University of Virginia. Upon her return to Kandahar she served as manager of the Women’s Income Generation Project with Afghans for Civil Society, a grassroots organization dedicated to the social development of southern Afghanistan. Rangina has been internationally recognized for her work with women. She was selected as one of 18 finalists for the CNN 2007 Hero Award, and chosen as a “Personality of the Week” by Radio Free Europe in January 2008. She has been heard on numerous radio programs including NPR, the BBC and Voice of America and has been quoted in international publications including the TIMES Asia magazine, The Globe and Mail, Der Speigel, Business Week, The Guardian and Telegraph. She has served as a Council Member to US-Afghan Women’s Council since May 2015.

Ghizaal Haress is an assistant professor at the American University of Afghanistan, where she teaches constitutional law. Previously, she worked as the executive director for the Afghanistan Rural Enterprise Development Program, a national priority program for the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development from 2009 to 2013. She was the executive director for the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan during the first presidential elections in 2004, and helped strengthen election observation organizations for the 2005 parliamentary elections. She has also had leading positons in Global Rights Afghanistan and the National Democratic Institute. She has over a decade of experience working in law and development on the ground in Afghanistan in the areas of human rights, governance, economic rights/empowerment, supporting legal professionals, women’s political participation, strengthening political parties and election monitoring. Prof. Haress holds an LLM from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, and an LLM from Kabul University.

Almaz Saifutdinov is the Chairman of the Board of the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation in Tajikistan. He joined OSIAF Tajikistan in 2012 as an expert of economic development program. Almaz works as the Economic/Commercial Advisor at the United States Embassy in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. He maintains high profile government, public and private sector contacts in Tajikistan, with whom he discusses complex economic and commercial issues. In 2012 Almaz founded Economic News Tajikistan Group - one of the most active Facebook groups in the country. With almost 10 thousand readers the group serves as the primary source of information, news, analytical reports and discussion platform in Tajikistan. Almaz previously worked as the Deputy Head of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development in Tajikistan, where he worked on establishment one of the first cell phone operators in Tajikistan, and worked in process of setting up the Pamir Energy public-private partnership, which provides hydroelectric power to most of Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region and to bordering regions of Afghanistan.  He started his professional career in 1996, as the Deputy Chief and Small Scale privatization Project supported by USAID and the World Bank. He holds Master’s Degree in Development Administration from Western Michigan University, USA. He publishes (under a pen name) articles on economic, commercial issues.

 
Chronology of Blinken OSA's History Launched
Posted: 13/June/2017
Over more than two decades of its existence the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives has grown to be not only one of the largest international archives of Communism and the Cold War but also an internationally recognized research center and an important player in the cultural life of Budapest. This timeline recalls the milestones of the activity of the Archives, highlighting its organic relationship with the Central European University.
 
 Shooting the Revolution Film Series at Blinken OSA: Salt for Svanetia
Posted: 13/June/2017

June 14. 2017 6pm Blinken OSA Archivum

Salt for Svanetia / Dzim Svante / Sol’ Svanetii
Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR, 1930, 62 min, silent with Russian intertitles and English subtitles

Salt for Svanetia is a haunting portrait of a village in the remote, snowbound region of Caucasus, Svaneti. Celebrated for Mikhail Kalatozov’s masterful expressive camera work, the film instantly placed him alongside the great Soviet directors.

The screening is introduced by Dr. Oksana Sarkisova (Blinken OSA)
 
Free admission. Limited seats are available on a first come first served basis from 5.40 PM.
Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives / Research Room 1051 Budapest, Arany János utca 32.

 
Columbia University and West Point Students’ Research Week at Blinken OSA
Posted: 09/June/2017
A practice which began in the previous year continued in 2017 when a group of seven students from Columbia University and two from West Point Military Academy, led by their professor Ms. Victoria Phillips, visited OSA for a whole week. They conducted research and devoted themselves to writing their papers and presentations for the 8th Annual International Student Conference of the Cold War History Research Center at Corvinus University, which was co-organized by CEU’s History Department and the European Institute at Columbia University.
 
The János Vargha Collection in the Blinken Open Society Archives!
Posted: 06/June/2017
Blinken OSA has acquired the document collection of the founder of the Danube Circle. The aim of the environmental movement, which was founded in 1984, was to stop the planned barrage system on the Danube between Gabčíkovo and Nagymaros. Their work was founded on solid scientific research to support their arguments against the investment and community organization, for which the organization was awarded with the alternative Nobel Prize.
 
Map of Mass Grave Exhumations in Bosnia and Herzegovina Published
Posted: 25/May/2017
Based on a collection of 137 forensic reports produced by the Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) during its Forensic Assistance Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997-1999, Blinken OSA published a map of individual and mass grave exhumations at over 500 sites and sub-sites across the country.
 
Red Africa: Things Fall Apart
Posted: 23/May/2017

RED AFRICA

Things Fall Apart

April 20 – June 4, 2017

Opening Remarks by
András Mink, Senior Research Fellow, Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives
Mark Nash, curator, film historian and filmmaker and Dr. Nadine Siegert, Deputy Director, Iwalewahaus, University of Bayreuth
The exhibition “Things Fall Apart” features artists, filmmakers and groups from across Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Drawing on film, photography, propaganda, and public art, the exhibition presents interdisciplinary reflections on African connections to the Soviet Union and related countries.

Participating Artists: Burt Caesar, Filipa César, Onejoon Che, Ângela Ferreira, Yevgeniy Fiks, Isaac Julien, Alexander Markov, Jo Ractliffe, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu, Paulo Kapela, Milica Tomić, Tonel, Travelling Communiqué

Curated by Mark Nash
Research and Curatorial Assistant: Nadine Siegert
Project Manager: Will Strong (London), Nadine Siegert (Bayreuth), Paula Nascimento és / and João Rapazote (Lisszabon / Lisbon), Székely Katalin (Budapest)

Things Fall Apart is a cooperation between Calvert 22 Foundation, London; Iwalewahaus – Universität Bayreuth; EGEAC – Galerias Municipais and Africa.Cont, Lisbon; and the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives, Budapest.

 
Digital Cold War Collection of Encrypted Telex Messages
Posted: 12/May/2017
Digital Cold War Collection of Encrypted Telex Messages between the Free Europe Committee and Radio Free Europe were enriched with new materials.Blinken OSA uploaded over 11,000 encrypted telex messages between the Free Europe Committee in New York and Radio Free Europe in Munich, covering the period from 1967 to 1974. In addition to the more than 23,000 messages (from 1960 to 1966) that were already freely accessible, this new set of messages will considerably enrich an important Cold War collection. Originally, the collection came from the Hoover Institution Library and Archive, where it had been stored since the early 1990s. It arrived in OSA in 2014, on a total of 101 microfilm reels which were all digitized recently by Blinken OSA.
 
Public talk and presentation of a new film by Alexander Marko
Posted: 10/May/2017

Public talk and presentation of a new film by Alexander Markov

Introduced and moderated by Oksana Sarkisova

 Found-footage Propaganda: Introduction to "Our Africa" Series

DATE: MAY 10, 2017, AT 6:00 P.M.
VENUE: BLINKEN OSA ARCHIVUM, ARANY JÁNOS UTCA 32.
1ST FLOOR, RESEARCH ROOM

 

Soviet documentaries of the 1960s responded to changing boundaries of ideological control during the so-called “Thaw” period. Many of the Soviet filmmakers worked and filmed in various “socialist-friendly” countries in Africa and their footage shows a genuine curiosity about the “otherness” of African reality. My film does not aim at duplicating the official propaganda discourse; my idea is to deepen the poignancy of Soviet newsreels and documentary films by exposing the propaganda clichés and by offering a new way of seeing them by exposing and highlighting their message. My review offers a fast-paced survey of the entire corpus of Soviet films about Africa in which I identify the most important and frequently  recurring themes and motifs. In the process of this research, I trace how Soviet views of Africa evolved over three decades, and later sank into oblivion.

 

 

 
Visegrad Scholarship at Blinken OSA Continues
Posted: 09/May/2017
The International Visegrad Fund extended its Visegrad Scholarship at Blinken OSA for AY 2017/18
 
OSA and OHR Amend Agreement on Public Digital Archive
Posted: 05/May/2017
On May 2, 2017, Central European University President and Rector Michael Ignatieff and High Representative Valentin Inzko signed an Addendum to the Public Archive Agreement between CEU and the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Sarajevo, the ad hoc international institution responsible for overseeing the implementation of civilian aspects of the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords.
 
Shooting the Revolution Film Series at OSA – Animated Soviet Propaganda 2
Posted: 25/April/2017

Shooting the Revolution Film Series at OSA – Animated Soviet Propaganda 2


Wednesday, 3 May 2017 at 6 PM

ANIMATED SOVIET PROPAGANDA 2

 
Samizdat Project - Call for interns
Posted: 06/April/2017
OSA invite applications for 1-3 months unpaid internship positions, May-July 2017. The intern will be working at OSA (Arany János u. 32, 1051, Budapest, Hungary). Working hours are flexible. OSA is a part of the Central European University.
 
Oksana Sarkisova: Screening Soviet Nationalities: Kulturfilms from the Far North
Posted: 24/March/2017

Book Launch - Oksana Sarkisova: Screening Soviet Nationalities: Kulturfilms from the Far North to Central Asia

Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2017 - 5:30pm

The Blinken Open Society Archives and the Visual Studies Platform at CEU cordially invite you to the book launch and discussion of:

Screening Soviet Nationalities: Kulturfilms from the Far North to Central Asia by Oksana Sarkisova

Participants:

Mária M. Kovács (Nationalism Studies Program, CEU) / Chair

Mark Bassin (School of Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörns University)

Alfred Rieber (Professor Emeritus, History Department, CEU)

Oksana Sarkisova (Blinken OSA Archivum, CEU)

Charles Shaw (History Department, CEU)

Marsha Siefert (Department of History, CEU)

 
Photofilm -  New Ways of Thinking Film by Gustav Hamos
Posted: 20/March/2017

Photofilm | New Ways of Thinking Film by Gustav Hamos


Date:
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 - 5:30pm

Photographs placed in a cinematic context create a filmic experience. In photofilms, the film medium is dissected into its components. Photofilm authors experiment with the relationship of text, sound and image, reflecting on the composition of the cinematographic. They let us “think” cinema. If a film image stops, the illusion of movement is shattered in that moment and irritation arises, we are invited to contemplate, interpret the image as a concept, participate in the author's study of images, and to be inspired by the imaginary extensions of meaning. Photofilms demand active, thinking viewers. Having photographs placed next to each other in a sequence provokes the viewer to search for connections and interpretations. Inspired by Roland Barthes' “The Third Meaning” it may be said that the future of the filmic is not strictly in movement, but rather in a third meaning, a framework for the unfolding of permutations that make a new theory of the photogram conceivable.


www.hamos.info /// www.potentialspace.de