The Unofficial Histories of Péter Forgács

11/2/05 to 11/9/05

Dusi and Jenö, November 2

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Past Films

Wittgenstein Tractatus and Meanwhile Somewhere
- Wednesday, November 9 19:30
Using found footage to capture phenomenological states, Forgács beautifully illustrates a series of aphorisms from Wittgenstein's writings. Meanwhile Somewhere gathers home movies from numerous countries to present the persistence of the everyday in Europe of the '40s, even as war rages and its atrocities make themselves right at home.
The Maelstrom (Free Screening!)
- Thursday, November 3 17:30
A poetic rendering of found footage of a Jewish family in Holland leading up to the Nazi occupation.
Father and His Three Sons: The Bartos Family and Dusi and Jenö
- Wednesday, November 2 19:30
A Jewish family and its little ceremonies that deny the upheaval taking place across Europe; a Budapest bank clerk with a filmmaker's eye: Hungarian artist Péter Forgács's compelling Private Hungary series looks at the vanished bourgeois culture of the '30s and '40s through home movie and amateur footage poetically edited and set to composer Tibor Szemzö's haunting soundscapes.

The Unofficial Histories of Péter Forgács

11/2/05 to 11/9/05

History is typically brought to us in its official form-the sponsored version, validated by power and assembled by authorized agents. But the visual evidence of history has its unsanctioned and overlooked sources, troves of images from elsewhere. The exacting Hungarian artist Péter Forgács has plundered one such trove, that of home movies shot primarily in the thirties and forties by Hungarian Jews. “The films became more than evidence, more than fact,” Forgács has said. “They became a complex cultural and archaeological site for me.” Forgács shapes the footage into elegiac “family sagas” that have the specificity of particular people yet bear, through poetic resonance, an unofficial history of a time-bound culture. Forgács's minimalism is a vital attribute: subtle cues, a word placed in the frame identifying a notable person or poignant moment, ride gently upon restrained waves of image manipulation. Composer Tibor Szemzö's haunting soundscapes further accentuate both visual detail and emotional strains. Private Hungary, a series initiated in the late eighties, now includes a dozen works; in the mid-nineties, Forgács began resurrecting home movies from other countries such as Spain, the Netherlands, and Greece, adding breadth to his “private” world. These three programs offer an official look at an unauthorized history that demands our recognition.

Curated by Steve Seid

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This series is presented in conjunction with the Judah L. Magnes Museum exhibition The Danube Exodus: The Rippling Currents of the River, coproduced by Péter Forgács and the Labyrinth Project, on view through January 22, 2006. For information, visit www.magnes.org.

The Unofficial Histories of Péter Forgács

11/2/05 to 11/9/05

Past Films

Wittgenstein Tractatus and Meanwhile Somewhere

The Maelstrom (Free Screening!)

Father and His Three Sons: The Bartos Family and Dusi and Jenö