Page 25 - Studio International - March 1974

What is a sin ?
Is that action the sin that causes suffering ?
Is that action the sin that causes no change ?
Is there anything at all that you can call an
action, would it not produce a change, and is
its existence provided to decrease suffering ?
Are you punishing yourself because by self-
punishment you accept the punishment of
self-punishment and by this you release the
punisher from the punishment that is not worthy of
action: the sin ?
Do you feel particularly exposed because you
cannot see to whom you are talking ?'
Of the acting groups two gained
prominence, Kassa Studio (led by Istvan
Bálint and Peter Halász) and the Neumányi
Ensemble. The Studio Group lately lost its
public venues, so most of their performances
take place in private houses. Neumányi and his
friends are luckier as they are attached to a
youth club in a Budapest suburb, Ujpest, and
also appear at the University Theatre. The plays
acted by the Kassa Group are less direct than
Szentjóby's actions I described earlier. Peter
Halász performs a one-man 'puppet show' for
which a lyric text was written by Peter Lajtai.
Tamás Szentjóby and the outside world. On the wall he displayed This is played from tape. Its title, The Upper
Budapest postcard 1971 questions which visitors were invited to put to Road, the Clearing, the Lower Road and the
him: Precipice suggests the agony and
same law that states that one person cannot be I. You can ask from the self-sentenced anything defencelessness, the worries and hopes which are
killed twice, one must put distinguishing marks and further expressed through the acting of Halász.
on those who have been warned (as Goering II. You can ask the following : During the summer of 1973 Kassák Studio
recommended in the case of the pacifists). Are all life-styles immoral which exclude even one performed at Balatonboglár. They showed
This way one can avoid notifying one person other human being ? King Kong, an original tale containing
more than once, while leaving others without Can one form a community with another person biblical quotations. King Kong turns against
information. without being free oneself ? the traditional moral norms, against one-sided
9. If everyone marks just two people without Is culture's real purpose to make one conscious of truth CA furious tiger is wiser than a well-
using institutions or the mass media for this the identity of one's fate and history ? trained horse'; 'You cannot tell what is enough
process, in a short period of time all Is it the most important thing to discover and until you know what is more than what is just
inhabitants of the world can be notified and realize what is needed by life ? enough').
they will be capable of defending themselves Is it true that those who bear the unbearable know Halász's group aim to analyse the conflicts
together. nothing about life ? Know nothing about that between performance and environment in
10. Let's fill the dead numbers of statistics with interdependence that is contained in life ? psychological relations and impulse reactions.
life ! Can he bear himself without us, or is everything The Neumányi Ensemble touch on similar
The first Happening in Budapest dates from hopeless ? problems but in more topical forms. They deal
1964. It was called Lunch and it was carried Can the blockade of the present be broken only with the manipulation of information, the
out by Tamás Szentjóby (St Jauby), Gabor by anew attitude ? coincidences of differences between effective
Altorjay and Miklós Erdely. Since then Is the realization of the future in the present an happenings and their interpretation. These
Szentjóby and Erdely — sometimes together, acceleration of our lives ? plays reveal the psychical power that performers
some other times alone — organized several Because historical time applies to the totality have over the audience, and also the fact that
actions in students' clubs, at the University and not to the individual, would you try to live by the authenticity of certain assertions one
Theatre, on the streets and in Balatonboglár the facts of the present and your future desolation can gain a trust which later could be
where a converted chapel has been used for the simultaneously ? catastrophically abused.
purpose. One of Szentjóby's street happenings Is this all to manifest difference and therefore This short account cannot deal with all the
was in 1972, when he sat down on the pavement there to activate a potentially different matter ? many experiments of young Hungarian
in a busy spot in front of Hotel Duna Can the changeable also be unfinished ? Is the artists, such as experimental films or art-and-
Intercontinental and stayed there for twenty unfinished to be changed ? Is constancy: suffering ? music combinations which began under the
minutes with his mouth gagged. In Budapest Is unfinishedness : suffering ? influence of the Fluxus Movement.
such a sight cannot remain unremarked. Do you hope that you can make interdependence The many-sided picture may give a false
The motto of this action is : 'Everything that conscious by demonstrating that we are all at each impression of a large scale movement
is forbidden is art. Be forbidden.' other's mercy ? unfolding in Hungary. Unfortunately this is not
Szentjóby organized his 'punishment- Does your action include the punishment ? so. The scope of action is narrow. Young
preventing autotherapy' at Balatonboglár Does your punishment include the action ? intellectuals, however, show receptiveness and
during the summer of 1972. He sat down in Is action a sin ? although they cannot provide adequate finance,
the room with a bucket over his head. This Is punishment a sin ? the existence of this reception is a heartening
brought about a special psychological state of Is sin action ? healthy sign. q
defencelessness which existed between himself Is action punishment ? ANIK CS. ASZTALOS
III