NEWS, UPDATES FROM IS[R]A MEMBERS

Call for applications to attend the CRC session
The 1956 Revolution in Perspective
4 -- 11 November, 2006
OSA ARCHIVUM, CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY, Budapest, Hungary

The joint CRC session organized in cooperation with the Central European University History Department and the OSA Archivum (Budapest, Hungary) aims to bring scholars and experts with significant teaching and research experience to discuss how the 1956 revolution and its crack-down influenced and altered dissident thinking within the Soviet bloc during its afterlife, and how these experiences might be compared to the lessons of similar events, with a special focus on the Polish events in 1966, and Prague Spring and Fall,1968.
The session offers an optional workshop entitled "1956 Revolution and opposition movements under totalitarian regimes' and a round table discussion on the evening of the exhibition opening (November 4) devoted to the art works of Endre Rozsda on the pre-history of the revolution. Participants will also have a chance to get acquainted with the new virtual collection at OSA Archivum on 1956.
Deadline for applications: 1 October, 2006
Application should be submitted to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

For more information on forthcoming events organized by CURRICULUM RESOURCE CENTER at CEU please see http://www.ceu.hu/crc/

Application form: DOC http://www.samizdatportal.org/subscription/2006/CRC_applform.doc
CRC Fall 2006 Sessions Announcement DOC http://www.samizdatportal.org//subscription/2006/AnnounceFall2006.doc

OSA Archivum

New international projects by Artpool

Call for submissions for the exhibition
NETWORK HISTORY: RECOLLECTION FROM 1986 TO 2006
IN RECOGNITION OF WORLD WIDE NETWORKER CONGRESSES
November 2006
ARTPOOL, Budapest, Hungary

Deadline: September 26, 2006
More http://www.artpool.hu/Network/invitation.html

Call for submissions for the exhibition
ARTISTAMP HISTORY: RECOLLECTION FROM 1987 TO 2007
Spring, 2007
ARTPOOL, Budapest, Hungary

you are asked to contribute to the research and preparations of the
"Stamp Images 1987-2007" exhibition to be shown at the Museum of Fine
Arts, Budapest in spring 2007, where the artistamp history of the
past 20 years will be mapped and presented by Artpool.

Deadline: November 26, 2006
More http://www.artpool.hu/Artistamp/87-07/invitation.html

NEW ARTISTAMP SITES BY ARTPOOL
"Stamp Images" exhibition from 1987
http://www.artpool.hu/Artistamp/Belyegkepek/default.html
Artists' stamps included in different projects by Artpool (1992-2006)
http://www.artpool.hu/Artistamp/87-07/92-06.html
a tribute to Mike Bidner
http://www.artpool.hu/Artistamp/Artistampex/
all artpool's artistamp pages can be reached from
http://www.artpool.hu/Artistamp/

a gift to you: download a print version of a sheet of Galantai's Nude
Stamps (stamps designed for Ed Higgins' Nudes on Stamps exhibititon in 1979)
http://www.artpool.hu/Artistamp/artist/Galantai/NudeStamps.html

J. &. Galantai, ArtPool

CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS

Call for papers for comparative workshop
Historical Revisionism in Central Europe after 1989
19-20 October, 2006
INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORY, Czech Republic, Prague
www.usd.cas.cz
The workshop will be held at the Czech Academy of Sciences, Narodni 3, Prague in conjunction with the EU Project Culture 2000, History after the Fall
If you wish to be considered, please submit a short abstract (200-300 words, in English or Czech) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it by July 15th, 2006.

Text about workshop
Proposal for papers are invited on the theme of Historical Revisionism
Far from being restrained to small groups of "negationists", the historical revisionism seems to figure at the top of public historical discourses in many countries and regions. With spectacular trials and heated debates around Holocaust-deniers the term historical revisionism has become stigmatized, and used as a description of suspect historical works dealing with the Holocaust and the Third Reich. In broader sense, however, the historical revisionism in the realms of modern and recent history has galvanized political and historical debates both within respective national communities as well at the international stage on virtually all continents. (Holocaust worldwide, US role in the Cold War, "positive value" of French colonialism, Japanese or Russian historical textbooks, etc.). In the eyes of many observers a specter of historical revisionism is haunting Europe and the world. The region of central Europe with its Nazi, fascist and communist past not only does not stay aloof, but in many ways is in the center of the debate. In this context it is the aim of the Prague's workshop to explore the scale, depth, and meaning of the historical revisionism in the national and regional histories as well as to reconsider the value of the term itself.
Where is the border between legitimate re-examination of historical narratives and attempts to rewrite history in a politically motivated way that downgrades or denies essential historical facts?
What are the layers and instruments of the contemporary debates concerning historical revisionism that include not only the academia and mass media but also decentralized grass-root initiatives empowered by the Internet and cheap digitalized storage and recording facilities?
How does the international debate about ethnic cleansing and expulsion of the German population during and after WWII and the thesis of "expulsion equals genocide" resonate in different countries?
What tensions arouse from the juxtaposition of politically motivated moral condemnations of "totalitarian" regimes with a value-restrained academic discourse of social and cultural approaches in recent historiography?
How do the more or less traditional "national historical narratives" react to the "spill-over" of the international and political controversies into their "sphere of influence" and intellectual orbit?
These and other questions should be addressed during the workshop's envisaged panels:
Panel I: Keywords, Definitions and Instruments of Historical Revisionism
Panel II: Social-Economic, Political and Cultural Impacts of the Ethnic Expulsions after the WW II and its Historical Reflection
Panel III: Historical Revisionism and the Communist Regimes in central Europe
Panel IV: Historiography, Historical Revisionism and the Building of Democracy after 1989
This event is intended to stimulate debate and bring together scholars working in the field, both to give papers and to contribute to discussion.
If you wish to be considered, please submit a short abstract (200-300 words, in English or Czech) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it by July 15th, 2006.
The Institute of Contemporary History is able to provide funds to meet the costs of travel and accomodation for speakers.

Contact details:
Alice Hudlerova and Michal Kopecek
Institute of Contemporary History, Prague
Vlasska 9
118 40 Praha 1
tel: +420 257 531 122-3
fax: +420 257 531 121
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

EXHIBITIONS

Soviet Dis-Union: Socialist Realist & Nonconformist Art
April 20 -- August 19, 2006

The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, and The Museum of Russian Art will co-curate an exhibition of Official and Nonconformist Russian paintings from the 1960-1983 Soviet period. The Zimmerli is the institutional home of the Norton Dodge Collection of Nonconformist art; TMORA is known for its collection of Soviet-era realist art. More than 80 paintings will comprise the exhibition which will include examples of the two most comprehensive collections of Soviet Art of this period known to exist outside the former Soviet Union.
More http://www.tmora.org/events/20060420a/20060420aSovietDisunion.html

"Unknown Smelov": Photographs by B.Smelov 1960-1990s"
from the series "Photoundergraund of Leningrad"
20 May -18 June 2006
THE MUSEUM OF NONCONFORMIST ART
Saint-Peterburg, Russia
Curator: Val'ran
More in English: http://p10.nonmuseum.ru/news/pressrel-smelov_engl.html

PUBLICATIONS

The collected works of prominent public figure and academician Andrey Sakharov (1921-1989) was released by the Publishing House "Vremia". The publication consists of eight volumes and includes a two-volume collection of articles, letters, speeches and the interview "Trouble and Hope" (some published for the fist time); his memoirs in 3 volumes; and the documentary novel "Diaries" co-authored with Elena Bonner (published for the first time, 3 volumes).
The book launch took place at the Central House of Journalists (Moscow, Russia) on 20 May, 2006.
More (in Russian) http://www.sakharov-center.ru/news/2006/prezen.htm

The INTERNATIONAL SAMIZDAT [RESEARCH] ASSOCIATION (IS[R]A) NEWSLETTER
calls on all IS[R}A members and other researchers and specialists working on topics related to samizdat, dissent, opposition and protest movements in the XX century to submit items for our summer issue. We welcome announcements on archival and museum acquisitions, news regarding the processing of collections, calls for papers, project updates, and announcements on new publications and exhibitions.
We also invite articles on the themes above.

Please email your submissions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it by July 15, 2006

Zaslavskaya Olga
IS[R]A Newsletter Co-Editor