{"id":400517,"date":"2007-10-01T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-01T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exindex.hu\/?p=400517"},"modified":"2022-06-14T09:06:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T08:06:52","slug":"egy-megvalosult-poszt-neoavantgard-utopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exindex.hu\/en\/documenta12-folyoirat-projekt\/egy-megvalosult-poszt-neoavantgard-utopia","title":{"rendered":"A ‘post-neo-avant-garde’ utopia realized"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Only for the sake of the hopeless is hope given to us.
\r\n<\/i>Walter Benjamin (2)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

It may prove illuminating and consequential to revise the programs of avant-garde artistic thought and education, which were, in addition to being dedicated to revolutionizing consciousness, all but averse to utopian registers. In Hungary, it was Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly, one of the most important figures of the avant-garde scene, who pursued significant activity in the field of alternative art pedagogy between 1975 and 1978. (1)<\/a> Not only did it emerge as a rival to centralized and politically supervised official education, but it criticised the prevailing institutional system that incorporated science, society and politics. Far from incidentally, it was creative thinking and an interdisciplinary approach that constituted the foundations of Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s irregular art pedagogy . The notions of creativity and interdisciplinarity were adopted by art from discourses of the philosophy of science, semiotics, theory of communication and anthropology, not marginally as a result of the cultural revolution of 1968. Robert Filliou, a leading figure of the Fluxus movement, was also partly influenced by the New Left student movements of 1968 in formulating the idea of \u201cpermanent creation,\u201d which extended creative thinking to all aspects and areas of life. (3)<\/a> Joseph Beuys, another protagonist of the erweiterte Kunstbegriff<\/em>, established a free university in the 70\u2019s, which was founded specifically on the above mentioned notions. (4)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Art pedagogy (Kreativit\u00e1si gyakorlatok<\/em> [Creativity Exercises], Fant\u00e1ziafejleszt\u0151 gyakorlatok <\/em>[Creative Imagination Development Exercises], Interdiszciplin\u00e1ris gondolkod\u00e1s kurzus<\/em> [Course on Interdisciplinary Thinking]) (5)<\/a> was at once a \u201cprivate utopia\u201d for Erd\u00e9ly. While being engaged in his exercises, he was seriously concerned about issues of utopian thinking. Perhaps his experiences in this field contributed to the realization that if macro-scale systems cannot be changed, the least one could do was create his own micro-environment for survival and sensible life. Consequently, I shall present Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s ideas about the criticism of art, science and society along the lines of utopian thinking, with special regard to a reconstructed lecture from 1977 in this theme. (6)<\/a> Based on this I shall outline the theoretical foundations of his activity in the field of art pedagogy, as well as the \u201csurvival\u201d exercises and techniques developed by him. Finally, to provide a typical example of Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s holistic critical thinking, as a possible and to this day timely synthesis of Eastern and Western theories of knowledge, I will make some final remarks about the alternative logic and metaphysics of the koans.<\/p>\r\n

Utopias<\/h4>\r\n

The introductory lines of the 1981 Optimista el\u0151ad\u00e1s<\/em> [Optimistic Lecture] aptly show how Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly considered utopian thinking ineludible and fundamentally important:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThe features of the Post-neo-avant-garde attitude:<\/p>\r\n

1. One must acknowledge one\u2019s own competence with regard to one\u2019s life and fate, and keep to it above all else.
\r\n2. This competence extends to whatever concerns one\u2019s life, whether directly or indirectly.
\r\n3. In this manner one\u2019s competence extends to everything.
\r\n4. One must have the courage to perceive whatever is bad, faulty, torturous, dangerous or meaningless, whether it be the most accepted, seemingly unchangeable case or thing.
\r\n5. One must have the boldness to propose even the most unfounded, least realizable alternative.
\r\n6. One must be able to imagine that these variants can be attained.
\r\n7. One must give as much consideration to possibilities that have only a slight chance but promise great advantages as to possibilities that in all likelihood can be attained but promise few advantages.
\r\n8. Whatever one can accomplish with the limited tools at one\u2019s disposal one must do without delay.
\r\n9. One must refrain from any form of organization or institutionalization.\u201d (7)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

In his lecture on utopia, entitled Rem\u00e9ny \u00e9s lehet\u0151s\u00e9g<\/em> [Hope and Possibility], Erd\u00e9ly reviewed the history and theory of philosophical utopias from Plato\u2019s The Republic<\/em> through Morus\u2019s Utopia<\/em> and the works of utopian socialists, to the utopian thinkers of his time. His train of thought was dominated by theoretical considerations coupled with critical reflection. Practically, the lecturer criticized utopian theories from Plato to Herbert Marcuse, and phrased (based on Hegel and Marcuse) one of the fundamental theses of his lecture \u2013 and, ultimately, of his oeuvre \u2013 on an epistemological basis: Instead of the society, it is human consciousness that needs to be liberated and revolutionized. In his own words: \u201cOne\u2019s image of oneself needs to be modified in order for one to achieve a global and fundamental change of lifestyle. Just as religions made one suitable to revaluate one\u2019s place in the social structure, one needs new metaphysics, by which one can define one\u2019s place and significance in the entirety of existence.\u201d (8)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

At that, according to Erd\u00e9ly, the situation is much worse than the \u201cclassical\u201d utopians (Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen) imagined, for even the boldest utopias are captives of their own age and social reality. And not only as regards their vantage points (material and mental premises), but also their horizon of goals and options, since the intrepidity of their ideas was restrained by their language as well as their conception of the world. The gist of the matter in Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s words is this: \u201cWhile it is able to describe the reality along with which it evolved, language is incapable of grasping the other reality, which is of a different quality, dormant in the sea of unrealized potentiality. To assert that it can describe reality is already an overstatement. Language merely provides an interpretation of reality, limited by its own abilities. Language, eventually, narrates itself. Even when constructing utopias.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Man, therefore, lacks the freedom even to \u201cconstruct a decent utopia for himself.\u201d It is, therefore, far from surprising that the ideology critique of Marcuse and the Frankfurt School after Marx and Freud provides firm proof for Erd\u00e9ly that human freedom (liberation and self-redemption) in a capitalist society is nothing but an illusion! Scientific-technological development not only disallows the revolution of language, it does not so much as question the fundamental goal-rational ideology: \u201c\u2026 it turned out that the rationality reinforced by a cosmic-level experience cannot lead to man\u2019s liberation. Happiness as a just claim is drifting further and further away, only attainable as unenjoyable, alienated bogus happiness, triggered by substitutes.\u201d Freedom is now (after Hegel and Marcuse) none other than a \u201erecognised necessity\u201d in the prison of language and ideology. Even if it remains unnoticed by the welfare societies\u2019 subordinate subjects of limited freedom. But how could they notice when they cannot conceive of anything outside the ideology. According to Marcuse, the technology of suppression and exploitation in developed capitalism is activated already at the basic levels of needs, desires and possibilities. \u201cThis gives rise to that technique of manipulation, delicate as a spiderweb, which Marcuse writes about, and which is almost impossible to discern,\u201d says Erd\u00e9ly. Hinting at the same time at an option for a solution, a way out: \u201cOnly the super-sensitivity of the amateur mind and soul can discern and reveal it. However, nimble minds are destined to momentary successes. Even in want of opportunities, hope is still there.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Of course, this has no perspective unless one is aware of the reason earlier utopian conceptions failed. Erd\u00e9ly points out that earlier utopias (Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen and the \u201cprinciple of universal gravitation\u201d) \u201cowe\u201d a lot to the scientific conception of the world of their age, namely Newtonian physics and cosmology. Erd\u00e9ly identifies two basic types of utopia after Vera Nyilas and others: 1) utopia of order 2) utopia of freedom. (9)<\/a> According to Erd\u00e9ly, neither of these offers a \u201crealistic\u201d alternative for happiness anymore, that is, for mental and existential freedom: the former is evidently based on some kind of suppression, while the latter\u2019s freedom is only illusory, because it remains a captive of language and consequently of rationality. Yet after Einstein, Heisenberg and Schr\u00f6dinger it very much seems so that the workings of the universe cannot be conceptualized on rational terms! At least Erd\u00e9ly concluded the following quite brief yet expressive phrase on the basis of the new discoveries of quantum mechanics, subatomic physics, cosmology and astronomy, and their epistemological consequences: \u201cSemantic change of the Universe.\u201d The neat and tidy universe of Descartes and Newton gave place to the infinite and curved universe of finite space-time conceived by Einstein, the elements of which can no more be visualized as discreet globes. Chaos and absurdity began to take precedence in the description of physical processes from the 1960-70\u2019s; fractals and the chaos theory became trendy, as well as the paradoxes of subatomic physics, which also turned out to prevail on a cosmic scale.<\/p>\r\n

Of course Erd\u00e9ly is aware that this new conception of the Universe, motivated by quantum physics, as well as its paradox laws are incomprehensible for everyday people, while, together with the familiar, homelike and sensible universe, the familiar omnipotent God of old times died after Marx and Nietzsche and disappeared from the conception of the world that had been regulated by the laws of natural science: \u201cDisregarding the ever more hermetically hidden and isolated confusion of science, even common man lacks the underlying general feeling of justified existence, from which he could deduce, however superficially, the reasons for his daily tasks. Man, uprooted from the religious, intimate and familiar conception of the world, was able to accept that he is the dweller of an eternal universe that works on levels both atomic and cosmic by some trivial ball-principle. This has been such a neutral and distant background for his life that he could easily disregard it. The cosmic desert surrounding this phase, however great, even infinite, bears no consequences with respect to his life.\u201d Perhaps the greatest merit of Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s lecture is that it points out the existential and epistemological necessity of joining theology, cosmology and social theory. A \u201cdecent\u201d utopia for expanding consciousness and improving society may only be conceivable by combining the three spheres, since neither of them alone can provide a description of man that would be sufficient for him to view and judge any of them (including himself) from an external stance.<\/p>\r\n

Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s lecture is indicative of the fact that theology and cosmology, as fundaments of the general conception of the world, were still perforce interwoven in classical utopias. What is really intriguing, however, is that this \u201csalutary\u201d union subsists even in the case of modern Marxist utopian social criticism and modern theology, even if such analogy is not so fashionable in the world of vulgar Marxism. Erd\u00e9ly provides a \u201crevolutionary\u201d (even in its common sense), but at least surprising parallel between the two \u201chope researchers\u201d, Ernst Bloch and J\u00fcrgen Moltmann. (10)<\/a> Moltmann approaches social science from the aspect of theology and the story of salvation, in order to mark out a possible path in the terrain of economy and politics for the man of action in search of mundane happiness. Prophetic and often enigmatic Bloch, on the other hand, rises from the foundations of Marxist social theory to the ideological spheres of religion and art in order to discover mundane utopias of freedom and happiness.<\/p>\r\n

According to Moltmann and Bloch, too, the rift between the two spheres and ideologies of Catholicism and Marxism needs to be bridged for man to be able to construct a truly happy conception of the future. Scientific-technological development alone is insufficient. In Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s observation, although the religious conception of the world has already been replaced by futurology, this is also just one of the \u201ctechniques of manipulation delicate as a spiderweb.\u201d (Futurology is just as much a captive of the present as the ideological apparatuses are, and perhaps one of the reasons the theology or philosophy of hope was so important for Erd\u00e9ly is that Moltmann and Bloch both had future-oriented mindsets.) In fact, science and technology are in service of suppression instead of man\u2019s happiness. No wonder thus that both modern theology and social theory reach the conclusion that all one has left is hope in the future. And even if this hope is attainable in the form of positive spiritual and mental disposition, there is still need for that certain missing (or rather concealed) new scientific conception of the world, that \u201cnew metaphysics\u201d, the ontology and logic of which endows human life with a new sense.<\/p>\r\n

Revolutionizing Consciousness<\/h4>\r\n

In Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s view, the new consciousness and the new metaphysics most of all need a new language, one that is capable of conveying the truths of natural sciences, philosophy and poetry, breaking through the na\u00efve realism of the quotidian. The comprehension and mastering of logical and poetic paradoxes led Erd\u00e9ly to believe that starting from the radical technology of montage, it is the principle of the extinguishing meaning that should be applied in language. (11)<\/a> That is to say, one has be elevated from the level of paradoxes and contradictions, where statements cancel one another\u2019s meaning, to a higher emotional level, where one can experience something similar to the enlightenment of Zen Buddhists and see this world which is based on science, economy and politics, from a new perspective. Erd\u00e9ly therefore draws up an even more radical and consistent alternative in the question of language than Marcuse, his greatest opponent. The reason is that Marcuse, disappointed in his achievements, was by all means looking for some social stratum that would carry out the revolution of consciousness. Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s thinking, on the other hand, is centred around the revolution of art \u2013 independent from classes and the categories of social theory \u2013, which may have a liberating impact on the individual\u2019s thinking and consequently on the entire social construct.<\/p>\r\n

Erika Landau\u2019s book on the psychology of creativity was published in Hungary in 1974. Following a review of various psychological theories and schools, the final chapter, practical as well as inspiring for Erd\u00e9ly, focused on issues of creative pedagogy. Landau\u2019s ideas can indisputably be related to Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s art pedagogy: \u201cOne of the most important tasks arising from creativity research is interdisciplinary education. Scientists, philosophers, artists and last, but not least, psychologists, study man from their own perspectives. The task of the pedagogue, however, is to create connections between each branch of science so as to make a creative individual of the student. Practically this means that the student recalls associations from other subjects pertaining to the theme in question, or relates this new problem to another, already learned (that is, experienced) problem.\u201d (12)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

The creative approach acquired via art is by all means applicable to other dimensions of life. Receiving art education may prove beneficial not only for artists. \u201cConversely: we can expect the greatest results if the creative approach is present in other areas of life as well, and if such flexible people turn up in all kinds of apparently insignificant areas, capable of understanding the essence of things and perceiving their tasks at a meta-level.\u201d (13)<\/a> In addition to playing an important role in modern mathematics and physics as well as Zen Buddhism, meta-level thinking is an important constituent of the Palo-Alto Group\u2019s problem-solving method, which focuses on everyday issues. (14)<\/a> As opposed to the majority of western psychologists, for whom creativity was a personal characteristic, Erd\u00e9ly considered it a \u201cstate of readiness\u201d in which one is \u201cable to recognize the task under all circumstances, and to resolve it resourcefully, individually and originally.\u201d (15)<\/a> This idea of Erd\u00e9ly interestingly coincides with Paul Watzlawick\u2019s opinion, who considers the recognition of the problem the first and foremost step in problem solving, and emphasizes the importance of a creative orientation with respect to problem solving. According to the Palo Alto Group\u2019s approach, anyone can be capable of finding a creative solution to a problem in any field of life, if they can rise above it or perceive it in a different light. In accordance with this, Erd\u00e9ly claims that the creative man is \u201ccapable of revising his condition over and over again, while surprising his environment with fresh alternatives, and helps others overcome adverse and fossilized circumstances.\u201d (16)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Creativity in Art and Life<\/h4>\r\n

The Creativity Exercises course started in autumn 1975 and took place every two weeks at Ganz-M\u00e1vag M\u0171vel\u0151d\u00e9si K\u00f6zpont [Ganz-M\u00e1vag Cultural Centre], a suburban location of the Budapest alternative art scene. In those times D\u00f3ra Maurer, another significant figure of 70\u2019s avant-garde (intermedia) art, also worked in the Ganz Centre. She held a drawing course there, and in time the two \u201ccourses\u201d became coordinated. Maurer later summarized the relationship of the two courses thus: \u201cCreativity exercises teach creative readiness in general, while the task of the drawing course is to specialize this readiness: to provide opportunities for putting forth visual creativity.\u201d (17)<\/a> The Creativity Exercises sessions would begin with D\u00f3ra Maurer setting forth a specific task, for the completion of which Erd\u00e9ly had developed several variants. (18)<\/a> Maurer contributed the visual ideas to which Erd\u00e9ly linked specific series of acts, practically transforming the ideas into actions. (19)<\/a> By late 1976, Maurer gradually abandoned the Creativity Exercises, which she explained by asserting that she missed the assessment of the exercises and that she had lost interest in the \u201cetudes of manipulating and controlling one another\u201d \u2013 passivity and servility exercises, or the mimicking of movements. (20)<\/a> The initial novelty of the drawing exercises was the abolishment of the customary boundary between drawer and model. Participants of the course were at once models, doing complex poses with the help of various devices. Later on various hindrances and distortions of the process of drawing itself were added to this exercise. The most common one was drawing with the drawing board flipped with the surface facing outward. (21)<\/a> The non-drawing exercises were characterised by a mutual and systematic mimicking, repetition and elaboration of movements, and occasionally a camera was used as an important accessory.<\/p>\r\n

The exercises gave rise to novel, surprising and inspiring situations as regards the processes of perception and drawing, thus encouraging creative thinking. Individual tasks helped overcome ingrained schemes and stereotypes of perception. The mentality of the exercises naturally reflected on the principal problematics of 60\u2019s-70\u2019s avant-garde art: original versus copy, identity and similarity, repetition and sequences of minute alterations, representation of movement, action as a new medium of art. In accordance with contemporary tendencies \u2013 and in the spirit of interdisciplinarity \u2013, the devices of other branches of art, such as music, theatre, film and photography were used to renew drawing, a traditional medium of fine art.<\/p>\r\n

Additionally, the exercises exploited the inspiring and liberating power of the collective. The goal was to create an atmosphere which could relieve the effects of conformity and the pressure to perform, which inhibit creativity. The participants could creatively and actively control the course of the session, and freely modify the assigned exercises. The syllabus of the exercises had a wider scope, which exceeded art\u2019s layers of meaning, comprising personal and social horizons as well. Participants were confronted with the pitfall of repetition and conformity during almost every session. Besides, through exercises aiming to distract the drawer (the creator), they could experience the hindrances that would befall those who displayed deviant behaviour. As expressed by one of the participants, graphic artist and filmmaker \u00c1gnes H\u00e1y: what was going on at the sessions was in fact the \u201cmodelling of life situations.\u201d In modelling various life situations, the participants had an opportunity to rise above their problems and reach a deeper self-understanding by observing their own reflections in the other person. (22)<\/a> Another \u201cdisciple\u201d, painter and stage designer Zolt\u00e1n L\u00e1bas, summarized his experiences of the Creativity Exercises as follows: \u201cAs a result of experiences of the Creativity Exercises, I developed a new approach, which has helped me discover the connection between art and various other fields of life: my sensitivity to problems has increased, and I am motivated to cogitate throughout my everyday life as well as my creative artistic work.\u201d (23)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Creative Imagination<\/h4>\r\n

When the Creativity Exercises course was over, Erd\u00e9ly started another alternative \u201cschool\u201d named Creative Imagination Development Exercises (CIDE) (24)<\/a> in autumn 1977 at a secluded place, Viziv\u00e1rosi Pinceklub [ Viziv\u00e1ros Basement Club]. In autumn 1978, the course moved to the Marczib\u00e1nyi T\u00e9ri Ifj\u00fas\u00e1gi H\u00e1z [ Marczib\u00e1nyi Square Youth Club], where it lasted about two more months before being transformed into an Interdisciplinary Thinking Course. The mentality of CIDE was organically related to the activity of the Creativity Exercises, only it continued exploring problems of creativity at the level of cognitive mechanisms. Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly and his group endeavoured to \u201cloosen those mental jams that fundamentally inhibit the development of extensive creative behaviour.\u201d (25)<\/a> They adopted the complexity and holistic approach (\u201cessential in modern thinking\u201d) of their earlier artistic practice. Towards the end of CIDE, already at Marczib\u00e1nyi Square, they dealt exclusively with koans for at least a month. (26)<\/a> As Erd\u00e9ly recalls, the art college students who attended CIDE (Andr\u00e1s B\u00f6r\u00f6cz, B\u00e1lint Bori, L\u00e1szl\u00f3 R\u00e9v\u00e9sz) kept insisting that they deal with fine art at last because think they already could. Probably this was what led to the arrangement of collective exhibitions from 1978, where they created environments for such irregular themes as coal, sand and their movements, or concepts like fidelity.<\/p>\r\n

The Indigo group practically goes beyond Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s own artistic and philosophical ideas, since from the early 80\u2019s on, collective work was pushed into the background and the collective environments and happenings were replaced by individual objects and installations. (27)<\/a> Nevertheless, mainly owing to Erd\u00e9ly, the artists who began to follow their own paths were able to approach the issues of art, society and politics in irregular ways (as well). (28)<\/a> The de-fetishizing nature of works made of intentionally ephemeral materials played an important role in this, as well as the blurring of traditional boundaries between art and life. One of the fashionable expressions of the time, interdisciplinarity, was (in part) exactly about this transgression of boundaries. \u201cMesmerised\u201d by this phenomenon, they took the liberty to film Einstein\u2019s clock paradox or to make an installation on the occasion of a conference on semiotics. However, the actual realisation of divergent and creative ideas was always of secondary importance to Erd\u00e9ly. He wanted to leave dangerous and subversive ideas and thinkers to posterity instead of boring or hardly interpretable works. In the light of the above, it is worthwhile to return to the stages of alternative pedagogy.<\/p>\r\n

The tasks Erd\u00e9ly assigned to the participants of CIDE sessions served to question known problem-solving schemes. In Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s own words: the goal of the assignments was to \u201cdoubt the evident.\u201d (29)<\/a> His principal consideration in devising assignment types was to promote the conception of new problem-solving strategies. Tasks had to be solved in words or in writing, in such manner that everyone could hear the others\u2019 solution, which helped each participant to recognize the logical formulas used by them and the others. (30)<\/a> The divergence from schemes and stereotypes was further facilitated by the fact that Erd\u00e9ly often put limitations on the problem-solving method to be used: in one word, in three words, in a sketch, etc. The answers were assessed by Erd\u00e9ly on the next session, based on the type of answer and the kind of philosophical, religious or scientific knowledge it relied on. Participants recall that the relationship of art and science was extensively dealt with at the CIDE course. Erd\u00e9ly often mentioned the names of Einstein, Schr\u00f6dinger and Heisenberg, and the idea of filming the clock-paradox already came up during those sessions. (31)<\/a> In addition, they criticised and rejected nearly every traditional branch of art at the sprightly meetings, except, perhaps, the genre of happening. As Erd\u00e9ly recalls, \u201cthe entire philosophy and range of ideas underlying the avant-garde was condensed in the Creativity Exercises and CIDE.\u201d (32)<\/a> Erd\u00e9ly already felt then that the entire (contemporary) avant-garde was \u201clost\u201d in variegating such types of problem-solving that were, in his conception, evident.<\/p>\r\n

According to film director Ildik\u00f3 Enyedi, one of the participants of the sessions, the essence of the exercises was not even invention, but rather to gain awareness of conformity, to recognize the standard forms of creative thinking. (33)<\/a> For the only way to overcome customary schemes is to know them thoroughly. The absurdity, insignificance or banality of the questions and tasks contributed a great deal to this. In her article on Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s pedagogical methods, Enyedi highlights the fact that Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s method differed from those of the established schools of creativity. (34)<\/a> Notwithstanding the differences, I would like to point out the presence of certain analogies. Erd\u00e9ly himself highlights the importance of the technique of \u201cdelayed assessment\u201d in his pedagogical practice. This means that the leader of the course does not immediately criticise the emerging ideas, but lets them unfold. Delayed assessment reduces the pressure to perform, giving ground to free association and divergent thinking. The expression \u201cdelayed assessment\u201d or, more precisely, \u201cdelayed judgement\u201d, actually originates from Alex Osborn, comprising the fundament of his Creative Problem Solving techniques (CPS). (35)<\/a> Erd\u00e9ly probably encountered Osborn\u2019s name in Erika Landau\u2019s book, but he was not thoroughly familiar with Osborn\u2019s work. Nevertheless, his pedagogical practice turns out to have characteristics similar to CPS techniques, which build on delayed judgement and brainstorming. CPS is also based on establishing a creative environment, which Erd\u00e9ly refers to as a \u201ccreative state\u201d. The essence of CPS is also collective thinking, throughout which, in want of value judgement, the ideas of participants are free to mutually inspire one another (brainstorming). CPS also begins with setting out the problem, which is followed by the phase of divergent thinking that generates ideas, and terminated by a convergent phase directed at a specific solution.<\/p>\r\n

Although the final, convergent phase had no significant role at CIDE, which focused on paradoxes and the extinguishing meaning, it became more emphasised during the activity of the Indigo group. In the early period of the Indigo group, when they created collective environments, the method of designing an exhibition was letting everyone tell their ideas, and the exhibition was built based on the best consistent assembly of ideas. The designing and building stage of the exhibition thus practically corresponds to the convergent phase of CPS. Of course Erd\u00e9ly was not thoroughly familiar with the CPS technique, and what is more, his method was different despite the similarities. Erd\u00e9ly was more interested in randomness and irrationality rather than adhering to established rules in leading the courses. Sometimes he would devote no attention to an answer that seemed right, but scrutinize a much less inventive one instead, or he would appraise an answer for a reason the respondent would never even have dreamed of. (36)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Beyond Epistemology<\/h4>\r\n

Erd\u00e9ly declared in connection with CIDE that \u201cthe best ideas are close to Zen, that is, Buddhist thinking. Not incidentally. I have come to realize that this is where the technique of extinguishing meaning is used as a religious system or practice.\u201d (37)<\/a> This was, then, Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s explanation for his preoccupation with koans. With growing frequency, he would read out koans during the sessions. Based on these, participants would write their own similar koans. This was the so-called \u201cKoan-factory\u201d at the Marczib\u00e1nyi t\u00e9ri M\u0171vel\u0151d\u00e9si K\u00f6zpont [ Marczib\u00e1nyi Square Cultural Centre]. P\u00e1l Mikl\u00f3s\u2019s book A zen \u00e9s a m\u0171v\u00e9szet<\/em> [ Zen and Art] (38)<\/a> was published around that time, and it counted as compulsory reading material. Erd\u00e9ly was, in addition, familiar with works of Alan W. Watts and Eugen Herrigel. (39)<\/a> For instance, he cited the following koan from Watts in one of his studies: \u201cA monk asked Zhaozhou, \u2018The myriad things return to one. Where does the one return to?\u2019 Zhaozhou said, \u2018When I was in Jing Zhao, I made a cloth shirt. It weighed seven pounds.\u2019\u201d (40)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Erd\u00e9ly considered this koan a rather wicked montage in which no relationship whatsoever is to be discovered between question and answer. The koan was also a favoured metaphor of Erd\u00e9ly, which he used when discussing his own art theory (the technique of extinguishing meaning). (41)<\/a> The koan is a verbal device of Zen masters, a seemingly nonsensical short dialogue, which helps the disciple reach the state of \u201csatori\u201d or enlightenment. Koans can help the disciple see his and the world\u2019s true, original face. (42)<\/a> In the course of satori \u2013 to invoke the rhetorics of European philosophy \u2013 the disciple recognizes the relativity of the world and the futility of separating object and subject. According to Herrigel, satori is \u201cthe fundamental experience of being suddenly and violently seized upon by the truth.\u201d (43)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

The essence of the koan lies in its liberating effect. Pondering over ourselves and the meaning of life, we are imprisoned in the vicious circle of reflexive thinking, from which there is only one way out: the recognition of the fact that \u201cthe mind cannot grasp itself.\u201d (44)<\/a> The koan can liberate us from the inhibiting effect of goal-oriented and result-driven thinking. \u201cThere is something similar to this in the psychoanalytic practice of free association, employed as a technique to get rid of obstacles to the free flow of thought from the \u2018unconscious,\u2019\u201d writes Alan W. Watts about the liberating effect of koans. (45)<\/a> However, the practice of koans more resembles the practice of creativity development methods, whose primary objective is to allow man to overcome the schemes of everyday thinking and be relieved from the pressure to perform.<\/p>\r\n

According to Watts, the satori is \u201cnot only a sudden leap from the common consciousness to \u2018complete, unexcelled awakening\u2019.\u201d But still, in essence, it is a leap that leads to a higher logical level (Watzlawick et. al. \u2013 second degree change), which is capable of bridging the gap between reference systems (Koestler \u2013 bisociation). (46) <\/a> Erd\u00e9ly also seems to have identified himself most of all with the concept of the leap in Zen teachings. In the moment of enlightenment one receives no answer to the great questions of life, just as the Zen master gives no answer to the disciple\u2019s questions directed at the substance of the Zen. Still, mysteriously, the disciple intuits something from the substantial oneness of the universe. Thus, he becomes able to overcome the everyday mentality of na\u00efve realism, and to come very close to a new metaphysics that, through revolutionizing consciousness, may ultimately lead to, if not a better world, at least an idea of it.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

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 <\/p>\r\n

1<\/a> Extended version of this text can be found in: Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly: Creativity and Fantasy Developing Exercises (Translated by John Batki). In: Kreativit\u00e1si gyakorlatok, FAFEJ, INDIGO. Erd\u00e9ly Mikl\u00f3s m\u0171v\u00e9szetpedag\u00f3giai tev\u00e9kenys\u00e9ge 1975-1986.<\/em> Compilled by: S\u00e1ndor Hornyik and Annam\u00e1ria Sz\u0151ke. Edited by: Annam\u00e1ria Sz\u0151ke. MTA M\u0171v\u00e9szett\u00f6rt\u00e9neti Kutat\u00f3int\u00e9zet\u2013Gondolat Kiad\u00f3\u20132B Alap\u00edtv\u00e1ny\u2013Erd\u00e9ly Mikl\u00f3s Alap\u00edtv\u00e1ny, Budapest, 2008.<\/p>\r\n

2<\/a> Walter Benjamin: Goethe\u2019s Elective Affinities. In: Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings<\/em>, Volume 1, 1913-1926. <\/em>Eds: Bullock and Jennings, Belknap Press, 1996.<\/p>\r\n

3<\/a> Robert Filliou: Teaching and Learning as Performing Arts<\/em>. K\u00f6nig, K\u00f6ln – New York, 1970.<\/p>\r\n

4<\/a> The Freie Hochschule f\u00fcr Kreativit\u00e4t und interdisziplin\u00e4re Forschung<\/em> already existed in bud in 1971.<\/p>\r\n

5<\/a> Translator\u2019s note: Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s works untranslated so far, I will include my own translation of his titles in square brackets. In case of further occurrences, I will resort to this translation for better understanding, maintaining nevertheless that these are not official translations of the titles. I will similarly proceed in case of any other such title or institution.<\/p>\r\n

6<\/a> The lecture\u2019s manuscript can be found in the Erd\u00e9ly legacy, managed by the Erd\u00e9ly Mikl\u00f3s Alap\u00edtv\u00e1ny [Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly Foundation]. The text was brought to my attention by Annam\u00e1ria Sz\u0151ke. I would like to hereby thank her help in reconstructing and interpreting the occasionally fragmentary lecture.<\/p>\r\n

7<\/a> Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly: Optimista el\u0151ad\u00e1s. In: Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly: M\u0171v\u00e9szeti \u00edr\u00e1sok<\/em>. Ed.: Petern\u00e1k Mikl\u00f3s. K\u00e9pz\u0151m\u0171v\u00e9szeti, Budapest, 1991. 133. Cited passage translated by Zsuzsanna Szegedy-Masz\u00e1k, in: Sz\u0151ke Annam\u00e1ria: Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly: Moral Algebra \u2013 Solidarity Action (1972). A case-study (Stuttgart Lecture).<\/em> Presented on the VRM-Workshop: 28\u201330. September 2007. W\u00fcrttembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart. Vivid [Radical] Memory: Research and database project (2006\/2007): Conceptual practices from the 1960s to the 1980s under the conditions of communist regimes and military dictatorships in Europe and Latin America.<\/p>\r\n

This study of Erd\u00e9ly is practically a refined version of the 1977 lecture on utopia, focusing on those paradoxes of epistemology, philosophy of science and modern natural science, which might contribute to a revision of \u201cold\u201d positivist science and goal-rational society.<\/p>\r\n

8<\/a> If not indicated otherwise, the citations are taken from Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s lecture on utopia, Rem\u00e9ny \u00e9s lehet\u0151s\u00e9g<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n

9<\/a> Vera Nyilas: El\u0151sz\u00f3. In: Claude-Henri de Saint-Simon v\u00e1logatott \u00edr\u00e1sai<\/em>. Gondolat, Budapest, 1963. 5-28.<\/p>\r\n

10<\/a> In Bloch\u2019s case Erd\u00e9ly draws from his late principal work, the three-volume Das Prinzip Hoffnung<\/em>; in Moltmann\u2019s case his source is the Theologie der Hoffnung<\/em>. C.f.: Ernst Bloch: Das Prinzip Hoffnung<\/em>. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 1959., and J\u00fcrgen Moltmann: Theologie der Hoffnung<\/em>. Chr. Kaiser, M\u00fcnchen, 1964.<\/p>\r\n

The Hungarian reception \u2013 familiar to Erd\u00e9ly \u2013 also made a connection between two works as well as the oeuvre of Bloch and Moltmann. Zsolt Papp: J\u00fcrgen Moltmann \u00e9s \u201ea rem\u00e9ny teol\u00f3gi\u00e1ja\u201d.<\/em> Vil\u00e1goss\u00e1g, 1969\/8-9. 474-478.<\/p>\r\n

11<\/a> Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly: Mont\u00e1zsgesztus \u00e9s effektus. (1975) In: Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly: A filmr\u0151l<\/em>. Ed.: Mikl\u00f3s Petern\u00e1k. Tart\u00f3shull\u00e1m, Budapest, 1995. 150.<\/p>\r\n

12<\/a> Erika Landau: Psychologie der Kreativit\u00e4t<\/em>. E. Reinhardt, 1969. Citation translated by Daniel Sipos.<\/p>\r\n

13<\/a> Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly: Kreat\u00edv \u00e9s fant\u00e1ziafejleszt\u0151 gyakorlatok. In: Tanulm\u00e1nyok a vizu\u00e1lis nevel\u00e9s k\u00f6r\u00e9b\u0151l<\/em>. MTA Vizu\u00e1lis Kult\u00farakutat\u00f3 Munkabizotts\u00e1g, Budapest, 1978. 64.<\/p>\r\n

14<\/a> Paul Watzlawick – John H. Weakland – Richard Fisch: Change, Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution<\/em>. <\/em>W. W. Norton & Company, 1974. There are no signs that Erd\u00e9ly would have been familiar with the work of the Palo-Alto Group. The similarity of ideas probably springs from the influence of Eastern mentality and the special significance of paradoxes in their work.<\/p>\r\n

15<\/a> Erd\u00e9ly 1978, 64.<\/p>\r\n

16<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\r\n

17<\/a>Kreativit\u00e1s \u2013 Vizualit\u00e1s<\/em>. Exhibition catalogue. J\u00f3zsefv\u00e1rosi Ki\u00e1ll\u00edt\u00f3-terem, Budapest, 1976. 11.<\/p>\r\n

18<\/a> D\u00f3ra Maurer: Egy val\u00f3di mester. Havas Fanny interj\u00faja<\/em>. Besz\u00e9l\u0151, 24 October 1991. 4.<\/p>\r\n

19<\/a> According to Maurer, in making the exercises more animated, Erd\u00e9ly resorted to his experiences as a boy scout.<\/p>\r\n

20<\/a> \u201cAfter some time in the course of solving the tasks I began feeling like a live chess figure \u2013 I comprehended less and less of the whole, so I named our activity a servility exercise\u201d – Zolt\u00e1n L\u00e1bas: Kollekt\u00edv rajzol\u00e1s az Erd\u00e9ly-Maurer csoportban. In: M\u0171v\u00e9szet<\/em>, 1978\/9. 15.<\/p>\r\n

21<\/a> The paper was thus on the opposite side of the board, facing not the drawer, but the model. The drawer had to work bending over, viewing his drawing from an unusual angle.<\/p>\r\n

22<\/a> Personal information from \u00c1gnes H\u00e1y.<\/p>\r\n

23<\/a> L\u00e1bas 1978, 15.<\/p>\r\n

24<\/a> Translator\u2019s note: the Hungarian acronym would be FAFEJ, a pun meaning \u2018blockhead\u2019.<\/p>\r\n

25<\/a> Erd\u00e9ly 1978, 70.<\/p>\r\n

26<\/a> Zolt\u00e1n Seb\u0151k: \u00daj misztika fel\u00e9. Besz\u00e9lget\u00e9s Erd\u00e9ly Mikl\u00f3ssal<\/em>. H\u00edd, 1982\/3. 370.<\/p>\r\n

27<\/a> The name \u201cIndigo\u201d (a witty acronym of Interdiszciplin\u00e1ris gondolkod\u00e1s \u2013 \u2018Interdisciplinary thinking\u2019) was of course Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s idea, and it was not only meant to allude to interdisciplinary thinking, but to one of Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s favourite materials or media, the carbon paper (\u2018indigo\u2019 in Hungarian) as well.<\/p>\r\n

28<\/a> In addition to the already mentioned creative members, such internationally acknowledged artists took part in the work of the Indigo group as D\u00e1niel Erd\u00e9ly, J\u00e1nos Sug\u00e1r and J\u00e1nos Szirtes.<\/p>\r\n

29<\/a> Erd\u00e9ly 1978, 71. Erd\u00e9ly collected the following trivial cognitive categories of problem-solving: 1. Translation or reflection; 2. Double translation (returning to the original solution through a different approach); 3. Intensification (beyond limit); 4. Reduction; 5. Combination, relation (with other problem-groups); 6. Distancing, alienation, rendering uninterpretable; 7. Complete absurdity (usually on the level of language). These are what Erd\u00e9ly called \u201cstandard creative operations.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

30<\/a> Ildik\u00f3 Enyedi: Egy pedag\u00f3giai technika. (Az 1977\/78. \u00e9vi fant\u00e1ziafejleszt\u0151 gyakorlatok m\u00f3dszereinek elemz\u00e9se.). Magyar M\u0171hely<\/em>, Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly special issue, 1983. 31.<\/p>\r\n

31<\/a> In expounding the special and general theory of relativity, Einstein explains how the time lapse between two events is not invariant from one observer to another, but is dependent on the relative speeds of the observers’ reference frames (trains, as a matter of fact). Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly and the Indigo group mixed Einstein\u2019s scientific text into the text of an absurd short story by Kafka. C.f.: Indigo Group (P\u00e9ter Ber\u00e9nyi, B\u00e1lint Bori, D\u00e1niel Erd\u00e9ly, Gy\u00f6rgy Erd\u00e9ly, Ildik\u00f3 Enyedi, P\u00e9ter Fut\u00f3, leader: Mikl\u00f3s Erd\u00e9ly): Clock Paradox. In: Erd\u00e9ly 1995, 215-219.<\/p>\r\n

32<\/a> Petern\u00e1k 1991, 84.<\/p>\r\n

33<\/a> Enyedi 1983, 28.<\/p>\r\n

34<\/a> Ibid. 27.<\/p>\r\n

35<\/a> Alex F. Osborn: Applied Imagination. Principles and Procedures of Creative Problem Solving<\/em>. Scribner, New York, 1953.<\/p>\r\n

36<\/a> Enyedi 1983, 34.<\/p>\r\n

37<\/a> Petern\u00e1k 1991, 84.<\/p>\r\n

38<\/a> P\u00e1l Mikl\u00f3s: A zen \u00e9s a m\u0171v\u00e9szet<\/em>. Magvet\u0151, Budapest, 1978.<\/p>\r\n

39<\/a> He cites Watts in his study Mont\u00e1zsgesztus \u00e9s effektus<\/em>. In: Erd\u00e9ly 1995, 150. From Herrigel he read Zen in the Art of Archery<\/em>. cf. Seb\u0151k 1983, 370.<\/p>\r\n

40<\/a> Erd\u00e9ly 1995, 150.<\/p>\r\n

41<\/a> Petern\u00e1k 1991, 84.<\/p>\r\n

42<\/a> One of the most well-known koans, among the first to be asked by a Zen master from his disciple, goes as follows: \u201cWhen your mind is not dwelling on the dualism of good and evil, what is your original face before you were born?\u201d – Eugen Herrigel: The Method of Zen<\/em>, Vintage, 1974. 39.<\/p>\r\n

43<\/a> Herrigel, 1974, 122.<\/p>\r\n

44<\/a> Alan W. Watts: The Way of Zen,<\/em> Vintage, 1999. 164.<\/p>\r\n

45<\/a> Ibid, 150.<\/p>\r\n

46<\/a> Arthur Koestler: The Act of Creation<\/em>. Laurel, New York, 1964. Koestler distinguished bisociation from association with respect to the functioning of creativity. During bisociation, the thinker brings together and combines previously unrelated areas of science or topoi of art.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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