Miklós Erdély HIDDEN PARAMETERS
Films by Miklós Erdély

Opening hours: 10.00-20.00 daily from 15 June to 28 August 2001.

Miklós Erdély, one of the most important artists of the 20th century, passed away fifteen years ago. The following were found while cataloging his works: among a great number of film sections in master copies, film scraps, cut sections or films compiled from scraps, 16mm sound and film recordings, we found the two-reel versions of Erdély's three early films, thought lost, which we hope can be reconstructed; a two-reel work of Erdély's film entitled A Hérakleitosz töredék (The Heraclitus Fragment), shown many times during its making, which can also be understood as a version of the last section of the film, Álommásolatok (Dream Copies), he made at the BBS (Béla Balázs Studio) in 1977. The montage-films of the 1960s and 70s were mostly made from film scraps collected from the wastebaskets of the television station. The film scraps, called "TV Garbage" by Erdély, consist of these reworked scraps, with some newly recorded sections added (with the exception of the Heraclitus Fragment). Their major element is the sound material, the radio plays which can be found in a volume of his writings, performed by Miklós Erdély, Sándor Altorjai, Zsuzsa Szenes, Endre Kiss, Gizella Veres, Margit Rajczi, and others.

These works are to be shown in the Gallery of the C3 Foundation in memory of Miklós Erdély.


 The known data of the films:
Hidden Parameters (Rejtett paraméterek) 1968, 16mm, black and white, 22 min.

Hidden Parameters Hidden Parameters Hidden Parameters Hidden Parameters Hidden Parameters

Premier: Kossuth Club (?); Fluxus Concert. The Literature Club of the Architects' Culture Center, Budapest District 20 (Pesterzsébet), Ady Endre u. 90-92. Feb. 24, 1969: the projection was on the schedule.

Text: Miklós Erdély: Rejtett paraméterek (Hidden Parameters). in: E.M.: Kollapszus orv. Magyar Mûhely, Paris, 1974. 68-74. Reprint: Magyar Mûhely, Paris, Vienna,Budapest, 1991.

The film was made based on the radio play of the same title.

Anti-Aspect (Antiszempont), 1970-71, 16mm, black and white, in sound, 14 min.

Anti-Aspect Anti-Aspect Anti-Aspect Anti-Aspect Anti-Aspect

Premier: April 6, 1970

Text: Miklós Erdély: Antiszempont (Anti-Aspect). in: E.M.: Kollapszus orv. Magyar Mûhely, Paris, 1974. 78-82. Reprint: Magyar Mûhely, Paris, Vienna, Budapest, 1991

Also a work in connection to the radio play of the same title, usually cited with the date 1971. The premier was on April 6, 1970 at the District 1 Cultural Center during the 7th Rakpart Evenings, Forum of Young Poets, Writers, and Performing Artists. (The program advertisement does not cite this title.) According to handwritten notes of the time, the film-structure following the text consisted of many sections: Möbius-strips, hooked film(s), and breaks, and was made up mainly of collected film scraps. The poem was recited by Endre Kiss, with one section (Nagytestû.../Large bodied...) recited backwards. It is most likely that Erdély worked on the film even after the premier.


A New Coffee House Opened on Szamuely Street , 1972, 16 mm, black and white, 11 min.

A New Coffee House Opened on Szamuely Street A New Coffee House Opened on Szamuely Street A New Coffee House Opened on Szamuely Street A New Coffee House Opened on Szamuely Street A New Coffee House Opened on Szamuely Street

Text: Miklós Erdély: Új kávézó nyílt a Szamuely utcában (A New Coffee House Opened on Szamuely Street). in: E.M.: Kollapszus orv. Magyar Mûhely, Paris, 1974. 75-77. Reprint: Magyar Mûhely, Paris, Vienna, Budapest, 1991.

As in the case of the previous two films, the radio play text published in the volume Kollapszus orv. is the basis for the film.

Heraclitus Fragment (Hérakleitosz-töredék),1976-77(?) 16 mm, black and white, in sound, 35 min

Heraclitus Fragment Heraclitus Fragment Heraclitus Fragment Heraclitus Fragment Heraclitus Fragment

Those awake have one,/ and an especially mutual world,/ while during sleep everybody/turns to their own world. (Heraclitus)


Man has experienced much./ Has named many of the heavens,/ Since we have become conversation/And we can hear each other. (Hölderlin)


Heraclitus Fragment is an earlier version of the fourth part of Dream Copies, a film of four parts made in 1977 in the Béla Balázs Film Studio. This part is often screened individually.