The Danube Exodus: The Rippling Currents of the River, opens at Getty, 17 August

[anna balint]

[The Danube Exodus was originally part - i think 11 - of Peter Forgacs series 'Private Hungary'. The Private Hungary 
movies are coherent stories reconstructed from found amateur footage, usually from Hungary from the interbellum period 
1920-1940 . Thus these movies give an unsuaul perspective on the private, family history and the larger context, 
documentary and fiction, history and present. Also the collaboration of film director Peter Forgacs and composer Tibor 
Szemzo looks back to a longer tradtion. It's not just that Tibor Szemzo composes music for Peter Forgacs, but also Tibor 
Szemzo uses Peter Forgacs's footage for his multimedia perfromances. great stuff! greetings, ab]


Interactive Media Installation Opens at Getty
Getty Communications Department <communications at getty.edu>


"The Danube Exodus: The Rippling Currents of the River", on view August 17 through September 29, 2002, at the Getty 
Research Institute, presents visitors with a unique interactive media experience that immerses them in the sights and 
sounds of Jewish and German refugees fleeing in opposite directions along the same path to avoid the onslaught of 
World War II. This exhibition is a collaboration between Hungarian artist Péter Forgács, the University of Southern 
California Annenberg Center for Communication Labyrinth Project, and the Getty's design team.
Visitors to "The Danube Exodus" installation use a touchscreen interface to navigate through three different, yet 
intersecting tales. Set in 1939, one story tells of Eastern European Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, trying to reach a ship on 
the Black Sea that will transport them to a new home in Palestine. A parallel or counter story, set one year later in 1940, 
following the Soviet re-annexation of Bessarabia, tells of émigré Germans abandoning their adopted Bessarabian 
homeland to return to Germany. Both groups were transported along the Danube River by Captain Nándor Andrásovits-an 
adventurer and amateur filmmaker who documented not only these historic journeys but also his own explorations of 
Central Europe. The third story is that of the captain and the river.
The exhibition also includes early 18th-century maps of the Danube River and drawings of the region from the special 
collections of the Research Library at the Getty Research Institute. The project was launched during Forgács' residency 
at the Getty Research Institute in 2000-2001 in response to the theme "Reproductions and Originals" and will kick off the 
2002-2003 theme "Biography." 
"The innovative and interdisciplinary approach of this exhibition is a powerful demonstration of the Getty Research 
Institute's commitment to extending the boundaries of art and its historical meaning," said Thomas Crow, director of the 
Getty Research Institute and member of USC's art history faculty. "The Danube Exodus is a one-of-a-kind experience that 
we are thrilled to be able to present to Los Angeles."
"The Danube Exodus creatively blends images and sounds of the past using technology from the present," said Elizabeth 
Daley, executive director of the Annenberg Center and dean of the USC School of Cinema-Television. "And through this 
melding of old and new, installation visitors from this century can glean a fascinating perspective on one of the most 
turbulent moments in the last century."
Three Perspectives Flow Together
"The Danube Exodus: The Rippling Currents of the River" springs from film footage shot over a half century ago by 
Andrásovits, captain of the Danube river steamer Erzsébet Királyné (Queen Elizabeth). Having originally crafted this 
"found footage" into an award-winning one-hour film for Dutch television, Forgács teamed up with the Labyrinth Project to 
transform the material into an immersive experience that compels viewers to compare what Forgács calls the 
"incomparable duet of the German-Jewish exodus."
"Art is not what can be physically seen in the installation," said Forgács. "Rather, art is that certain intangible thing that 
each visitor will see. Art is happening in the visitor's mind," he added.
Through its use of touch-screen technology, the installation allows visitors to experience history as a stream of moments 
and memories that can always be understood in new ways, with each new intersection and reverberation made possible 
by shifting combinations of design, choice, and chance.
"What our interface designers found most challenging and exciting was the ongoing process of re-orchestrating the 
captain's original footage-as it moved from one medium or historic moment to another, with its meanings constantly 
changing and its narrative field constantly expanding," said Marsha Kinder, the noted USC cinema professor who started 
the Labyrinth Project, which has been producing interactive documentaries and electronic fictions in collaboration with 
independent artists since 1997. "Visitors are drawn into this process," she added, "not only by choosing what they see 
and hear, but also by bringing their own personal memories and associations to this haunting material."
>From the 18th to 21st century
After viewing the early 18th-century maps and drawings of the Danube region compiled by Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsili 
that are on display in the exhibition gallery, visitors can proceed to the installation space to navigate through three 
adjacent arenas. On their left, they encounter the story of the Jewish exodus through a large projection of silent footage of 
that particular story. They also have access to background material and interviews with passengers on two large monitors 
with touchscreen interfaces and headphones. On the visitors' far right, a parallel story unfolds with a similar format 
devoted to the Bessarabian Germans. In the central space, the implicit comparisons between the Germans and Jews play 
out powerfully and poetically on five large adjacent screens, as do the multi-layered readings of the captain and the river. 
The resulting effect is that of being immersed in a dramatic clash between giant images vying for control over the narrative 
space. Visitors will be able to use a touchscreen interface to select orchestrations that interweave the three narratives in 
new ways.
The mesmerizing power and impact of the experience in the central space is further augmented by an audio mix that 
includes ambient sounds of the river and harbor, the mechanical rhythms of ships' engines, regional music from the period, 
songs and prayers of the refugees, voice-overs of the captain and his passengers, and the haunting minimalist music of 
composer Tibor Szemzö, who has collaborated with Forgács on all of his previous films.

Related events
U.S. Premiere Screening: "A Bibó Reader"
The Getty screens Péter Forgács' latest film, "A Bibó Reader", in which the artist uses found footage and original music 
by Tibor Szemzö to pay homage to the great Hungarian political thinker István Bibó (1911-1979), who served as minister 
of state in 1956 during the Hungarian revolution. A Bibó Reader screened earlier this year at the Cannes film festival.
September 5, 7:30 p.m.

Harold M. Williams Auditorium, Getty Center
Discussion Panel: "Biography on Film"
Panel discussion with Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Mark Jonathan Harris and artist Péter Forgács on 
their approach to biography in the highly charged context of the Holocaust. Special guests include Michael Roth, 
president of the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland; Michael Renov, professor of critical studies in the School 
of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California; Robert Rosenstone, professor of history at the California 
Institute of Technology; János Varga, head researcher, historian, and archivist at the Hungarian National Film Archive; 
and panel moderator Marsha Kinder, director of the Labyrinth Research Initiative on Interactive Narrative at the University 
of Southern California Annenberg Center for Communication.

September 12, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Museum Lecture Hall, Getty Center
Performance: "Free Fall Oratorio"
This multimedia project, based on the award-winning video "Free Fall" (1996-97) by artist Péter Forgács and composer 
Tibor Szemzö, presents a moving and intimate picture of the Hungarian Holocaust. Performing live against a backdrop of 
moving images, vocalists from the Gordian Knot Company of Hungary chronicle the family memories of amateur filmmaker 
and Holocaust survivor, György Petö, whose home movies form the basis of Free Fall.

September 14, 8:00 p.m.
Harold M. Williams Auditorium, Getty Center
All events are free and open to the public, but seating reservations are required. For information and seating and parking 
reservations, please call 310-440-7300 or visit www.getty.edu.

###
Visiting the Getty Center:
Admission to the Getty Center is always free. Parking is $5 per car. No parking reservations are needed on Saturdays and 
Sundays or after 4 p.m. on weekdays. College students with current school I.D. and those arriving by taxi, shuttle, 
motorcycle, bicycle, or bus (MTA # 561 and Santa Monica Big Blue Bus # 14) can visit without parking reservations at 
any time. Parking is based on availability. Reservations are required for weekday parking, event seating, and groups of 15 
or more. During peak holiday and vacation times, visitors may be directed to a free parking lot and shuttle service located 
nearby at Constitution Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard.
Reservations are recommended for the Restaurant and can be made by calling 310-440-7300. Parking on surrounding 
streets is restricted. Please call 310-440-7300 (English or Spanish) or visit the Getty Web site at www.getty.edu for 
parking and seating reservations and information. The TTY line for callers who are deaf or hearing impaired is 310-440-
7305.
The Getty Center is open Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday 
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is closed Mondays and major holidays.
About the Getty:
The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that features the 
J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Grant Program. The 
J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs are based at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
The Getty Research Institute serves education in the broadest sense by increasing knowledge and understanding about 
art and art history through advanced research. The Research Institute provides intellectual leadership through its 
research, exhibition, and publications programs and provides service to a wide range of scholars worldwide through 
residencies, fellowships, online resources, and a Research Library. The Research Library is one of the largest art and 
architecture libraries in the world, containing 800,000 volumes, including general collections of books, periodicals, and 
auction catalogues encompassing the history of Western art and related fields in the humanities. The Research Library's 
special collections include rare books, artists' journals, sketchbooks, architectural drawings and models, photographs, 
and archival materials. 
About the USC Annenberg Center for Communication:
The Annenberg Center for Communication was established in 1993 through a $120 million endowment given to the 
University of Southern California by Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg. Through the numerous projects and initiatives it 
sponsors, the center supports active research that addresses practical problems in the convergence of technology, and 
communications. It is directed by a team of respected leaders from arts and entertainment, as well as science, technology 
and business, who all embrace the cross-disciplinary approach sought in the center's projects. For more information, 
please visit the ACC Web site www.annenberg.edu. 
The Labyrinth Project is a research initiative at the center, funded in part by the Rockefeller Foundation. Under the 
direction of Marsha Kinder, chair of the Critical Studies Division at the USC School of Cinema-Television, the Labyrinth 
Project explores ways to combine the compelling visual language of narrative cinema with the interactive potential and 
database structures of new media. For additional information about the Labyrinth Project and its activities, please email 
the group at labyrinth at annenberg.edu or visit their Web site www.annenberg.edu/labyrinth.