Egill
2011
Erasmus Prize 2007 awarded to Péter Forgács
The Board of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has decided to award the Erasmus Prize 2007 to the Hungarian filmmaker and media artist Péter Forgács.
The Erasmus Prize is awarded annually to a person who has made an exceptionally important contribution to European culture, society or social science. The amount of the Prize is € 150.000. The presentation of the Prize will take place in the autumn of 2007.
The field in which the 2007 Erasmus Prize is awarded is described as ‘Culture and Memory’. Historians and other scholars, artists, journalists, activists and politicians – they are all concerned with the memory of historical events. Cultural memory is a contentious field of polemics, revision and controversy that escapes canonical ordering. It is inherently unstable, remaking and transforming itself under various pressures and influences. This is a process worthy of attention in a world where the riches of the memory of the past are more and more superseded by a speedy forgetfulness.
Modern museums, libraries and archives have their own responsibility in the keeping and transmission of cultural heritage and memory. Historians, chroniclers, biographers and novelists have created major works going beyond the conventional boundaries of historiography and influencing the broad non-scholarly audience.
In addressing the subject of ‘culture and memory’ the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has chosen an artistic perspective, more specifically that of the documentary film.
The board of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has decided to award the 2007 Erasmus Prize to Péter Forgács. Through his documentary work the artist Péter Forgács has made an original contribution to the process of cultural memory and the transmission of culture, thereby furthering and deepening our understanding of the past. By using authentic amateur and home movies Péter Forgács creates in his films a direct view of historical events. He does not tell new stories, but offers new perspectives on known episodes. His films have no political or ideological agenda. Through intimate images from the private lives of ordinary citizens, Forgács confronts the present day world of the viewer with the recent past and in so doing transmits the memory of these episodes.
For an extensive list of works, awards and exhibitions see www.peterforgacs.com.
Source: Magyar Filmunio
