Bik van der Pol: Untitled (After Miklós Erdély) – Project for Moszkva tér (2003)

The slightly outdated form of the public memorial lives on not only in a sentimental, banal and formal way, but also as an example of critical art, like in the work of Bik van der Pol – Liesbeth Bik and Jos van der Pol – (Untitled [After Miklós Erdély] – Moszkva Square Project, 2003). Their bronze chest is an homage to Miklós Erdély and one of his early actions (Unguarded Money, 1956). At the time of the 1956 revolution initiated by Erdély and his friends the Hungarian Writers’ Association left open, unguarded chests at different locations in Budapest, to raise money in support of the martyrs of the revolution. The artists initially intended to erect the bronze copy of the originally wooden chest at a public place, so that passers-by can start using it and thereby remember the artistic activities of Miklós Erdély and the revolution. In the 2003 project, Bik van der Pol’s chest stood open in the middle of the Moszkva Square waiting for passers-by to put objects not needed by them anymore in, whilst others to take these out and use them. With this Bik van der Pol at the same time represented an alternative of the capitalist barter as well.