The first free elections in Czechoslovakia after 1948 took place in June 1990. During his first visit to Prague after the fall of the communist regime, Beatnik poet Allen Ginsberg signed the Czechoslovak election program. This artefact was lent by Jiří Hromada, a leading activist for the rights of sexual minorities and former president of the national organization of the Czech gay and lesbian movement, for the exhibition dedicated to Allen Ginsberg. The exhibition, organized from January to April 2018 by the Centre for Queer Memory, was related to Ginsberg’s visit to Prague in 1965. At that time, Ginsberg was elected “King of the Majales” within students’ May Celebrations “Majales”, and then was expelled from Czechoslovakia for alleged indecent behaviour. The opening of the exhibition was accompanied by a lecture dedicated to the events of 1965. Other objects that the Centre had in its collections were presented during the exhibition as well, such as the Ginsberg’s poem “Kral Majales” written in 1965 and visually arranged by the painter Robert LaVigne.
Hely
Na Strži 1683/40, 140 00 Praha 4, Czech Republic
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