Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Volt egyszer egy gyár - a Kodaktól a Fortéig. Kiállítás három színben (Vác, 2010)
PRÉCIS The photochemical industry in Hungary was brought into being by the Kodak firm, when they established a subsidiary in 1912, and they started the construction of a factory manufacturing dry plates in Vác in the same year. During the I World War the construction was suspended, being only resumed in 1922. The Kodak factory only manufactured photographic paper in Hungary, initially 81 thousand, and later, in 1943 1 million square meters of it. George Eastman, the factory founder visited Vác in 1928. He was donated a memorial plaque, placed on the factory wall in 1934, and a street in Vác was named after him. During II World War, in April of 1944, they declared the factory a munitions company, and part of its instalments and raw materials were transported to Germany and Czechoslovakia by the German army in November of the same year. On 5th December 1944, the bombardments of the Anglo-Saxon air-force, caused serious damage to the factory, which was situated in the vicinity of the railways. Following this the factory was closed, and Kodak sold the subsidiary to the Forte Photochemical Pty, which was originally established by the Hungarian General Credit Bank, in 1947. Once the banks in Hungary were nationalized in 1949 the factory became government owned as well, and from then on its name was the Forte Photochemistry Industrial Company. Big investments were effectuated in two different periods of time, between 1949-1958, and 1961-1968. During these two phases a film-factory equipped with new machinery, an 11-story emulsion plant, a plant for preparation of mouldings, a new barite-, new moulding-, a new preventive maintenance workshop and a refrigeration site were built, the air-conditioning- and the dust-guarding systems, the research laboratory and several social constructions were modernized. In 1947 100 thousand, in 1957 5 million, and in 1968 10 million m2 of photographic paper, as well as 700 thousand and later 1 million m2 of film were manufactured in the factory which gave employment to 1200-1500 people. Half of the products of the factory, whose majority were developed based on the factory's own research, were exported to over 50 countries. The factory became a 100% government owned Ltd company in 1992. In 1994 the managers and the employees acquired majority ownership. The Forte was a„socialist"enterprise for decades, whose functional principles and basic mode of operation were similar to those of the other companies, „companions in distress", which meant an irremediable drawback in the free market. However when they could have taken the new opportunity during the 1990 change of regime, by that time not only the economic conditions had changed but also the film-based photography had practically ceased to exist. In 2004 the company requested liquidation, and the FORTEINVEST Capital Investment Ltd was established in its place. Their tasks were to dispose of the factory instalments and to utilize the real estate. Once upon a time there was a factory ... it lived 85 years. In 2007 a multitude of photographers visited the factory for the last dismounting. They came to entomb and to remember. The idea of organising the exhibition (Once upon a time there was a factory - from Kodak to Forte) was induced by the cessation of the renowned factory; it's being bewailed by former employees and the town itself, as well as the wave of nostalgia following this. The structure of the exhibition, its threefold division reflects the manifold rapport of townsfolk to the (recent) past and the last days of the factory, creating three different „scenes" in the course of time. The 1st scene demonstrates the history of the Kodak/Forte factory, the 2nd one shows István Fekete, the photographic artist's photos about the last days of the factory, and in the 3rd scene (entitled For- teForever'10) we can witness copies of blow-ups on Forte- paper by famous photographic artists.
