What would we give for an accurate record of an accidental discussion in a stage-coach at the beginning of the 19 th century?! To preserve seemingly unimportant things is wealth. (J. Sugár )

he work by János Sugár "Time Patrol" is evolving by collecting and keeping stories of accidental passers-by, on a busy place in the city. Any passer-by interested in and willing to tell any ten-minute story into the Dictaphone will be awarded with 500 Dinars. The selected stories are published in the form of a newspaper and sold on the same spot where they were collected – recorded. So far, this has been realized in Budapest, on the Moscow Square, and in Zagreb, outside the Railway Station. In Belgrade, the stories will be collected on Kalemegdan. What are the motives of people who participate in this project by telling their stories? It is difficult to say that they do it only for money because it seemingly is not big money; however, it is important to understand that today even this could be a possible and adequate explanation. Also, our curiosity regarding the contents and manner of individual interpretation of the time in which we are living indicates the opportunity for profit. The publishing of these stories means sharing the booty of this patrol that is intercepting and catching seemingly someone else’s non-lost time – theirs, but from the moment of reading ours as well.

János Sugár

János Sugár (1958) studied at the Department of Sculpture at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. In parallel with his studies he was actively involved in exhibitions and performances of Indigo, an interdisciplinary underground art group. His work includes installations, performances, as well as film and video. Sugár has participated in national and international exhibitions; in 1992 he exhibited at the Documents IX, in Kassel, in 1996 at Manifesta I, Rotterdam. His films were screened in 1998 in New York, at the Anthology Film Archives, the centre for preserving and researching independent and vanguard films.