András, Edit

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Raining  Money  at  Vigadó,  Budapest.  Demonstration  co-­organized  by  Tranzit  Action  Group  and  Free  Artists,March  14.  2014.  Photo:  Gabriella  Csoszó  /  FreeDoc.Reports  and  Interviews  From: May  16th,  2014Hungary—A Post-‐Socialist Conflict Zoneby  Edit  AndrásAfter  the  election  in  Hungary,  carefully  tailored  to  be  favorable  for  the  ruling  party,  nothing  canstop  FIDESZ,  a  conservative,  right-­wing  party,  from  completing  the  creation  of  a  retrograde,ethno-­nationalist  state-­system  with  semi-­feudal,  semi-­socialist  features,  the  foundation  of  whichhad  been  laid  down  during  the  previous  four  years.  The  2012  Democracy  Index  qualifiedHungary  as  a  “flawed  democracy,”  however,  on  the  basis  of  the  latest  measures  of  thegovernment  there  is  a  good  chance  it  will  be  downgraded  into  the  category  of  “hybrid”  or  even“authoritarian  regime,”  as  it  has  happened  with  Putin’s  Russia,  a  regime  close  to  present-­dayHungary.The  populist  rhetoric  of  the  administration  tocomplete  the  deconstruction  of  socialism  is  in  sharpcontrast  with  the  sensation  of  déjà  vu  experienced  bythe  people,  who  feel  they  are  witnessing  a  return  to“socialism  with  a  national  face”  by  means  of  a  rapid,systematic  removal  of  the  basic  institutions  ofdemocracy.  Upward  control,  the  main  guarantee  ofdemocracy,  is  disregarded,  as  the  final  decisions  arein  the  hands  of  the  freshly  re-­elected  Prime  MinisterViktor  Orbán  in  this  centralized  and  highlycontrolled  country.  Following  the  fundamentalchanges  in  the  constitution  and  in  the  political  andeconomic  spheres  which  will  fortify  the  ruling  party  for  decades,  there  have  been  transformationsin  education,  art,  and  culture.  The  authoritative  and  systematic  transformations  assure  statecontrol  in  each  and  every  segment  of  culture,  eliminate  transparency,  and  exclude  participation.From  this  situation,  a  culture  war  began,  and  is  still  going  on.The  art  scene  here,  especially  in  comparison  to  other  post-­socialist  countries,  has  been  quiteapolitical  for  almost  two  decades.  This  is  due  to  the  mistrust  of  political  art,  and  the  stronghold  ofmodernist  and  neo-­avant-­garde  strategies.  However,  cultural  politics  have  become  divided  alongpolitical  and  ideological  lines,  with  the  arbitrary  measures  of  the  regime  lacking  professionalismand  favoring  its  own  clientele,  creating  an  over-­politicized  art  scene.  It  is  not  possible  anymore  tostep  aside  and  ignore  the  political  struggles  and  remain  a  neutral  studio  artist  or  idealistic  critic.Culture  was  handed  over  to  the  Hungarian  Art  Academy  (H.A.A.),  a  shadow  ministry  that  has  fullpower  and  authority  to  decide  and  administer  public  support  for  art  and  culture,  including  stateDrawing  of  an  art  student  Péter  Donka  after  thejournalist  photography  (István  Huszti)  taken  on  theinterruption  of  the  first  meeting  of  Hungarian  ArtAcademy  by  Free  Artists,  at  the  moment  when  one  oftheir  representatives,  Csaba  Nemes,  was  attacked  with  afolder  by  a  poet  member  of  H.A.A.  Dec.  2013.  Courtesyof  the  owner  of  the  drawing:  Csaba  Nemes.subsidies.  There  is  an  option  to  gladly  accept  the  boundless  opportunities  and  financial  supportin  exchange  for  sharing  the  dream  of  the  leader  of  a  conservative,  Christian,  and  nationalistHungary.  But  for  those  who  wish  to  connect  to  the  global  art  scene  instead  of  the  local,  parochialone,  and  who  have  not  yet  left  the  country,  the  air  is  being  sucked  out  of  the  room,  andopportunities  for  making  and  exhibiting  art  are  diminishing.As  the  internationally  acknowledged  philosopher  Miklós  Gáspár  Tamás  rightly  stated,contemporary  Hungarian  culture  is  not  against  the  ideology  of  the  recent  administration,  ratheragainst  its  acts.  Although  there  are  artists  who  reflect  the  nationalist  ideology,  the  cult  of  folk  art,and  the  manipulation  of  history,  the  majority  of  advanced  critical  art  is  a  kind  of  visual  activisminstead.A  grassroots  organization  against  the  empowermentof  H.A.A.  was  initiated  by  the  artists  Szabolcs  KissPáland  Csaba  Nemes.  Curators,  critics,  and  other  artistsjoined  them,  and  Free  Artists  was  formed,  whosefirst  action  was  an  intrusion  into  the  meeting  ofH.A.A.,  demanding  autonomy  for  arts.  The  process  ofreplacing  art  professionals  with  commissars  loyal  tothe  ruling  party  to  assure  self-­censorship,  neglectingopen  competitions  at  the  Kunsthalle,  and  appointingthe  new  director  of  the  Ludwig  Museum  in  Budapestin  a  non-­transparent  and  orchestrated  jury  processhave  triggered  new  forms  of  visual  activism.  Whenthe  Kunsthalle  was  given  to  H.A.A.,  the  youngcurators  Márton  Pacsika  and  Eszter  Kozma  alongwith  their  professor  József  Mélyi,  a  curator  andrespected  critic,  initiated  regular  actions  and  eventsoutside  of  the  building,  called  Outer  Space,demonstrating  against  the  invasion  of  an  independent  art  institution  by  party  politics.  Inresponse  to  the  non-­transparent  process  of  appointing  the  director  of  the  Ludwig  Museum,  thegroup  United  for  Contemporary  Art  was  established  by  the  art  and  theory  network  tranzit.hu,and  subsequently  occupied  the  steps  of  the  Ludwig  Museum.  The  occupiers,  comprisingacknowledged  artists,  art  historians,  curators,  and  students,  demanded  complete  transparency  ofthe  selection  process,  autonomy  for  cultural  institutions,  as  well  as  dialogue  betweenprofessionals  and  ministry  officials.  The  most  hard-­core  of  the  occupiers—including  manymembers  of  the  Free  Artist  group—were  sitting,  eating,  sleeping  on  the  steps,  and  organizingforums  and  events.As  part  of  the  nation  building,  the  rhetoric  of  the  ruling  party  is  based  on  the  idea  that  the  statesocialist  period  was  illegitimate  and  the  previous  government  did  not  accomplish  true  politicaltransition.  The  current  administration  picks  up  the  political  threads  of  1944,  as  if  a  symbolicgesture  would  erase  the  period  of  state  socialism  and  rewrite  history.  Thus,  all  the  monumentsconnected  to  the  democratic,  liberal,  or  slightly  leftist  tradition  are  falling  victim  to  this  secondOccupy  Ludwig,  May  2013.  Organized  by  United  forContemporary  Art  and  Free  Artists.  Photo:Anna  Vörös  /Photography  and  Activismwave  of  purification  of  public  space;;  vulgar  andcommercial  bronze  figures,  like  “Girl  Feeding  Dog,”or  depicting  the  television  detective  Colombo,  aremushrooming  in  the  city.  Selective  memory  keepsonly  what  are  considered  the  “successful”  events  inHungarian  history  in  circulation.  Failures  or  eventsdemanding  collective  responsibility  are  notconsidered.  The  debate  around  the  controversialmonument  to  the  German  occupation  of  Hungary  in1944  in  Budapest’s  Freedom  Square  culminatedaround  the  time  of  the  governmental  election.According  to  the  official  government  website,  it  willpay  tribute  to  “all  Hungarian  victims  with  theerection  of  the  monument  commemorating  the  tragic  German  occupation  and  the  memorial  yearto  mark  the  70th  anniversary  of  the  Holocaust.”  However,  the  protesters  regard  it  a  falsificationof  history,  as  it  does  not  differentiate  between  the  victims  and  the  perpetrators  and  does  notacknowledge  the  responsibility  of  Hungary  in  the  Holocaust  and  World  War  II.  On  thedesignated  place  of  the  monument,  a  counter-­monument,  a  living  memorial  was  established.People  put  personal  objects  and  stones  there.  The  action  was  initiated  by  a  small  civil  groupincluding  a  few  members  of  the  Free  Artists,  András  Rényi,  an  art  historian  and  chair  of  the  arthistory  department  of  the  Eötvös  Loránd  University,  as  well  as  the  respected  neo-­avant-­gardeartist  György  Jovánovics.  The  process  is  still  going  on  as  I  write  this  report.  The  fence  erectedaround  the  construction  site  by  the  workers  during  the  day  is  demolished  by  the  protesters  everyevening.CONTRIBUTOREdit  AndrásEDIT  ANDRÁS,  Ph.D,  (Budapest  and  Long  Island,  U.S.A.)  is  an  art  historian  and  art  critic,  a  senior  research  fellow  at  theInstitute  of  Art  History  of  the  Research  Centre  for  the  Humanities,  Hungarian  Academy  of  Sciences,  Budapest.  Her  main  interestsconcern  modern  and  contemporary  Eastern  and  Central  European  art,  gender  issues,  public  art,  art  theory,  and  activism  in  thepost-­state  socialist  countries.  She  has  published  numerous  essays  and  has  participated  in  various  international  conferences.  Herlatest  book  is  Cultural  Cross  Dressing.  Art  in  the  Ruins  of  Socialism,  2009  (in  Hungarian).  She  is  editor  of  Transitland.  Video  artfrom  Central  and  Eastern  Europe  1989  -­  2009,  Budapest,  2009.RECOMMENDED  ARTICLESEDUCATION REFORM Beneath the Surface Part IV: Beyond Reformby  John  GarveySEPT  2014  |  FIELD  NOTESUnlike  in  the  era  of  legal  school  segregation  or  in  the  long  time  periods  in  the  United  States  when  the  more-­or-­lessexplicit  tracking  of  children  from  different  social  strata  into  different  educational  pathways  in  the  public  schools  waslargely  taken  for  granted  as  a  desirable  project,  the  pervasive  educational  inequalities  of  the  moment  are  not  theresult  of  intentional  policies.  Artist Szabolcs KissPál in conversationwith art critic Edit AndrásART  CRIT  EUROPE  |  REPORTS  AND  INTERVIEWS  FROM:After  1989,  in  most  of  the  post-­state  socialist  countries  of  the  region—Romania,  Slovakia,  and  Poland—a  considerableamount  of  artistic  practice  reflected  on  the  past  and  the  period  of  transition  both  from  social  and  historical  points  ofview.VISUALIZING MADNESS A Long History of Madness, 2012 – Presentby  Mieke  Bal  and  Michelle  Williams  GamakerJUNE  2014  |  CRITICS  PAGEThe  “social  unconscious”  surfaces  when  a  society  first  drives  people  mad  through  violence,  then  represses  madpeople,  and  puts  them  out  of  sight.ROMANO DROMby  Marshall  YarbroughAPR  2014  |  MUSICRomano  Drom’s  performance  at  Roulette  on  February  22nd,  part  of  the  World  Music  Institute’s  World  to  Brooklynseries,  was  remarkable  not  only  for  the  group’s  virtuosic  playing,  but  also  for  the  casual  atmosphere  the  organizerswere  able  to  create.

Hungary‒A Post-Socialist Conflict Zone. A report from Hungary.

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