#13 Institutions And Gray Zones

This issue deals with the current state and the constantly questionable situation of art institutions. Increasing pressure, political interventions, the rise of self-censorship in Europe and the United States. Crises symptoms in culture, while crises in the World. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the crisis in the democracies of Central Europe have brought the issue of the freedom of artistic institutions to the surface once again. Editor: Gergely Nagy

World-famous Starchitects, National Excellence. One reading of the 10-Year-Old Liget Project

Boglárka Kőrösi, May, 2024May, 2024

The Liget Project was initiated as part of a grandiose cultural real estate investment, with the goal of constructing a cultural quarter in Budapest's City Park, one of the oldest public parks in Europe. This article examines the narrative that the government has built around the development to make it acceptable to the people of the city.

Between Memory Culture and Cancel Culture: (Self-)Censorship and Political Intervention in Germany’s Cultural Landscape

Emily Finkelstein, May, 2024May, 2024

The cultural scene in Germany has been on fire for six months. The still-smoldering aftermath of documenta 15 has been reignited in the face of the current turmoil in Israel and Palestine, leading to cancellations, boycotts, defunding and high-profile resignations across the country’s cultural institutions. The blurring lines between art institutions and state politics has called into question the future of Germany’s position as a central node in the art world and a supporter of culture across the globe.

Loud and Unruly Gatherings: Art Museums and Social Protests

Ágnes Berecz, May, 2024May, 2024

Protests are staged, posters are posted, people are screaming, whistles are blown, and liquids of all kinds are thrown at artworks in London, New York, Paris, Mexico City and Hong Kong. We now look at the history of the protests and the current situation.

“Institutional Repair”— In the Ironic Sense of the Term. From my Native Point of View

Andrea Pócsik, Apr, 2024May, 2024

One of the most illuminating stories in the history of cultural anthropology is the scandal of Bronislaw Malinowski, which, to my knowledge, has been most thoroughly interpreted by Clifford Geertz. “The myth of the chameleon field-worker, perfectly self-tuned to his exotic surroundings—a walking miracle of […]

Polish Cultural Institutions during the PiS Era and in Its Aftermath

Jakub Dąbrowski, Apr, 2024Apr, 2024

What happened in Polish artistic and cultural institutions under nationalist governments, and what happens when democratic change occurs? How can certain places be re-democratised? What can democracy advocates do if they do not want to break the law? Report and case study from Warsaw.

“That’s football, that’s what the game is like.” Current Developments at Kunsthalle Bratislava, from a Personal Perspective

Martina Kotláriková, Apr, 2024Apr, 2024

In Slovakia, there is currently talk of state capture or direct attacks on our democracy. Day after day, we see the independence of the judiciary undermined, grants for human rights organizations canceled, the criminal law changed so as to protect the perpetrator and not the […]

Reports from the Growing Moral Gray Zone. An introduction to Mezosfera #13

Gergely Nagy, Apr, 2024Apr, 2024

We are living the dilemmas of the impossibility of resistance and the moral obligation of it, or, if I were to be poetic, the melancholy of resistance.