Kategorie: News
19.10.2021
After the students and teachers of University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest (SZFE) occupied their university building for 71 days in autumn 2020 to fight for the freedom and independence of the university, the Freeszfe Society, an independent creative, educational and cultural space, was founded in February this year.
Former and current students, teachers and staff of SZFE work together here autonomously and democratically in a free atmosphere of creative work and education. For example, they run the educational programme „Emergency Exit Program“, which is a cooperation on a European level that won the European Citizen Award and enables Freeszfe students to successfully graduate.
Robert Wilson, Theatre director and member of Akademie der Künste in Berlin supports the movement: “I consider it my civic duty to state that I do not agree to the gutting of educational and artistic independence and freedom, nor to the unhealthy concentration of too much power and influence in the hands of a few” – Robert Wilson; Paris, September 17, 2021
At the moment, the members of the Freeszfe Society do the work necessary for the survival of society without any compensation: they teach, manage, plan, organise. Moreover, students who have left SZFE and joined Freeszfe have lost their benefits – their scholarships, their health insurance and the possibility of a student loan, which used to be guaranteed by the state. Freeszfe also faces the challenge of finding permanent premises in Budapest for the future.
A fundraising campaign is currently underway. Any support that the Freefsze Society receives will help the students with their exams (films and productions) and secure them some scholarship:
#supportfreearteducation #freeszfe
patreon.com/freeszfe
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23.09.2021
Over summer break, the work of the European Alliance of Acadamies continued: Important topics and interviews with key actors of the Alliance are part of the current issue of the Journal der Künste #16. The continous dialogue with our partners in the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania has resulted in contributions to the current issue. All contributions help to illustrate the different realities of life in Europe.
Read the full article in the Journal der Künste see here.
ON THE VALUE OF BEAUTY
IN THE FIGHT AGAINST HATE
Journalist Matthias Krupa (Zeit Online) interviews Dominika Kasprowicz (Villa Decius) and Philipp Ther (University of Vienna) on the question of where the negative emotions in the sociopolitical debates of our time come from – and what we can do to counteract the division of Europe.
Read the full article here.
WHEN FREEDOM DIES
At the suggestion of Martin Krafl (Czech Literary Centre), a text by Czech writer Radka Denemarková has been included, in which she traces historical conditions at the interface between Neoliberalism and Capitalism on the one side and human rights, democracy and freedom of opinion on the other.
Read the full article here.
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
AN ARCHIVE OF ABSCENCE
The photographs by Matej Bejenaru show examples of the voids left at former places of research and innovation after the transformation in some European countries. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Anca Poterasu and Cristina Stoenescu (The Romanian Association for Contemporary Art) for contextualising the content of his photographs.
Read the full article here.
19.07.2021
The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism was created on 16 October 2020 in honour of Maltese investigative journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, who campaigned against corruption and was murdered by a car bomb in 2017.
The prize, sponsored by the European Parliament, is awarded annually for work by journalists from the European Union and aims to reward outstanding and informed journalistic work on issues that promote and defend the EU’s fundamental values.
This year’s applications are open until 1 September 2021.
The prize is worth 20,000 euros and is open to all professional journalists and journalism teams. Nationality is not a factor. Journalistic contributions that have been published or broadcast by media in one of the 27 EU Member States can be submitted.
The award ceremony will take place in mid-October around the anniversary of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia on 16 October.
Further information: daphnejournalismprize.eu
22.06.2021
Declaration of the Society of Hungarian Authors
The Hungarian Parliament has recently discussed and adopted the proposal on „Stricter action against paedophile offenders and the amendment of certain laws for the protection of children“, the following passage of which has become the most known and controversial: „For the purposes of this Act and to ensure the rights of the child, it is prohibited to make pornographic content available to children under the age of eighteen, as well as content that depicts sexuality in an autotelic way, or promotes or displays gender non-conformity, gender reassignment or homosexuality.”
You do not need to be a legal scholar or a linguist to see, from the title alone and then in detail in the text of the law itself, how it attempts to confuse the case and the need for stronger, necessary action by the authorities against paedophilia with drastic restrictions on freedom of expression and artistic freedom and fundamental human rights. For political purposes, it deliberately juxtaposes, distorts, and obscures things that do not belong together. After all, representation is no more the same as promotion than homosexuality and paedophilia. The right-wing and fascism. The left and the communist. The Hungarian person and the supporters of the governing party (and vice versa). The refugee and the terrorist. Public money and private property. Information and propaganda. The government and masterfulness. The list goes on and on.
If we interpret the law literally, and we can do no other, it is clear that, on this basis, an important part of world literature, other arts and, in essence, universal culture is being removed from public education and relegated to the late-night time slot in the media. Among them, the works of many of our fellow writers may not be graduation subjects in the future. The Hungarian Government has thus forced through parliament a completely pointless, slipshod and predictably unenforceable law, which could hardly have had any other purpose than: 1. to kick-start the election campaign; 2. to break up the opposition coalition; 3. to violate the human dignity and make impossible the lives of various groups of its citizens for petty power-political ends. And not least, as an incidental success, to take another decisive step towards the broadest possible restriction of freedom of expression and artistic expression.
The Society of Hungarian Authors protests against the restriction of fundamental freedoms, the divisive and harmful policies of the Hungarian government, and the introduction and enforcement of the law. At the same time, if the government’s plan is indeed to protect Hungarian youth, who are raised on today’s mass media platforms, who consider the free choice and consumption of different content as a fundamental principle, and who are otherwise open, sensitive, enlightened and informed, from themselves, without asking, well, we wish them good luck with that.
We fear, however, that this was not the idea. In that case, the situation is much more serious than the text of a law would suggest. We have reached what is likely to be a memorable point in historical descent, where every responsible Hungarian citizen has a duty to resist.
The Board of the Society of Hungarian Authors
13.06.2021
Under the heading There lies Europe, the 22nd poesiefestival berlin from 11 to 17 June 2021 is investigating the poetry of Europe in all its diversity of forms and languages, and in spite of the pandemic is building poetic bridges across the continent. Multilingualism, the ambivalence of language policymakers to the languages, migration and diaspora – these are the thematic lines along which the Festival will be putting Europe to the test.
“There lies Europe. What does it look like?” asked Kurt Tucholsky in 1932 in his poem ‘Europe’ written under the pseudonym Theobald Tiger, in which he describes the drifting apart of European states in favour of national interests and to the detriment of common interests and of diversity seen as something positive. The 22nd edition of the poesiefestival berlin is setting out to point up the linguistic, cultural and poetic diversity of Europe and find common denominators through poetry.
150 poets from around 40 countries will be coming together during the Festival in digital readings, talks, concerts and workshops. Some of the videos will be filmed in Berlin, with others cut together and elaborately post produced from digital discussions or submissions from around the world. In addition, 70 interviews, essays and anthology contributions will be posted as text content on the Festival website to provide a deeper experience. From 1 June to the end of the Festival, Festival visitors will have the opportunity to write together about the continent’s possible futures in a collective live poem. And this will be joined by other participative live formats during the Festival as well.
The poesiefestival berlin is a project by the Haus für Poesie.
In cooperation with the Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
17.05.2021
The Círculo de Bellas Artes’ R+D+C Forum aims to become a meeting point between research in the Arts and Humanities and different economic and social agents, in order to maximise the innovation and social impact of these disciplines.
This innovation programme entails great possibilities for exchange and mutual benefit for all the agents involved (research groups, cultural entities, companies and institutions receiving the knowledge transfer, the media), but above all for the public, the ultimate beneficiary of all the activities that reinforce the social impact of the Arts and Humanities.
The first event of the R&D&C Forum, which will take place on 20 May at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, will be followed throughout the year by a series of meetings organised on the basis of the most promising strategic lines for knowledge transfer in these areas:
Digital humanities (artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, digital society, digital art); Communication challenges (fake news, post-truth, freedom of expression, social networks, new forms of audiovisual communication); Innovation and social intervention from the arts and humanities (mediation, cooperation, integration, migration); Heritage and tourism (knowledge, conservation, exploitation); Arts and humanities + health (bioethics, humanistic training of doctors, therapeutic benefits of culture and the arts); Arts and humanities + business (coaching, philosophical consultancy, ethics for business, theory of argumentation and negotiation); Science and art (possibilities of fruitful crossings between experimental sciences and artistic expression).
You can register and follow the video stream here
22.04.2021
The first event in the Debates on Europe series took place in Budapest in 2012. Meanwhile, almost a decade on, Hungarian „illiberal democracy“ has developed into one of the biggest challenges facing the European integration project.
So, it is high time to revisit the issue of Hungary’s role in Europe. We are happy to present our programme for Debates on Europe: Budapest & Beyond. Defending Intellectual Freedom. In five events from 4 to 7 May, Zsófia Bán, Győző Ferencz, Anna Gács, Timothy Garton Ash, Rüdiger Görner, Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger and other wonderful participants will discuss the importance of academic and artistic freedom and what it actually is.
You can view the full programme here. The events will take place exclusively online and will be available on the website and YouTube channel of the German Academy for Language and Literature. No registration is necessary.
9.04.2021
17.03.2021
How can artistic cooperation take place in the digital space? What legal and political possibilities are there to protect the freedom of art in Europe?
These questions were addressed by the members of the European Alliance of Academies on March 12, 2021. Digitally connected from thirteen countries across Europe, 40 member representatives presented the progress of the seven working groups and formulated further Alliance ambitions.
When founding the Alliance the members agreed that, besides artistic possibilities for action, legal and political measures had to be taken in order to advocate the autonomy and freedom of the arts in Europe. Consequently, the Alliance decided to cooperate with the European Centre for Constitutional Rights (ECCHR). The measures taken so far as well as the further proceedings were presented by the ECCHR’s general secretary, Wolfgang Kaleck.
Another item on the agenda was the implementation of a digital platform that shall enable the sharing of knowledge, artistic production, activism, information and communication. Taking into account concepts such as temporalities and imagination, Kristoffer Gansing, Marina Warner and Prof. Norbert Palz deliberated how artistic cooperation can be transferred into the digital space.
At the end of the meeting, the members decided to accept the requests of The Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague – UMPRUM and the Freie Akademie der Künste, Hamburg, to join the European Alliance of Academies.
Continue visiting the website and its news-section to stay up to date on the latest information and upcoming events.
1.03.2021
A Berlin Initiative on the Conference on the Future of Europe
What should the future of Europe look like? What do we wish to achieve together? What do we want to change when it comes to the European Union its institutions, regulations, and its inner and outer workings? Initiated by the European Commission, the Conference on the Future of Europe is set to seek answers to these questions all over Europe for the next months and years. A Berlin based Initiative is trying to bring together civic organizations and public partners to help frame the discussions on our future from a Berlin perspective.
That way, the European Academy Berlin wants to activate and offer its civil society networks and educational expertise in order to support a braod based approach to discussing the future of the EU. The initiative is bringing together foundations, civic organizations, representatives from various departments and half a dozen members of different parliaments. Their goal is to find common grounds on when, where and how to discuss the needs of Berliners with regards to their European future.
The initiative is open to any organizations that wish to bring in their specific perspectives and needs. More informations can be found online: www.CoFoE.berlin.
About the EAB: As a disseminator of knowledge the Academy aims to explain policies and politics and to communicate European political connections since 1963. By strengthening the critical ability of each individual citizen, EAB in this way makes its contribution towards a vital civil society in Germany and in Europe. In Berlin, the Academy is a well-established location for meetings of all kinds for an international clientele – addressing always current and relevant topics. And it does so as ever at the highest standard of substantial and pedagogic-didactic objectives. (www.europainberlin.de)