Saturday 22 February 2025 at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, from 14.30 to 16.30 h.
Conversation with Adam Budak (Poland/Germany), Stefanie Carp (Germany), Matej Drlička (Slovakia), Andrea Geyer (USA) og Sarah Lookofsky (USA/Norway). Ingerid Salvesen is moderator.
Across the world, cultural institutions are under increasing pressure. Censorship, self-censorship, drastic funding cuts, and political and sponsorship interference are on the rise. Former and present institutional directors – with personal experiences of political pressure, cancellation and censorship from different geographic contexts – will discuss the limitations and capacities of art institutions in the present.
How free are institutions and the people who work in them today? Can art institutions host and protect critical expressions? Does the arm’s-length principle – keeping political interference from the arts – exist? What is the influence of algorithmic social media on built art infrastructures? How widespread is self-censorship? Can cultural spaces be platforms for diverging positions to meet?
The event is part of a collaboration between Kunstnernes Hus and Fritt Ord, where exhibitions of Kunstnernes Hus create the framework for conversations about the intersections of art, society and freedom. The conversation takes place in Jannik Abel’s exhibition Back to the Land.
