art-e-conomy _ reader - marko stamenkovic

een a French edition, since 2004 a German edition, and in 2005 a Spanish issue
was published. I can also say something about the Czech Republic and its present
situation which is worse than in the 90s when Eastern European countries shared
similar fates, as my colleagues explained. At that time we lived through an Eastern
Europe hype, but that is over now. Now we are confronted with a wave of bombastic
and very expensive events. In Prague we now have two very strange Biennials as
well as our own art fair, which is very bad but not very expensive. We have many
things that our officials have seen in Europe. However, they’re doing it in a bad way,
and nobody is taking care anymore of the small initiatives that are important for a
growing contemporary culture. So we have a very high number of ambitious projects,
but at the same time we have a dying level of very small galleries, activities, and
associations. So that’s the situation, and I think that’s all for me.
MARINA SORBELLO: I give word to Aneta Szylak, from Gdansk. For those of
you who weren’t here before, Aneta is the “inventor” of Wyspa, the Institute for
Contemporary Art.
ANETA SZYLAK: Gdansk is in the very north of Poland. So what I am going to talk
about is the institutional project I’ve been busy with for the last few years. And actually
I will also refer to my previous efforts in establishing an intellectually independent art
institution in my country. The condition we have been struggling with since 1989 is not
only the post-communist condition but a neo-liberal condition. Also, the democracy
that unveiled this unwanted image of itself has triggered cultural wars in the country.
Contemporary art has become a battleground for political representations. It’s a
difficult situation and many curators have gotten new directors. I myself tried twice to
establish an art institution. The first one was the Center for Contemporary Art Laznia
(Bathhouse). It was an artist-run organization that was transformed into a public
institution. So my first effort in the 90s was to have public art institutions, because
what we really needed was a strong new public art institution that could manage
to follow the entire process of transition in cultural terms. But this instantly put us,
including myself personally, in trouble, and I was fired as director of this institution.
Now, the institution is going on its own path, but it is very much dependent on the
city authorities, and is no longer showing the sharp political profile I tried to give it.
This was the first and only public art institution that was established in the country
after 1989. That made me think that we needed something else. We needed an
institution that would not be public, and not even legal. So we have a very small
foundation. However, being a foundation in Poland doesn’t mean that it has money.
The foundation is merely the easiest form for a non-governmental organization to
establish itself. Started in 1994, the foundation is run similar to the Bathhouse, my
previous organization. After losing the Bathhouse and some other exhibition spaces
in the city we were invited by a private developer to move to the Shipyard area in
Gdansk. I will give a brief introduction to what is happening in the Shipyards. It is a
very legendary spot in northern Poland where the entire process of the social political
transformation in central Eastern Europe started. This is the place were the strikes
run by Lech Walesa began, triggering this very long process of changing the social,
political, and economic system. The Shipyard remains a very symbolic spot. It’s both
a production site and a very strong political symbol. And today, the Shipyard has
261