Freedom in Art
Artistic freedom seems to be central part in the West. Freedom to create is not only one of the basic human rights, but also a sensitive barometer measuring the state of freedom in other spheres of social life. And yet, recently there has been an alarming increase in cases of censorship and violations of artistic freedom. This censorship, however, differs from the previous one that was motivated by political or moral considerations. Artists that go against the current dogmas recognized as scientific, and in many cases based on ideological premises, are removed from the public space.
At Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, we want to look closer at these processes, examine selected cases and analyze new mechanisms limiting freedom in our societies. Since 2022 we have been organizing Culture Tensions, a series of open discussions, co-curated by Manick Govinda and Agnieszka Kołek, in which we invite Polish and foreign critics, artists and thinkers to focus on specific aspects of current culture war.
This year, we would like to supplement this series with a new type of meetings dedicated especially to the issue of artistic freedom, entitled "Freedom Art Seminar". These meetings will have a more intimate, seminar character and will be addressed to Polish people of culture, publicists, journalists who are close to the topic of contemporary threats to freedom of speech and culture. As part of each meeting, an invited expert dealing with the issues of freedom of speech and art will present a fragment of his research or a case study, and then we will invite participants to a free and open discussion.
