Exchange on Soros Center for Contemporary Art's 1990s Eastern European Network and Exhibition 'The Influencing Machine'
In an email exchange, curator Aaron Moulton and media theorist Geert Lovink discuss the Soros Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA) network, which functioned in twenty Eastern European capitals during the 1990s. This dialogue took place alongside the exhibition 'The Influencing Machine' at Galeria Nicodim in Bucharest, which concluded on April 20, 2019. Moulton, who curated the exhibition, explored the SCCA's institutional approaches through artworks addressing themes of influence and revolution. Lovink characterizes the SCCA as an 'activist undertaking' that fostered freedom of expression after communism. While Moulton raises concerns about potential cultural colonialism, Lovink recognizes its bureaucratic challenges, ultimately asserting that the SCCA was 'a perfect machine' for promoting contemporary art in the region.
Key facts
- The exhibition 'The Influencing Machine' at Galeria Nicodim in Bucharest closed on April 20, 2019.
- The Soros Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA) operated across twenty Eastern European capitals throughout the 1990s.
- Geert Lovink described the SCCA as an 'activist undertaking' established rapidly after the fall of communism.
- The SCCA network emphasized documentation, experimental art forms, and connecting Eastern European artists to Western discourses.
- A 1994 exhibition, 'Alchemical Surrender', took place on an active battleship in the Crimean Sea.
- Lovink argued the SCCA promoted 'lived freedom' and dissent against nationalist and authoritarian resurgences.
- Aaron Moulton curated the exhibition as an anthropological investigation into the SCCA's institutional strategies.
- Lovink concluded the SCCA was 'a perfect machine' for advancing regional contemporary art rapidly.
Entities
Artists
- Aaron Moulton
- Geert Lovink
- Suzy Meszoly
- Octavian Esanu
- Andra Szantos
- Hortensia Mi Kafchin
- Luchezar Boyadjiev
- Michel Foucault
- Karl Popper
- Hannah Arendt
- George Soros
Institutions
- Soros Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA)
- Galeria Nicodim
- Open Society Institute (OSI)
- Institute of Network Cultures
- Mediamatic magazine
- Adilkno
- Texte zur Kunst
- Frieze
- Artforum
- CIA
Locations
- Los Angeles
- Amsterdam
- Bucharest
- Romania
- Prague
- Czech Republic
- Budapest
- Hungary
- East Berlin
- Germany
- Cluj
- Sibiu
- Vienna
- Austria
- London
- United Kingdom
- New York
- United States
- Crimean Sea
- Chisinau
- Moldova
- Yugoslavia