Recovery Strategies. Dealing with Uncomfortable Histories in Art. Part 1

Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen | Streaming on Zoom (registration via Eventbrite) | Streaming on Facebook

How can we understand the turns of history, the relationship of artists to power, and the role of art in politics? Can art really be autonomous and judged on its merits alone, or must it be analyzed as part of a particular political system that instrumentalizes and legitimizes some while marginalizing others? What are appropriate means for remembering and recovering artists who served totalitarian regimes, and how do we relate to the grey areas of artists’ biographies?

In the first part of the discussion series, Olga ŞTEFAN and Szilárd MIKLÓS will each present their research and their respective approaches to this minefield topic. Having met in 2017 in the frame of The Future of Memory, a multi-city exhibition curated by Olga Ştefan that also took place in Cluj, Romania to which Szilárd Miklós contributed a project on István Fischer, a local Jewish-Hungarian documentary filmmaker, they have since continued their collaboration. In his presentation, Szilárd Miklós will discuss his artistic research on István Fischer and Hans/János Mattis-Teutsch, two artists from Transylvania, who, according to Ştefan and Miklós, have been betrayed by history.

In the context of the Second Büchsenhausen Focus Weeks 2022 (21 March – 8 April) Olga ŞTEFAN will host a conversation with Wolfgang BRAUNEIS, art historian and curator of the exhibition Divinely Gifted: National Socialism‘s Favorite Artists in the Federal Republic.

Participants:

Szilárd MIKLÓS (*1981, Miercurea-Ciuc, Romania) graduated from the University of Art and Design in Cluj, Romania, in 2004. The same year, he co-founded the non-profit organization and artists collective Julesz Community. His exhibitions include Mentor at the ICR, New York (solo show), Across the Trees: Romanian Art Now at David Nolan Gallery in New York and Re:location Cluj–Luxembourg at Casino in Luxembourg, Wiels, and Pépinières Residency Program in Luxembourg in 2006.