30.5.2022, Vienna

Open Letter declaring the retreat of “Spring Curatorial Program 2022: Art Geographies” from the premises of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and mumok Kino

After the cancellation of the lecture of Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya in the framework of the Spring Curatorial Program 2022: Art Geographies organised by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and Verein K, which was scheduled for Monday, May 30, 2022 at mumok Kino, we hereby announce the retreat of the remainder of the program from the premises of the cancelling institutions, which follows our first statement from May 26, 2022 (see below).

After an intensive exchange with both the participants and presenters of the program throughout the last days and failed attempts to achieve a direct public apology to Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya and unconditional rescheduling of the lecture, we have decided to retreat the remainder of the program from the premises of the Academy of Fine Arts, following the explicit wish of the participants and several speakers of the program. The cancellation of Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya’s lecture represented a breach of trust for Jelena Petrović, as thecurator of the program, Verein K, as co-organisers as well as the many participants and speakers who decided to take part under the assumption that the Academy of Fine Arts would act as a guarantor of free speech and ensure the possibility of exchange around controversial issues in a way that reflects the diversity of viewpoints. The censorship was exercised without consulting Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya on the contents of her lecture, none of the program’s organisers were involved in the final decision and an explicit written statement on behalf of the Academy of Fine Arts or the mumok was not issued at the time of cancellation, which was perceived as aggravating and insulting by those involved. While a statement by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna has finally been issued today, explaining some of the motivations that lead to the cancellation, it does not contain an apology to Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya or an unconditional reinstitution of the lecture. We thus follow the explicit demand of the stakeholders we feel most responsible for: Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya, the participants and several of the speakers of the program, who requested that the remainder of the program be held outside of the premises of the cancelling institutions (open letter published by participants of the program today, Monday, May 30th) and only be open to the participants who stand in solidarity with Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya.
At this point in time, this appears as the only option in order to maintain the integrity of the program and to continue the much-needed exchange around the issues it stands for.

We are currently looking for partner institutions willing to host the remainder of the program, so the necessary discussions on complex and difficult issues and the common search for possibilities of planetary sustainable and politically responsible coexistence in conditions of the permanent geopolitical peace can continue in a climate where free speech is ensured.

Verein K – Kunst, Kultur, Kommunikation
Mag. Jelena Kaludjerović
Dr. Klaus Speidel
Mag. Dejan Kaludjerović

Dr. Jelena Petrović
Senior scientific researcher (FWF)
Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna


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26.5.2022, Vienna

Statement on the cancelation of the lecture of Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya in the framework of the Spring Curatorial Program 2022: Art Geographies organised by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and Verein K, which was scheduled for Monday, May 30, 2022 at mumok kino.

As the curator of the program, I want, together with Verein K, co-organisers of the program, to express my regrets about the cancelation of the lecture of Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya by mumok and the Academy. The cancellation was based on the accusation that certain contents of her lecture, as announced in the program, are antisemitic.

Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya was invited to participate in the program and to talk about her forthcoming book The Politics and Aesthetics of Decolonial Queering in Palestine to appear with Routledge Publishers in October 2022, which is highly relevant to the topic of the Spring Curatorial Program. The book is based on her research on the relation between aesthetics and de/colonisation in Palestine and examines the meanings of queer(y)ing spaces and their relevance for decolonial geographies and imaginaries. As a teaching fellow in gender, peace and security at the London School of Economics and Political Science and as a Marie Curie Global researcher at the University of Venice and Columbia-NYC, Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya deals with decolonial and feminist environmental geographies across contexts of Indigeneity and her research complies with the highest academic standards. Her speaking and writing has been consistently grounded in research and earned her global recognition and we firmly believe that her academic freedom of speech should not be cancelled or compromised.

The program does not express, support or imply any antisemitic attitudes. On the contrary, it deals with complex and difficult issues in the context of exhausted geographies through artistic, theoretical and research practices, searching for possibilities of planetary sustainable and politically responsible coexistence in conditions of the permanent geopolitical peace, trying to reflect the diversity of positions on the topic.

On behalf of the Spring Curatorial Program Team, we therefore reject the accusations in an attempt to discredit the lecture and censor its content. The Spring Curatorial Program distances itself from antisemitism, censorship as well as from any manipulative political misinterpretations that instrumentalise difficult and complex topics, making it impossible to discuss them. We would like to present our apologies to Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya for a cancellation – which at this point in time was out of our hands – and will work towards organizing a public event with Dr. Alqaisiya in the near future, to facilitate a much-needed dialogue.

Dr. Jelena Petrović
Senior scientific researcher (FWF)
Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies,
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

Verein K – Kunst, Kultur, Kommunikation
Mag. Jelena Kaludjerović
Dr. Klaus Speidel
Mag. Dejan Kaludjerović

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23. May – 1. June 2022
Location: Vienna, Austria 

Schedule
Program

Spring Curatorial Program 2022: Art Geographies explores the relationship between art, theory and politics by dealing with borders, maps, myths, landscapes, wars, territories and other planetary phenomena of today’s geographies. Following emancipatory ways of social subjectivation (the politics of belonging) rather than representative modes of geopolitical identification (the politics of identity), the program focuses on critical, decolonial, feminist and material dimensions of planetary co-existence.

Moving from theoretical insights into artistic and curatorial practices, especially those that introduce geography into the realm of political thought and social life through performative voices, visual inscriptions and displays, aesthetic perfections or errors/glitches, the program explores counter-cartographies engaged in critical, participative and discursive investigation of geopolitical borders of identification and exclusion. By presenting various artistic, theoretical and curatorial works and practices through daily seminars, screenings, readings, lectures and discussions, the program thus questions the dominant ways of geopolitical situating of people, earth and its (non)human life.

Motivated by the politics of belonging, but also by the politics of resistance to any geopolitical exploitation of people (contemporary racism) and earth (neocolonial extractivism), this program finally searches for social, political, ecological and ideological imagination of possible future geographies, giving a meaningful insight into politically or socially engaged living practices that connect cognitive with affective, perceptual with representative, and imaginary, but also impossible with real.

Program speakers and contributors (in alphabetical order): Andrea Ancira, Waala Alqaisiya, Aleksei Borisionok, Lana Čmajčanin, Raino Isto, Ruth Jenerbekova, Margareta Kern, Bouchra Khalili, Elke Krasny, Katja Kobolt, Brandon LaBelle, Stephanie Misa, Luis Ortiz, Jelena Petrović, Oleksiy Radynski, Philipp Sattler, Klaus Speidel, Kate Sutton, Steven ten Thije, Madina Tlostanova, Rojda Tuğrul, Françoise Vergès, Slavs and Tatars, Milica Tomić and others.

The Spring Curatorial Program was initiated in 2020 by Verein K in collaboration with Jelena Petrović, who conceptualised and curated the first edition, untitled: Art Geographies (as the result of the FWF research project V-730: The Politics of Belonging – Art Geographies 2019-2023).

The Spring Curatorial Program 2022: Art Geographies is co-organised by Verein K and Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and supported by:

FWF Austrian Science Fund, ERSTE Foundation, Federal Ministry of Republic of Austria for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, the City of Vienna, Slovenian Cultural Centre SKICA, and in partnership with mumok kino, Depot – Kunst und Diskussion, IZK – Institute for Contemporary Art and Annenstraße 53 (Graz), Crvena Association for Culture and Art, Ukrainian Institute.

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Verein K is an independent arts and cultural organization from Vienna, founded in 2017. Verein K focuses on projects in the field of contemporary art and culture connecting diverse cultural and social interests: critical approaches to contemporary art, creating curatorial platforms as well as enabling innovative cultural practices including diverse social groups.

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