Keeping Freedom in Mind: Civil Resistance 2010-2023
The Remembrance of Activism. Closing event
The exhibition was on view until 7 December 2023.
Location: Práter 63 (1083 Budapest, Práter u. 63.
Closing event: 7 December 2023, 17.00–20.00
Guided tour and a discussion about solidarity, connectivity and the nature of social movements
17.00–18.00 Closing guided tour with the exhibiting artists
18.30–20.00 Thinking together with invited experts and participants
The panel: Balázs Horváth-Kertész, activist, curator, community organizer; Gergely Nagy, journalist; Dániel Mikecz, political scientist; Júlia Perczel, network researcher
Moderator: Dóra Hegyi, curator
On 7 December, the Space of Opportunity held the closing event of its Keeping Freedom in Mind: Civil Resistance 2010–2023 exhibition, a part of its Creative Public Life project. Using a selected chronology and a network diagram, the research-based documentary exhibition highlights major civil actions organized in resistance to the anti-democratic measures of the Regime of National Cooperation (NER), which is in its fourth term of government and has been in power for almost a decade and a half. The exhibition also employs the works of contemporary artists as it takes a look at this period, emphasizing the importance of art as a field and means of resistance.
The Space of Opportunity launched the Creative Public Life project in 2023, with the aim of supporting young people’s political activism. Since February this year, young people have been welcome to monthly sessions, where the situation and events of current political and social life are reflected on, and the methods and good practices of non-governmental organizations in relation to specific topics are shared.
This exhibition is also part of the project, and expressly seeks to educate; it is important that the age group concerned sees the movement they are following and getting involved in as part of a process.
The closing event of the exhibition is meant to be an opportunity for joint reflection by experts and the interested public. One question of interest is how to transfer activist knowledge to the new generations: is generational change working in Hungary in what is an important marker of flexibility and resilience in society? A further question is “what next?”, i.e. how to maintain interest in social resistance when decision-makers show no willingness for dialogue and resistance seems to produce no success? Has solidarity between different social groups changed, perhaps for the better, over the last decade and a half?
Curated by: Dóra Hegyi, Balázs Horváth-Kertész
Artists: Lőrinc Borsos, Dávid Gutema, Viktória Monhor, Orczy Neighbours Project, Pneuma Szöv., Zsuzsi Simon
Protest documentation: Freedoc/Gabriella Csoszó (photo) and Ádám Csillag (video)
Read more about the exhibition here.
