Launch of the new exhibition series HORIZONS – The Akademie’s Eastern European Network showcases current works in an ever-changing exhibition

Akademie Schloss Solitude is awaiting the opening of the open-format exhibition series HORIZONS, which provides revealing insights into the artistic productions of current fellows, with great anticipation.

The first part of this new exhibition series is dedicated to Akademie Schloss Solitude’s Eastern European network, which focuses on an exchange with independent art scenes in Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Hungary.

The open format selected makes artistic creative processes visible and creates the possibility of an active exchange between fellowship holders and visitors.By adopting other perspectives, new horizons can be accessed.

Fellowship holders from Bulgaria/UK, Germany, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia/Hungary are participating in the exhibition curated by Gloria Aino Grzywatz: Works by Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán, András Blazsek, Krasimira Butseva, Barbara Gryka, Jasmina Hanf & Karolina Kaltschnee and Luana Lojić are on display.

The Bulgarian artist and author Krasimira Butseva is showing her research on the history, trauma and memory of communist Bulgaria (1946-1989) in text and moving image. The multimedia installation by Polish artist and activist Barbara Gryka addresses the topic of women’s rights – especially the right to abortion – in Poland. Jasmina Hanf and Karolina Kaltschnee also traveled countless miles across eastern Poland to research their photo reportage, speaking with over 30 people from the LGBT scene about homophobia in Poland, which has slowly become socially acceptable, as well as about possible ways to create a more liberal Poland.

The exhibition will kick off with an online talk and subsequent panel discussion with two guests from Warsaw on December 9, 2021 at 7:30 pm. Ika Sienkiewicz-Nowacka and Karolina Grzywnowicz will be discussing survival strategies, the power of the powerless, and care and hospitality as forms of resistance.

The Eastern European Network finds its origin in the cooperation between Akademie Schloss Solitude and the Center for Contemporary Art, located at Ujazdówsky Castle in Warsaw, which led to the establishment of a new studio program at Ujazdówsky Castle in October 2003. In the wake of the establishment of this program and the positive experiences gained from the exchange with Poland, the fellowship program has been successively expanded to include Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia over the last twenty years. In addition to its long-standing partners in Poland and Croatia, the program has focused specifically on the independent art scenes in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Hungary since 2019. Parallel to so-called »high culture«, independent »off spaces« represent an increasingly important element of the cultural landscape of their respective cities and regions, forming an essential part of a lively and highly varied cultural scene.

The exchange program with the Eastern European Network allows artists from Eastern Europe to develop and present their work at Akademie Schloss Solitude, while international fellows of the Akademie gain insights into the local art scenes in its Eastern European partner countries and have the opportunity to execute their artistic projects.