EDITORIAL

by Enrico Tantucci

The European integration between East and West, an issue which is currently the subject of much debate, relies on, among other strategies, the creation of an art system that, by way of exchanges, contacts and co-production projects set up by curators outside public or state structures – typical of Eastern European countries – should promote the understanding and circulation of new forms of artistic and cultural expression. This idea in its many facets was at the core of the second Forum on the ”Promotion of art and culture in Central Eastern Europe” organised by Trieste Contemporanea last June in Venice, during the Venice Biennale of Visual Arts. The forum is reviewed in detail in this issue of the magazine. The self-styled Soros “orphans” (highlighting the progressive withdrawal of contributions by the foundations created by the Hungarian millionaire in various countries and which had eventually part-substituted the funding previously ensured by state institutions) all stressed, to different degrees, the need for a basic framework for international co-operation, ensured by the artists, critics and curators operating in these nations, to overcome this moment of difficulty. The objective is that of creating an active network of connections and know-how to encourage the production of artistic events conceived and developed collectively. One method of achieving this objective would be by means of digital “hubs” such as those provided by the growing number of dedicated websites. The aim of this issue of our magazine is to illustrate the genesis of a process which, despite being still at an embryonic stage, could in the next few years succeed in modifying, through a bottom-up approach, some of the strictures and conventio ad excludendum that characterize the art world in western civilisations, increasingly intoxicated by the logic of the market.

Enrico Tantucci