DECLARATION

The participants to the 1st CEI Venice Forum, held in Venice at the Academy of Fine Arts on June 9th and 10th 2003, after extensive debate, have decided unanimously to convey to the C.E.I. Executive Secretariat the following conclusions and recommendations:

1. Contemporary art is an important component of European Culture and therefore plays a crucial role in the social development of our region and in the integration of the enlarged EU with neighbouring countries. Being one of the most sensitive points of cultural creativity, contemporary art needs and deserves particular attention and support from governments and international organisations in the form of continuous structural and financial contributions;

2. It must be stressed that art is a natural part of human activity and should remain autonomous and free from any type of political pressure and instrumentalisation. Harmonic and effective cooperation between artists and curators on the one side and governments and international organisations on the other, may only be secured if the professional voice is taken as a decisive factor for the creation and implementation of domestic and foreign cultural policies;

3. To avoid further misconceptions and to secure appropriate reception of contemporary art by our society and to form a permanent platform for communication among artists, curators and the various social groups, there is a need to open multidimensional capacity building and exchange programmes. These should focus on forming partnership projects and programmes integrating our societies;

4. The realisation of such a goal goes through participation in common projects. As a result of this meeting participants have decided to start active cooperation through a joint curatorial project.

The participants:
Ruxandra Balaci (Scientific Director, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania)
Lola Bonora (independent art curator, Ferrara, Italy)
Paulina Bziuk (Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw, Poland)
Giuliana Carbi (president, Trieste Contemporanea Committee, Trieste, Italy)
Lilia Dragneva ( K:SAK, Chisinau, Moldova)
Júlia Fabényi (Mucsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest, Hungary)
Anders Härm (Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia)
Beral Madra (BM Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul, Turkey)
Katalin Neray (director, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary)
Jerzy Onuch (SCCA Foundation Kiev, Ukraine)
Inna Reut (independent curator, Minks, Belarus)
Anda Rottenberg (Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw, Poland)
Emõke Sillár (KEKI, Budapest, Hungary)
Hajnalka Somogyi (officer, Trafò, Budapest, Hungary)
Domokos Szollár (officer, KEKI, Budapest, Hungary)
Zlatko Teodosievski (director, Art Gallery, Skopje, Macedonia)
Adela Vaetiti (assistant curator, Romanian Pavilion, Romania)
Janka Vukmir (officer, Institute for Contemporary Art Zagreb, Croatia)
Barbara Wiechno (Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw, Poland)
Hanna Wróblewska (Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw, Poland)
Ryszard Zoltaniecki (Adam Mickiewicz Inst., Warsaw, Poland)