I am re-posting a statement released in march 2019, reflecting on the presentation of the painting titled ‘Soros Realism’ in the exhibition ‘The Influencing Machine’ at Nicodim Gallery, Bukarest.
I had not been informed of the second iteration of the exhibition at Ujazdowski Castle CCA in Warsaw in 2022 and only found out about it recently. Reading more about its context, I strongly endorse the point made by Jakub Gawkowski where he says:
“It’s true that the influence of George Soros’s Open Society Foundation and other Western funders in shaping post-Communist Eastern Europe requires deep and critical examination. Such a re-evaluation could initiate important reflections on the advent of neoliberalism in the region, the construction of new social and political hierarchies, and the distribution of economic privilege. But by focusing on George Soros as a figure rather than on the political and economic system of which his centers were part, or on the institutional ecology which they produced in the region, the exhibition becomes little more than a pawn in the culture wars … [A]another lousy attack on the ideas of Open Society and George Soros feels outdated regardless of what side of the culture war you are on.”
Having seen the first iteration of the show, it would be incorrect to say that the exhibition failed to address and contextualize the historical role and function of the SCCAs in Eastern Europe; it did so extensively. However, the presentation had a strong focus on George Soros as a person – a mistake, for which I too am to be blamed, having contributed visual work and research material that underscores such a focus. More importantly, the show failed to distance itself from antisemitic hate campaigns against George Soros, as stated earlier.
Such a clear and public distancing has become necessary in light of concerted efforts to demonize and attack George Soros over the recent years. These attacks often refer to his jewish background, placing him in the center of dubious conspiracy theories. Right-wing media in the US keep attacking George Soros for his support of progressive civil rights groups, using antisemitic tropes and clichées.
The continued promotion of the values of an open society led to the ousting of the Open Society Foundation from countries including Belarus, Uzbekistan and Russia, as well as the state-enforced closure of the Central European University in Budapest.
In the light of all this, I decided to remove the image of George Soros from this site as an attempt to prevent further use or reference to it in contexts which I can not control, which I don’t support, and which disregard the extensive research on cultural politics and soft power that was central to this work.