The antidemocratic makeover of the cultural scene in Hungary

Recent legislative steps in Hungary point towards the authoritarian transformation of the institutional structures and funding system of cultural life, by giving an ultra conservative artist group close to the right-wing government, the Hungarian Academy of Arts, an unassailable position of power. As a result of these decisions, the government has endangered the long term autonomy, professionalism and democratic procedures of Hungarian contemporary art.

The government established the Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA) as the preeminent authority in the field of arts through the new constitution or Fundamental Law, which came into force on 1 January, 2012. The Academy, which was originally founded as a private association in 1992, is made up of artists strongly loyal towards the government. In order to be accepted as a member, the Academy requires a commitment to the nation, a certain “national feeling.” In 2011 the Hungarian Academy of Arts was transformed into a public body, in a process lacking the minimum of transparency, and was provided straight off with a considerable amount of funding and its own a grandiose headquarters. In November the government further extended the cultural political role of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, endowing the organization with unprecedented power, including exclusive right of decision making over the contemporary cultural infrastructure – and a gigantic budget at the expense of the whole of the Hungarian cultural scene.

VIA