Visegrad Lecture Series

Shifting Perspectives – “If the Berlin Wind Blows My Flag”. A Dialogue Between Blinken OSA Archivum and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program

by Nóra Lukács PhD, independent curator

Lukács’s talk will provide insight into the ongoing research for an upcoming exhibition at Galéria Centralis, exploring the role of official and unofficial, sympathy-driven cultural diplomacy, as well as the influence of Western funding institutions like the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, in presenting Eastern European conceptual art in West Berlin and beyond. Between 1963 and 1989, this residency program hosted more than thirty high-profile cultural practitioners in West Berlin from Hungary alone.

The recently digitized and exhibited historical archive of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program will be brought for this new iteration of the project into dialogue with comparable holdings at Blinken OSA Archivum, such as the records of the Foundation for the Support of European Intellectuals (FEIE), both institutions having been funded by the Ford Foundation.

This comparative archival perspective allows for a critical reflection on institutional practices, revealing mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, dominant rethorics as well as the political dimensions of cultural exchange. The exhibition expands on these themes by addressing how such invitations were perceived from the perspective of Hungary and by showcasing historical and contemporary artworks alongside archival sources.