What links the Fiat factory in Turin, the protected island of Tegel lake in Berlin and the former Copenhagen military base? These three remarkable democratic attempts of communication, education and self-government emerged in the last century, based on genuine democratic principles that make them still relevant today.

To develop and consolidate democratic structures is a slow and long process, which can take decades for society to learn. The systematic elimination of democratic conditions, on the other hand, can be done quite quickly, within just a few years.

By presenting three artistic positions, approaching three social experiments, this exhibition focuses on the process of democratic construction. Inspired by Esperanto, a language that is independent of any nation, ensuring equal rights for all in the use of language, Giulia Bruno examines in her work one of the most promising linguistic experiments of the 19th and 20th century. Reconstructing the history of the Schulfarm Insel Scharfenberg, which was founded as an important reform pedagogical experiment of the Weimar Republic, Zsolt Vásárhelyi and Kati Simon capture impressions on building democratic society through education. In her scripted video work, Nicoline van Harskamp addresses issues of freedom and consensus democracy, by examining the independent society of Christiania, a free town in the centre of Copenhagen.

Organizing Institution: Critique&Culture e.V.

Supported by Goethe-Institut Budapest, Mobil Audio and Light Ltd., ImagineBudapest, ZÖNOTÉKA, Berlin, László Szick, and Ágnes Vásárhelyi. 

The main cooperation partner of this year's OFF Biennale is GfZK – Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig. The cooperation project is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

Special thanks: We would like to thank the artists and all institutions and persons who assisted in realising the exhibition, especially Goethe-Institut Budapest, Mobil Audio and Light Ltd., ImagineBudapest, ZÖNOTÉKA Berlin, László Szick, and Ágnes Vásárhelyi for their support.

Related programs:

The State - 30.09 2:00 am
Taking Time, opening event - 30.09 2:00 am