The Influencing Machine by Aaron Moulton

Description

The Influencing Machine by the American art critic and curator Aaron Moulton is devoted to the institutional framework of contemporary art in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, during their transformation after the collapse of the Eastern Block. The author examines a network of art institutions established by the Open Society Foundations, financed by George Soros, an American businessman and philanthropist, promotor of the idea of ​​an open society. The Centers operated in Almaty, Belgrade, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Chisinau, Kiev, Ljubljana, Moscow, Odessa, Prague, Riga, Saint Petersburg, Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius, Warsaw and Zagreb. They documented local art scenes and initiated cultural events.

The publication complements the exhibition which was presented at the Nicodim Gallery in Bucharest in 2019 and at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw in 2022.

Aaron Moulton is interested in the use of institutions and the media in societies undergoing political transformation from socialism to capitalism, and in the field of visual arts – from socialist realism to creative freedom, however, limited by the requirements contained in the regulations of open calls for exhibitions. It presents the art of the 1990s in today’s context. The book invites a conversation about the global art world, the role of activism within art, and the power of institutional critique.

You can hear an interview with Aaron Moulton on this work here.