Boycott-at

Subject: Fwd: Do no longer exhibit in Austria!

Nantes, 2.2.2000

Dear friends,
As you know, Austria got today the first federal government since the end of World War Second with a big participation of nazis. I am born in this country, have lived there for 24 years, now writing for almost twenty years in austrian newspapers, studied political history (history of democracy...) in this country. Also through my familly, I know in detail the inside stories of the FPOe - a party founded in 1948, after the amnesty for the big nazi rulers, to be a legal cover for their activity.

In 1986, Joerg Haider took over the party by a putsch with the aim to re-establish these origins, and to rehabilitate the nazi period in Austria, and if possible in Central Europe.

The actual danger is much beyond Austria: in five years or, let's say, after the death of Vaclav Havel, whole Central Europe can burn in the same way like Austria now. The Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, etc. are ready to follow this political choice.

Regarding Austria, I am convinced since 1983, when Bruno Kreisky retired, the first jewish chancelor in Central Europe since the birth of mankind, that this spectacular comeback of the nazis must occure.

For contemporary arts, I see only one possible choice:

1. NO LONGER EXHIBIT OR COOPERATE WITH AUSTRIA

It has now become absolutely impossible, in moral terms, for any artist, galerist, museum curator or collector, to exhibit any longer in Austria, or to cooperate with any Austrian institution. There is only one question to ask: would you have exhibited in Nazi-Germany? Only with a complete boycott of the local artlife, we can help the Austrian artists to survive. The new government wants to show that "everything is as before", regarding individual liberty. Since 1995, all international known Austrian artists are under pressure by the party of Joerg Haider; anonymous phone calls, Nazi-signs on their cars, menaces to take their children - since five years, many internationally known artists in Vienna are only moving with their familly in the city inside of closed cars. As far as I know, most of the jewish community is also behaving like this, because they were constantly aggressed in the street. During the "100 Years" exhibition in 1998, the Vienna Secession had constantly nazi-signs, painted during the night, on the building; the Austrian federal police refused to consider these facts, saying that "this is normal". The next years will be very hard for Austrian artists. They all talked to me in the last years or months about leaving the country.

Even half of the actual students at the Vienna Academy were thinking about leaving the country. For a writer, an intellectual, this is relatively easy. For an artist, to change the country is very complicated. The only way to help them, is to boycott the country itself. If you show to the Austrian population that the new government is outlaw, then - but ONLY then - the woters may consider during the next elections in 2003 that this may have been a bad choice for their country.

2. HELP THE AUSTRIAN ARTISTS AS INDIVIDUALS

There can not be any preference for Austrian artists, but for you, international collegues, it is just about passing them a phone call or a mail from time to time, taking care of them in some sense, just hearing if they are ok and able to work and to exhibit. You all have very many contacts with Austrian artists. Staying in contact with people ouside can be very important for each of them.

I was born in this country, and as one of very few still active international critics in this country, I have a heavy responsability. With the nomination of the new government, I announced publically to stop my collaboration for the big exhibition about the young art scene in Vienna (other curators:

Paolo Herkenhoff, Maaretta Jaukkuri, Rosa Martinez) scheduled for Oct.2000-April 2001 at Kunsthalle Vienna; to stop any collaboration with Austrian institutions; no longer going to Austria before the end of the nazi-participation in the government; trying to change citizenship. But I will stay as much as possible in contact with the Austrian artists, through the fact that I have a very close relationship with all artists generations there, from the generation of the pioneers of an independend art life (Maria Lassnig, Arnulf Rainer), to the young students.

Best Wishes,
Robert Fleck

Robert Fleck
post adress:
ERBAN-Ecole Regionale des Beaux-Arts de Nantes
Place Dulcie September
F-44000 Nantes
Tel +33 (0) 2 40 41 58 00
Fax +33 (0) 2 40 41 90 58
e-mail: FleckRob@aol.com
(please change my post adress from F-22240 La Bouillie or F-75001 Paris)

from the Forum list 11.2.2000:
Website of the forum - http://www.hkw.de/forum/forum1/english.html
Cultural Exchange via Internet - Opportunities and Strategies
Forum of the House of World Cultures, Berlin
-------------------------------------------------------------

Hello everybody,

in the context of the discussion about Austria, several postings were addressed directly to Robert Fleck. Unfortunately he isn't a member of our mailing list. His message with the subject "Do no longer exhibit in Austria!" was posted in our forum by KaDe Schacht (Sun, 06 Feb 2000).
In order to see, if we could get some answers from Robert Fleck, I forewarded some of the messages of our discussion to him. Today I received an email, that he sent to some people. Please see his message below.
Best,
Gerhard Haupt
moderator of the forum

--- Email from Robert Fleck ---
Date: 11 Feb 2000
From:
Subject: Re: Austria
Dear colleagues and friends,
Thank you very much for your mail(s)! I got so many reactions (more than 500 mails within a few days) that I am unable to answer to all of you now. Let's stay in contact.

Just to answer to some confusions about my statement:
1. I don't want to become a "professional" in Austrian subjects now - this was just my statement and I will follow the rules which I defined for myself regarding this new situation in Austria. Personnaly, I have disappeared physicaly from the country. I do not want to give lessons to anybody about how to behave.
2. I shurely don't want to act against the Austrian artists, curators, critics etc. as individuals. Just the opposite: during these last days, many possibilities of working outside the country with Austrian artists appeared.

Best Wishes,
Robert Fleck

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	Subject: Fwd: Do no longer exhibit in Austria! Nantes, 2.2.2000 Dear friends, As you know, Austria got today the first federal government since the end of World War Second with a big participation of nazis. I am born in this country, have lived there for 24 years, now writing for almost twenty years in austrian newspapers, studied political history (history of democracy...) in this country. Also through my familly, I know in detail the inside stories of the FPOe - a party founded in 1948, after the amnesty for the big nazi rulers, to be a legal cover for their activity. In 1986, Joerg Haider took over the party by a putsch with the aim to re-establish these origins, and to rehabilitate the nazi period in Austria, and if possible in Central Europe. The actual danger is much beyond Austria: in five years or, let's say, after the death of Vaclav Havel, whole Central Europe can burn in the same way like Austria now. The Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, etc. are ready to follow this political choice. Regarding Austria, I am convinced since 1983, when Bruno Kreisky retired, the first jewish chancelor in Central Europe since the birth of mankind, that this spectacular comeback of the nazis must occure. For contemporary arts, I see only one possible choice: 1. NO LONGER EXHIBIT OR COOPERATE WITH AUSTRIA It has now become absolutely impossible, in moral terms, for any artist, galerist, museum curator or collector, to exhibit any longer in Austria, or to cooperate with any Austrian institution. There is only one question to ask: would you have exhibited in Nazi-Germany? Only with a complete boycott of the local artlife, we can help the Austrian artists to survive. The new government wants to show that "everything is as before", regarding individual liberty. Since 1995, all international known Austrian artists are under pressure by the party of Joerg Haider; anonymous phone calls, Nazi-signs on their cars, menaces to take their children - since five years, many internationally known artists in Vienna are only moving with their familly in the city inside of closed cars. As far as I know, most of the jewish community is also behaving like this, because they were constantly aggressed in the street. During the "100 Years" exhibition in 1998, the Vienna Secession had constantly nazi-signs, painted during the night, on the building; the Austrian federal police refused to consider these facts, saying that "this is normal". The next years will be very hard for Austrian artists. They all talked to me in the last years or months about leaving the country. Even half of the actual students at the Vienna Academy were thinking about leaving the country. For a writer, an intellectual, this is relatively easy. For an artist, to change the country is very complicated. The only way to help them, is to boycott the country itself. If you show to the Austrian population that the new government is outlaw, then - but ONLY then - the woters may consider during the next elections in 2003 that this may have been a bad choice for their country. 2. HELP THE AUSTRIAN ARTISTS AS INDIVIDUALS There can not be any preference for Austrian artists, but for you, international collegues, it is just about passing them a phone call or a mail from time to time, taking care of them in some sense, just hearing if they are ok and able to work and to exhibit. You all have very many contacts with Austrian artists. Staying in contact with people ouside can be very important for each of them. I was born in this country, and as one of very few still active international critics in this country, I have a heavy responsability. With the nomination of the new government, I announced publically to stop my collaboration for the big exhibition about the young art scene in Vienna (other curators: Paolo Herkenhoff, Maaretta Jaukkuri, Rosa Martinez) scheduled for Oct.2000-April 2001 at Kunsthalle Vienna; to stop any collaboration with Austrian institutions; no longer going to Austria before the end of the nazi-participation in the government; trying to change citizenship. But I will stay as much as possible in contact with the Austrian artists, through the fact that I have a very close relationship with all artists generations there, from the generation of the pioneers of an independend art life (Maria Lassnig, Arnulf Rainer), to the young students. Best Wishes, Robert Fleck Robert Fleck post adress: ERBAN-Ecole Regionale des Beaux-Arts de Nantes Place Dulcie September F-44000 Nantes Tel +33 (0) 2 40 41 58 00 Fax +33 (0) 2 40 41 90 58 e-mail: FleckRob@aol.com (please change my post adress from F-22240 La Bouillie or F-75001 Paris) from the Forum list 11.2.2000: Website of the forum - http://www.hkw.de/forum/forum1/english.html Cultural Exchange via Internet - Opportunities and Strategies Forum of the House of World Cultures, Berlin ------------------------------------------------------------- Hello everybody, in the context of the discussion about Austria, several postings were addressed directly to Robert Fleck. Unfortunately he isn't a member of our mailing list. His message with the subject "Do no longer exhibit in Austria!" was posted in our forum by KaDe Schacht (Sun, 06 Feb 2000). In order to see, if we could get some answers from Robert Fleck, I forewarded some of the messages of our discussion to him. Today I received an email, that he sent to some people. Please see his message below. Best, Gerhard Haupt moderator of the forum --- Email from Robert Fleck --- Date: 11 Feb 2000 From: Subject: Re: Austria Dear colleagues and friends, Thank you very much for your mail(s)! I got so many reactions (more than 500 mails within a few days) that I am unable to answer to all of you now. Let's stay in contact. Just to answer to some confusions about my statement: 1. I don't want to become a "professional" in Austrian subjects now - this was just my statement and I will follow the rules which I defined for myself regarding this new situation in Austria. Personnaly, I have disappeared physicaly from the country. I do not want to give lessons to anybody about how to behave. 2. I shurely don't want to act against the Austrian artists, curators, critics etc. as individuals. Just the opposite: during these last days, many possibilities of working outside the country with Austrian artists appeared. Best Wishes, Robert Fleck
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