Private nationalism
In line with its chosen name, the Private Nationalism Project does not plan to focus on moments of high political drama, but rather on the process by which these moments are so naturally absorbed and embraced by ordinary people. It thus concentrates on the solid texture of ordinary people’s everyday experience and involvement in setting in motion the machinery of nationalism. The project scrutinizes our banal clichés, labels and stereotypes about ourselves as natural members of our nation and about those who are excluded from it. The aim of the collaborative project is to shed light on the overlooked issue of the daily routines of nationalism, the subtle process by which its ingredients infiltrate and are absorbed into citizens’ everyday lives.
- The Approach Art Association has been in operation for nineteen years in Pecs, Hungary.00:00:07.082
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- It is an association of contemporary art whose aim is to integrate young artists00:00:15.382
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- in the international public sphere, and to organize events00:00:20.964
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- that creates large international forums.00:00:27.104
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- It is these objectives that the exhibition "Private Nationalism" aims to meet as well:00:00:30.474
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- it attempts to create an international forum.00:00:36.599
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- I have been working on this idea as an artist for quite some time.00:00:40.217
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- I have created a painting series based on Hedvig Malina's case00:00:46.310
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- And in 2010 it left a lasting impression on me when I saw the quote-unquote "Slota wax-works"00:00:52.904
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- of the Kassa Boys formation, which envisioned the Slovakian right-wing politician's statements00:01:01.675
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- pertaining to Hungarians in the form of a wax-works display.00:01:08.467
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- It was at that point that the idea occurred to me that it would be interesting00:01:21.000
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- to put together an exhibition that examines nationalism00:01:27.137
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- from a Central Eastern European perspective.00:01:35.329
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- In the end, we were able to establish a larger-scale collaborative project:00:01:42.266
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- A curatorial team with participants from the Visegrad Four was established,00:01:46.728
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- which began to make plans for the "Private Nationalism" exhibition,00:01:52.074
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- and consider the artists that could be involved in it.00:01:57.099
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- Later, when the EU call also came into the picture, Turkish and German partners were also added.00:02:02.100
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- From this point on, curatorial meetings were realized with the participation of six countries.00:02:13.015
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- The "Private Nationalism" project has a number of elements: it consists not only of exhibitions,00:02:24.080
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- but also of artist-in-residency programs and museum pedagogy programs.00:02:31.393
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- A closing conference is also planned for the end.00:02:37.483
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- The exhibitions of the "Private Nationalism" project differ from each other00:02:44.393
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- not only for technical or practical reasons, but also because we felt it was important for these00:02:54.443
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- various exhibitions to reflect on local questions. There were a number of such local aspects00:03:01.934
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- that came into play in connection with the Pecs exhibition, including, for example,00:03:08.638
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- the economic aspect of nationalism: in other words, what happened in this country00:03:14.846
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- from a social standpoint after the regime change, especially in this region.00:03:21.000
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- And the situation of the minorities, which in Baranya County an especially crucial issue.00:03:26.695
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- We defined various thematics for the exhibition.00:03:35.035
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- In general, we felt it important to explore the 19th century roots of nationalism.00:03:37.698
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- We also engaged the topics of national memory, national narrative or canon, as well.00:03:45.443
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- But we also considered it important to represent questions that are essentially of a social or00:03:53.576
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- economic origin, such as migration, or issues that originate from political conflict.00:03:59.576
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- The central aim of the exhibition, however, is to present that00:04:07.720
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- which points past nationalist narrative.00:04:15.317
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- In other words, how can we imagine the nation as a receiving entity? How can we even speak about00:04:22.845
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- the nation outside the framework that has defined discourse in the past hundred years?00:04:30.125
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- I think that the exhibition avoids taking a stand in certain questions,00:04:36.418
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- for example, whether there is a need for the nation at all. And I think this is important00:04:44.304
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- because it leaves this question open and shows that00:04:52.526
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- there are indeed certain concepts of nation that can be relevant today.00:05:01.091
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- For example, I was surprised to see that in South America, or, especially in certain parts00:05:09.000
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- of the Third World, this type of nationalist sentiment or ideology brings up00:05:17.000
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- the most progressive social thoughts. After a while, the more I explored this question00:05:22.948
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- the less I saw as nationalistic what we regard as nationalistic in Hungary today.00:05:29.291
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- Simply because an ideology that excludes a large part of the nation00:05:36.467
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- should not necessarily be called nationalistic. It is for this reason that I feel it is important00:05:45.594
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- that when we talk about minorities, we should also consider the economic or social aspects,00:05:55.693
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- because this is not only a question of human rights, but also a social one.00:06:06.191
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- Perhaps it is Alban Muja's photo series that best illustrates what can be understood by00:06:15.657
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- private nationalism. When Kosovo was still part of Yugoslavia in the '70s and '80s,00:06:22.626
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- and family members couldn't see each other on a daily basis00:06:30.163
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- on the two sides of the border, in Albania and Kosovo,00:06:38.100
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- many children in Kosovo were named after Albanian cities.00:06:48.100
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- Such instances where personal identities and individual life paths come together like this00:06:57.613
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- with quite abstract, nostalgic community sentiments can be rather moving.00:07:06.000