Transnational Activities in the Cultural Field
Interventions on the situation in Austria
In reaction to the political situation in Austria, TransAct has started – in cooperation with museum in progress – an international initiative in the cultural field. This project is based on contacts of Austrian artists, intellectuals and scientists with colleagues in foreign countries. They were asked to comment on the current political and cultural situation, especially on the dangerous effects of cultural isolation. Their statements – texts and artistic interventions – were published in the daily newspaper Der Standard by museum in progress as well as on internet. TransAct is an autonomous cultural project which manifests a wide-reaching and permanent protest.
This excellent series with contributions of John Baldessari, Anna und Bernhard Blume, Christian Boltanski, Pierre Bourdieu, Günter Brus, Douglas Gordon, Alexander Kluge, Oswald Oberhuber, Lawrence Weiner, Slavoj Žižek and many others was curated by Cathrin Pichler and realised by museum in progress.
In 2010 the contributions appeared as historical documentation in book form. In the context of the political realities in Europe many of the texts and works are just as relevant today as they were ten years ago.
Cathrin Pichler, Roman Berka (Ed.): TransAct. Transnational Activities in the Cultural Field. Interventionen zur Lage in Österreich. museum in progress, Edition Transfer, Vienna, New York: Springer 2010, 513 pp., illustrated with many images, ISBN: 978-3-211-99800-7.
