Aktuelle Kunst aus Europa, öffentlicher Raum Wien 2005/2006

Solidarity Declaration: It is not the task of art to please or to satisfy the interests of the politicians in power. The “rolling board” project brings 75 artists and artist groups from all over Europe to Austria – in order to present their reflections on reality in public space. We demand that all artistic projects are shown in Vienna and that public censorship against the artists Tanja Ostojic and Carlos Aires will immediately be abolished. The behaviour of the hosting country is a political affront against the entire project and the participating artists. We do not want to leave our works in the hands of public will and demand that the censored works will be taken up again on the occasion of the catalogue presentation on January 20 th , 2006. Two remarks on the media debate in Austria: Of course it is self-evident that public funds should be used for critical reflections on social circumstances and drawbacks in the future – instead of using tax money for wars, armaments and a racist politics of isolation, which deports people into torture and death. This hypocritical attitude equals the opportune stance of politicians who sanctioned the censorship against 2 artists and thus served the agitation instigated by the Austrian Krone tabloid, which spends its money for sexist and racist political stereotypes.