21 October 2021

Nationalism and language: European Alliance of the Academies launches its series of events on the freedom of the arts in Budapest

Friday, 29 October 2021, 7 pm
FUGA – Budapest Center of Architecture + live stream

On 29 October 2021 the European Alliance of Academies is launching a series of events on the freedom of the arts in Budapest with a public discussion involving authors from all over Europe and with workshops for students.
Under the title “Battle with the Empty Sky: Language, nationalism and freedom of art in early 21st-century Europe”, Akademie member and writer Robert Menasse, Hungarian author László Márton and Hungarian literary critic Anna Gács examine the interaction between language, society and politics: How is language affected when politics moves in a populist, nationalist or other radical direction? The British poet Daljit Nagra will host the discussion.

The discussion at the Budapest Center of Architecture will be live-streamed at www.allianceofacademies.eu. This will be preceded by workshops given by the writers Luc Devoldere and Sophie Collins for students of Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest.

The event is an expression of the solidarity of the European Alliance of Academies with the Society of Hungarian Authors. The latter vehemently opposed anti-Semitic remarks by Szilárd Demeter, director of Budapest’s Petöfi Literary Museum, in December 2020. Since then, the situation has deteriorated further, as evidenced by the tightening of state control over the Budapest University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE).

Akademie President Professor Jeanine Meerapfel: “Shared language unites us. But there is also a downside: language can also be used to divide. With language we can exclude and hurt each other. With language we can create fake news – and realities or also myths that cause harm... We need to recognise these mechanisms so that we can do something about them.”

An event of the European Alliance of Academies in cooperation with the Akademie der Künste, Society of Hungarian Authors, Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature, Royal Society of Literature, and Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung. Sponsored by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb)

Further events are planned in various European cities.
www.allianceofacademies.eu 

Event details
European Alliance of Academies
Battle with the Empty Sky: Language, nationalism and freedom of art in early 21st-century Europe
Friday, 29 October 2021, 7 pm
In English
FUGA – Budapest Center of Architecture + live stream
Petőfi Sándor u. 5, 1052 Hungary
Live streaming at www.allianceofacademies.eu 
Admission free