Assignment: Invite a representative/member of a cultural institution (museum, gallery, NGO, festival, etc) or an independent cultural worker that you believe can benefit from your research. Conduct a public discussion with them about your collaboration.
Methodology/description/concept:
In our program, we placed a great emphasis on creating opportunities for the participants to raise questions about the wider cultural aspects of artistic research. We requested them to invite one of their partners from the larger cultural field whom they consider might be the beneficiaries of their research outcomes.
Thus, we had diverse cultural workers as guests: two founding members of Skurc Artist Run Space, Gyula Muskovics independent curator, Kata Bedi, cultural referent of the Municipality of Budapest and Anna Seress from Solidarity Economy Center.
The discussion was very engaging and outlined the cornerstones of what is most tangible in the Hungarian cultural milieu and attempted to thematize the distinct features of the art field and research attitudes in general that might make partnerships difficult or eventually easy. Terms and concepts such as solidarity, community building, dissemination, exploring new forms of support, unionism were raised during the recorded collective debate.
The Lab positioned itself within the network of these collaborations as a catalyst agent of a discursive space, considering this as one of its feasible socio-cultural roles that is able to provide space and opportunities for the free flow of collaborations within and outside the institution.
