[spectre] Fwd: Invitation to Sign Open Letter and Support Fund for Maja Smrekar & Defending Artistic Freedom

[Andreas Broeckmann]

-------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht --------
Betreff: 	Invitation to Sign Open Letter and Support Fund for Maja 
Smrekar & Defending Artistic Freedom
Datum: 	Mon, 7 Jul 2025 02:37:01 +0000
Von: 	Jens Hauser <zqx635 at sund.ku.dk>
An: 	Jens Hauser <jenshauser at sfr.fr>


Dear friends and colleagues!

I hope you are well.

I’m writing to invite you, as one of the potentially first signatories, 
to sign and share an urgent Open Letter in solidarity with Slovenian 
artist Maja Smrekar, Golden Nica at Ars Electronica 2017 for her K-9 
<https://www.majasmrekar.org/k-9topology-cyberarts-2017-prix-ars-electronica-exhibition> and 
and Hybrid Family 
<https://www.majasmrekar.org/k-9topology-hybrid-family> project, to 
support her to take legal action against the Slovenian Democratic Party 
(SDS) for unauthorized use of her artwork, defamation, and the 
incitement of public hostility.

As you may be already know, in the lead-up to Slovenia’s 10 May 2025 
referendum on pension reforms for awarded artists, SDS escalated its 
long-running culture war. The party weaponized Maja’s internationally 
acclaimed artwork /K-9 Topology: Hybrid Family/ by flooding public 
spaces with decontextualized billboard images 
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/10/slovenia-to-vote-in-referendum-on-artist-pension-that-has-fostered-culture-war>—without 
her knowledge or consent—framing her work as a symbol of moral and 
cultural decay, and ‘degenerated art’. Since then, Maja has been 
subjected to a sustained campaign of harassment, includingin public and 
private space. These tactics mirror a growing global trend: 
authoritarian regimes targeting artists to suppress dissent, distort 
public discourse, and stifle freedom of expression- our fundamental 
rights. Maja has therefore decided to take legal action—an individual 
stand against the machinery of Slovenia’s largest and most financially 
powerful political party of the past 30 years. This is not only a fight 
for her personal integrity, but a broader struggle for artistic freedom 
and a direct response to the unlawful political exploitation of her work.

Your signature would help this week’s launch of an international 
platform and legal defense fund you may consider donating to, initiated 
by Ewen Chardronnet (author, editor, Makery.info <http://makery.info/>), 
Jens Hauser (curator), Dalila 
Honorato (Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence, Ionian University), Tatiana 
Kourochkina (Quo Artis) and Uros Veber (producer, Projekt Atol):

https://openletter.earth/in-defense-of-artistic-freedom-support-legal-action-against-political-abuse-56f1c0d0

https://artkinship.org/

Thanks in advance for your support and solidarity,

Jens HAUSER

+33 6 79 85 79 39
https://ku-dk.academia.edu/JensHauser

PS: Life is Other 
<https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783689240110/html?lang=en>, 
just published; including an edited version of the Hybrid Family blog 
<https://www.majasmrekar.org/k-9topology-hybrid-family> with Maja 
Smrekar & Jens Hauser




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