Riceviamo e pubblichiamo questo invito di Jens Hauser. Siamo contro qualsiasi abuso e campagna denigratoria nei confronti dell’arte e del lavoro degli artisti, dunque affianca e sostiene l’invito a firmare l’Open Letter in solidarietà con l’artista slovena Maja Smrekar.
We receive and publish this invitation from Jens Hauser. We are against any abuse and smear campaign against art and artists’ work, therefore it supports and endorses the invitation to sign the Open Letter in solidarity with the Slovenian artist Maja Smrekar.
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 and and 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 — 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, including in 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), Jens Hauser (curator), Dalila Honorato (Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence, Ionian University), Tatiana Kourochkina (Quo Artis) and Uros Veber (producer, Projekt Atol):
Thanks in advance for your support and solidarity,
Jens HAUSER
https://ku-dk.academia.edu/JensHauserPS: Life is Other, just published; including an edited version of the Hybrid Family blog with Maja Smrekar & Jens Hauser
