CENSORSHIP – ART – PUBLIC SPACE / PUBLIC DEBATE

At a time of increasing claims upon public space, the role of the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) is central to the protection of freedom of speech and the free transfer of ideas. Joint sponsorship of the public debate “Censorship, Art, Public Space” confirms the museum’s mission and underscores its open dialogue with significant public sources of knowledge and education.

Why does a work of art generate multiple responses when exhibited in a public space? Is it a form of censorship to object to certain public monuments? In the final analysis, what are the borders between vandalism and censorship? Public art is associated with the pivotal meaning of public space as a democratic value, itself connected with the so-called (if imprecise) society of citizens. Monuments, prescriptive by their nature, do not simply represent specific persons, but transform individuals and their actions into examples to be followed. What options are available to citizens wishing to react to the principles which monuments inscribe on the urban fabric, and when can such reactions be stogmatised as acts of censorship? In the end, who is empowered to intervene in public spaces, and what are the acceptable limits of such interventions? Focusing on different events and time periods, the round table will attempt to give an answer to the question of what is meant by censorship of public art both in Greece and further afield.

Dimitris Christopoulos, Professor / Dean of School of Political Science, Panteion University

Eleni Kouki, Post-doc researcher, Panteion University
Despina Lalaki, Adj. Prof, City Tech New York / Decolonize Hellas
Penelope Petsini, Post-doc researcher / Adj. Prof, Panteion University
Dimitris Plantzos, Professor of History and Archaeology, UoA
Theophilos Tramboulis, Publications advisor, EMST