Talks on Boycott, Censorship and Protest in Germany
VS—temporary home of Museum Villa Stuck
Goethestraße 54, 80336 Munich
Museum Villa Stuck
Prinzregentenstraße 60, 81675 Munich
With: Aziz Al-Azmeh, Candice Breitz, Tania Bruguera, Elke Buhr, Michael Buhrs, Florian Malzacher, Meron Mendel, Christoph Möllers, Susan Neiman, Geraldine Rauch, Bernd Scherer, Margarita Tsomou, Eyal Weizman, Roland Wenninger
After intensive consideration and following the conviction that the series of talks “The Condition of No: Talks on Boycott, Censorship and Protest in Germany” will open up a space for exchange and discussion, the series of talks, which was originally planned for an earlier date, will now take place from May 3.
The boundaries of freedom of speech and artistic freedom are currently under scrutiny. Cancellations, boycotts, censorship, codes of conduct and protests are having a massive impact on the cultural sector, but talking about them is difficult. With this series, we invite experts from various disciplines to engage in intensive and candid discussions about very specific case studies in Germany and ask: What happened? Why did it happen? And: What can we learn? “The Condition of No“ seeks to facilitate understanding, differentiation and communication in what is currently a precarious situation. It’s about creating a fear-free space in which people can talk.
The series of talks forms the third and final part of the project “Tania Bruguera—The Condition of No”, which examines the topic of “censorship” from different perspectives. After an exhibition with a focus on Cuba (September 5–November 24, 2024) and a film festival with a focus on China (November 1–3, 2024), the series of discussions will focus on the situation in Germany. The project was conceived by Tania Bruguera for INSTAR and curated by Roland Wenninger.
May 3, 2025, 7pm
Prologue: What are the Limits?
Aziz Al-Azmeh & Susan Neiman, Mod.: Florian Malzacher
The opening talk of the program “The Condition of No” presents the question of freedom of speech in a wide and foundational manner: What must we endure, what boundaries need to be set, and how can we keep different cultural and philosophical traditions of freedom of expression in mind? Looking at the history of the Enlightenment, philosopher Susan Neiman doubts that the explosive current debates in Germany, for example, are really about freedom of expression. The historian Aziz Al-Azmeh profiles Arab and Islamic topoi present in Germany today and juxtaposes considerations of universalism with an intensified discourse of culturalism and cultural difference.
This event is also part of the series “The Art of Assembly”, art-of-assembly.net.
Venue: VS, Goethestraße 54, 80336 München, and online at villastuck.de.
May 4, 2025, 3pm
German Institutions
Margarita Tsomou & Eyal Weizman, Mod.: Michael Buhrs
While initiatives such as Strike Germany and numerous international artists accuse most German cultural institutions of complicity in silencing pro-Palestinian positions or at least a lack of balance, the latter often see themselves as defenders of freedom of expression who, against all odds, keep spaces for dialogue open. Margarita Tsomou is a curator who organises discourse programmes at Berlin’s Theater Hebbel am Ufer—HAU. Eyal Weizman, director and founder of the research agency Forensic Architecture, criticises bias and self-censorship in the German cultural sector.
Venue: VS, Goethestraße 54, 80336 München, and online at villastuck.de
May 9, 2025, 7pm
Universities and Academies
Meron Mendel & Geraldine Rauch, Mod.: Elke Buhr
Alongside culture, the debate about freedom of expression is most heated at universities and academies: Places where the free exchange of opinions should be a fundamental prerequisite for research and teaching. The anti-Semitic incidents and pro-Palestinian protests at German universities and academies in the context of the Gaza war are the starting point for the discussion. Based on their own experiences, Meron Mendel, director of the Anne Frank Educational Centre in Frankfurt am Main, and Geraldine Rauch, President of the Technical University of Berlin, will talk about this difficult topic.
Venue: VS, Goethestraße 54, 80336 München, and online at villastuck.de
July 4, 2025, 7pm
Codes of Conduct
Candice Breitz & Christoph Möllers, Mod.: Bernd Scherer
Numerous codes of conduct have been negotiated, passed and heavily criticized at federal, state and municipal level in recent years. Especially in the area of cultural funding, debates about the pros and cons of codes of conduct have shaken the cultural climate. Cultural institutions are unsure how to defend their own freedom—between supposed and real censorship, self-censorship and the desire to do the right thing. The discussion will feature South African-born, Berlin-based artist Candice Breitz, whose exhibition planned for 2024 at the Saarland Museum was cancelled due to allegedly controversial statements on the Gaza war, and constitutional law expert Christoph Möllers, Professor of Public Law and Philosophy of Law at Humboldt-University in Berlin, who advises the German government, among others, on fundamental rights limits and protection requirements for state cultural funding.
Venue: Museum Villa Stuck, Prinzregentenstraße 60, 81675 München
July 6, 2025, 3pm
Epilogue: The Condition of No
Tania Bruguera in conversation with Florian Malzacher and Roland Wenninger
For many years, the Cuban artist and activist Tania Bruguera, who currently lives in exile in the USA, has been campaigning for freedom of speech and against censorship in her performances and exhibitions. At the Hamburger Bahnhof—Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin, Tania Bruguera’s performance Where Your Ideas Become Civic Actions (100 Hours Reading “The Origins of Totalitarianism“) made headlines in early 2024. The reading of Hannah Arendt’s book was disrupted by protesters and stopped the following morning. Based on her experiences in Berlin and at documenta fifteen in Kassel, Tania Bruguera conceived the three-part project “The Condition of No“ for the Villa Stuck in Munich, examining the issue of censorship from different angles. Author and dramaturge Florian Malzacher and curator Roland Wenninger talk to Tania Bruguera about her experiences in very different contexts.
Venue: Museum Villa Stuck, Prinzregentenstraße 60, 81675 München, and online at villastuck.de
Curated by Tania Bruguera, Florian Malzacher, Roland Wenninger
VS—Villa Stuck, in cooperation with INSTAR and The Art of Assembly
Tickets: at the box office and online. The events will be held in English, the talk on May 9, 2025 in German.
