Soros Centers for Contemporary Art

The SCCA (Soros Centers for Contemporary Art) was an autonomous regional program of the Open Society Institute (OSI). The network was established in Eastern Europe during the early nineties by the American philanthropist, stock investor, and political activist George Soros. The SCCA was an institutional mechanism of the post-socialist transition, and its primary role was the modernization of the artistic discourse in the former socialist countries and the republics of the former USSR.

The Soros centers sprouted from a small programme called Soros Foundation Fine Arts Documentation Center which was established in 1985 in the Budapest Műcsarnok (Kunsthalle), as part of a cooperation between the Műcsarnok and Soros Foundation Hungary. In the early nineties, under the directorship of Suzanne Mészöly, this program was renamed “Soros Center for Contemporary Art” and gradually implemented in other Eastern European countries.

In 1992, in addition to the already existent SCCA Budapest, the OSI opened five more offices in Bratislava [1], Moscow, Prague, Tallinn and Warsaw; in 1993, there were established offices in Bucharest, Riga, Vilnius, Kiev, Ljubljana [2] [3], Zagreb [4] and Sofia. From 1994 to 1999 more centers were opened in St. Petersburg, Belgrade (1994), Skopje, Chișinău (1996), Sarajevo (1996), Odessa (1996), Almaty (1997) increasing their number to 19. (Source)

"The Soros Centers for Contemporary Art (SCCA) Network supports the development and the international exposure of contemporary art in Eastern and Central Europe, the countries of the former Soviet Union, and Central Eurasia as a vital element of an open society. Each SCCA stimulates its country’s contemporary art community by providing artists, arts professionals and organizations with opportunities to develop projects, participate in contemporary art exhibitions, access information, and develop contacts locally and internationally. The SCCA network links all of the SCCA offices, facilitates communication and information exchange between them, offers educational opportunities and professional training network-wide, and promotes artistic collaboration throughout the region."
--- "SCCA Network" (brochure) published by Open Society Institute Budapest, 1998.

Publications (selection)

• Modern and Contemporary Hungarian Art. Bulletin, 1985-1990, ed. Suzanne Mészöly, Budapest: Soros Foundation, and Budapest: Műcsarnok, 1991, 134 pp. [5] [6]

• Sub Voce: Contemporary Hungarian Video Installation, ed. Suzanne Mészöly, Budapest: Soros Foundation Fine Art Documentation Center - Mucsarnok, 1991, 75 pp. Catalogue. Exhibition. [7] (English)/(Hungarian)

• Polifónia: A társadalmi kontextus mint médium a kortárs magyar képzőművészetben / Polyphony: Social Commentary in Contemporary Hungarian Art, ed. Suzanne Mészöly, Budapest: Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, 1993, 341 pp. Catalogue. [8] (Hungarian)/(English)

• SCCA Bulletin 1991-1994, eds. Suzanne Mészöly and Andrea Szekeres, Budapest: Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, 1994, 164 pp. [9] [10]
  • András Zwickl, "Five Years", in SCCA Bulletin 1991-1994, pp 15-22. [11]

• The Soros Centers for Contemporary Arts Quarterly 1, 1996, 40 pp.

• PlatformaSCCA, 4 nos., eds. Barbara Borčić, Urša Jurman, et al., Ljubljana: SCCA-Ljubljana, Jun 2000-Sep 2005. (Slovenian)/(English)

Literature

• John Horvath, "The Soros Network" / "Das Soros-Netzwerk", Telepolis, 18/20 Dec 1996. [12] (English)/(German)
• Cãlin Dan, "The Dictatorship of Good Will", Nettime, 10 May 1997.
• Geert Lovink, "The Art of Being Independant: on NGOs and the Soros debate", Nettime, 13 May 1997.
• John Horvath, "The Soros Effect on Central and Eastern Europe" / "George Soros und Osteuropa", Telepolis, 6/8 Oct 1997. (English)/(German)
• Béla Nóvé, Tény/Soros. A magyar Soros Alapítvány első 10 éve, Budapest: Balassi, 1999, 606 pp. (Hungarian)
• Georg Schöllhammer, "Art in the Era of Globalization: Some Remarks on the Period of Soros-Realisms", in The Global 500, ed. Oliver Ressler, Selene, 1999. [13]
• Anne-Marie Rocco, L'incroyable histoire de George Soros: milliardaire spéculateur et mécène, Mesnil-sur-l’Estrée: Assouline, 1999. (French)
• Miško Šuvakovič, "Kritična fenomenologija dela: status, funkcije i efekti umetničkog dela na Manifesti 3" / "Critical Phenomenology of Atwork: The Status, the Functions and the Effects of the Artwork at Manifesta 3", PlatformaSCCA 2, Ljubljana: SCCA-Ljubljana, Dec 2000; repr. in Art in Context 1, Vršac: Centar za savremenu kulturu Konkordija, Apr 2001; repr. in Art-e-Fact 4, 2005. (Slovenian)/(English)
• Miško Šuvaković, "Ideologija izložbe: o ideologijama Manifeste" / "The Ideology of Exhibition: On the Ideologies of Manifesta", PlatformaSCCA 3, Ljubljana: SCCA-Ljubljana, Jan 2002; repr. in Art-e-Fact 4, 2005; repr. in Šuvaković, Konceptualna umjetnost, Novi Sad: Muzej savremene umjetnosti Vojvodine, 2007, pp 808-812. On "Soros Realism". [14] (Slovenian)/(English)
• Larisa Muravska Assessment / Mapping Activities of the Soros Centers for Contemporary Arts, Budapest: Open Society Institute, 6 May 2002. Internal document.
• Fondazione Fitzcarraldo, Cultural Cooperation in Europe: What Role for Foundations?, 2003, 80 pp. Report.
• Mária Hlavajová, "Towards the Normal: Negotiating the 'former East'", in The Manifesta Decade: Debates on Contemporary Art Exhibitions and Biennials in Post-Wall Europe, eds. Barbara Vanderlinden and Elena Filipovic, MIT Press, 2005, pp 153-165.
• Klaus Müller, "“Speaking English”: A Dialogue with Eastern and Central European Museum Professionals", Curator: The Museum Journal 48:1, 2005, pp 57-73.
• Ana Peraica, "A Shift in the Representation of the Worker: From Social Realism to 'Soros Realism'" / "Ein Wandel in der Repräsentation des Arbeiters vom Sozialistischen Realismus zum 'Soros-Realismus'", Springerin 12:3, Vienna, 2006, pp 30-32. (English)/(German)
• Ieva Astahovska, "Deviņdesmito gadu “imaginārais muzejs”", Studia 56:5, 2007. Interview. [15] (Latvian)
• Roger Conover, "Against Dictionaries: The East as She is Spoke by the West", in East Art Map: Contemporary Art and Eastern Europe, ed. IRWIN, London: Afterall, 2006, pp 349-361.
• Lioudmila Voropai, "Institutionalisation of Media Art in the Post-Soviet Space: The Role of Cultural Policy and Socioeconomic Factors", 2007, DOC. lecture given at re:place: On the Histories of Media, Art, Science and Technology, Berlin, 2007. [16]
• Anthony Gardner, "Networking with Soros", in Gardner, Politically Unbecoming: Critiques of “Democracy” and Postsocialist Art from Europe, University of New South Wales (PhD dissertation), 2008, pp 163-171; rev. in Gardner, Politically Unbecoming: Postsocialist Art against Democracy, MIT Press, 2015.
• Octavian Eşanu, The Transition of The Soros Centers to Contemporary Art: The Managed Avant-Garde, Kyiv: CCCK, 2008, 20 pp.
• Nina Czegledy, Andrea Szerekes, "Agents for Change: The Contemporary Art Centres of the Soros Foundation and C3", Third Text 23, 2009, pp 251-259.
• Rena Rädle, "From Soros Realism to Creative Class", in Psychogeographical Research, Novi Sad: Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, 2009, pp 125-134. [17] [18]
• Lolita Jablonskienė, "XX a. pabaigos Lietuvos šiuolaikinės dailės greitkeliai", in Menas kaip socialinis diskursas, Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2010, pp 167-181. (Latvian)
• Jānis Borgs, "Sorosa laiks / The Soros Era", in Deviņdesmitie: laikmetīgā māksla Latvijā / Nineties: Contemporary Art in Latvia, ed. Ieva Astahovska, Riga: Laikmetīgās mākslas centrs, 2010, pp 42-59. [19] (Latvian)/(English)
• Petra Hanáková, "Hlavajovej Sorosovo centrum súčasného umenia", in Hanáková, Ženy-inštitúcie? K dejinám umeleckej prevádzky devätdesiatych rokov, Bratislava: Slovart, and Bratislava: Vysoká škola výtvarného umenia, 2010, pp 155-185. Reviews: Koklesová (Pravda), Kukurová (Romboid), Gatialová (SME). (Slovak)
• Inke Arns, "Translocal Alliances of the 1990s: the OSTranenie Video Festival, the Soros Centers for Contemporary Art Network, and the Syndicate Mailinglist", in Gateways: Art and Networked Culture / Kunst und vernetzte Kultur, ed. Sabine Himmelsbach, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, and Tallinn: Kumu Art Museum, 2011.
• Milena Dragićević Šešić, "From culture of dissent to culture of innovation and experiment", 2011.
• Pavlína Morganová, "Učili jsme se za pochodu. Někdo Něco, časopis Výtvarné umění, Sorosovo centrum. Rozhovor s Ludvíkem Hlaváčkem" / "We Learned as We Went. Někdo Něco (Someone Something), Výtvarné umění (Fine Art) magazine, Soros Center. Interview with Ludvík Hlaváček", in Mezi první a druhou moderností 1985-2012 / Between the First and Second Modernity 1985-2012, eds. Jiří Ševčík and Edith Jeřábková, Prague: VVP AVU, 2011, pp 211-230. (Czech)/(English)
• Naomi Hennig, "Fokus auf Ex-Jugoslawien: Analyse der Kunst-und Kulturförderung durch das Soros Foundation Network. Lokale Voraussetzungen, Effekte und Implikationen", in Hennig, Finanzmarkt, Geopolitik und Kulturförderung – eine Illustration der Soros Open Society Foundation, Berlin: Universität der Künste Berlin, 2011. Master's thesis. (German)
• Naomi Hennig, "Footnotes On Art and Finances: George Soros and What Remains: Soros Art Funding in Ex Yu", c2011.
• Mara Ratiu, "Romanian Contemporary Visual Arts World After 1989: Tension and Fragmentation", Studia Ubb. Philosophia 56:3, 2011, pp 107-126.
• Octavian Eşanu, "What Was Contemporary Art?", ARTMargins 1:1, May 2012, pp 5-28.
• Octavian Eşanu, "The Cultural Transition: The SCCA Model", in Eşanu, Transition in Post-Soviet Art: The Collective Actions Group Before and After 1989, Budapest: Central European University Press, 2013, pp 184-197.
• Kristóf Nagy, "A Soros Alapítvány képzőművészeti támogatásai Magyarországon. A nyolcvanas évek második felének tendenciái", Fordulat 21, 2014, pp 192-215, PDF. (Hungarian)
• Aleksandar Savanović, "'Soros realizam'", in Savanović, George Soros – “Otvoreno društvo” kao ideja, ideologija i politička praksa, Banja Luka: University of Banja Luka, 2014, pp 139-145. (Bosnian)
• Željka Tonković, Sanja Sekelj, "Annual Exhibitions of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art Zagreb as a Place of Networking / Godišnje izložbe Soros centra za suvremenu umjetnost Zagreb kao mjesto umrežavanja", Zivot umjetnosti 99, Jan 2016, pp 80-95. (English)/(Croatian)
• Karolina Łabowicz-Dymanus, Synchronizacja w Sieci: Centra Sztuki Współczesnej Sorosa: cztery modele: Budapeszt, Kijów, Tallin, Warszawa, Warsaw: Instytut Sztuki PAN, 2016, 312 pp. Based on 2011 PhD dissertation. Video discussion (80 min, PL). [20] (Polish)
• Izabel Galliera, "Antipolitics: Exhibitions at the Soros Centres for Contemporary Art", ch 5 in Galliera, Socially Engaged Art After Socialism: Art and Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, I.B. Tauris, 2017, pp 81-111.
• Lioudmila Voropai, "Soros Centers for Contemporary Art: Intentionen und Rezeptionen", in Voropai, Medienkunst als Nebenprodukt. Studien zur institutionellen Genealogie neuer künstlerischer Medien, Formen und Praktiken, transcript, 2017, pp 227-236. [21] (German)
• Kristóf Nagy, "From Fringe Interest to Hegemony: The Emergence of the Soros Network in Eastern Europe", ch 3 in Globalizing East European Art Histories: Past and Present, eds. Beáta Hock and Anu Allas, Routledge, 2018, pp 53-63.
• Julija Fomina, "How to Represent the Present: Constructing the Notion of ‘the Contemporary’ in the Lithuanian Art Exhibitions of the Last Decade of the Twentieth Century", Studies on Art and Architecture / Kunstiteaduslikke Uurimusi 27:1-3, Tallinn: Estonian Society of Art Historians and Curators, 2018, pp 250-264.
• Zsuzsa László, "Párhuzamos kronológiák Kelet-Európában – a kulturális ellenállás paradigmájának dilemmái", in Kulturális ellenállás a Kádár-korszakban. Gyűjtemények története, eds. Péter Apor, et al., Budapest: MTA BTK Történettudományi Intézet, 2018. [22] (Hungarian)
• Kristóf Nagy, "From Fringe Interest to Hegemony: The Emergence of Soros Network in Eastern Europe", in Globalizing East European Art Histories: Past and Present, eds. Beáta Hock and Anu Allas, Routledge, 2018, pp 53-63.
• “The Influencing Machine” at Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest. Aaron Moulton, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Călin Dan, and Geert Lovink in conversation", Mousse Magazine, 20 Apr 2019.
• “The Soros Center was a Perfect Machine”: An Exchange between Aaron Moulton and Geert Lovink, ARTMargins, 15 Jul 2019.
• Sepp Eckenhaussen, Scenes of Independence: Cultural Ruptures in Zagreb (1991-2019), Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2019, 276 pp. [23]
• Octavian Esanu, The Postsocialist Contemporary: The Institutionalization of Artistic Practice in Eastern Europe after 1989, Manchester University Press, 2021, 288 pp. [24]

Exhibitions about SCCA

• The Influencing Machine, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, 14 Mar-20 Apr 2019. Curated by Aaron Moulton. Walkthrough video. Interview with curator.
• control < cultivate > evolve: Soros Center for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana (1993–1999). Its Organisation and Impact, Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana, 16 May-6 Jun 2019. Curated by Jasna Jernejšek and Miha Kelemina. Gallery presentation of the archive.