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Toolkit for Resistance

Real-life activism experience / Presentations and discussion forums

It has been a year since Open Culture! (OK!) platform emerged as a key force in the resistance movement against the authoritarian and anti-democratic measures enacted by the Slovak Ministry of Culture and the government. From unjustified dismissals and intimidation of cultural workers to violations of cultural rights, taking control of public television and radio, ideological censorship of cultural funds, and more, OK! has consistently stood up for the cultural community. Through petitions, demonstrations, legal measures and legal consultations, and various protest actions, including the strike alert, the platform has been tirelessly advocating for the protection of cultural freedoms and democratic values in Slovak society, as well as for the decent working conditions for the cultural workers.

Through a combination of ad-hoc initiatives and strategic moves, the platform has embodied the principle of "learning by doing," responding dynamically to emerging challenges while maintaining a focus on resilience and hope. While being forced to respond immediately to numerous steps prepared in silence by the ministry, OK! refuses to be just a reactive platform. It is trying to develop collectively and from below a vision of the culture that would be less elitist and less enclosed into itself. Culture that is one of the pillars of the public interest and a shared commons. In this view the struggle for the free culture is inseparable from the struggle for unconditional equity.

Toolkit for Resistance brings together some of the most active members of the OK! platform with an aim to support their practices through fostering reflection on the needs, operating conditions and methodologies of cultural activism in today's Slovakia. As a result of a number of research grants, four public events will be dedicated to topics such as trade union organizing and rights of cultural workers; protest movements, language and communication outside one's bubble; guidelines of organizing protest and assembly in the public space; visual language of protest movements and art in public space.

Toolkit for Resistance series will provide an important space for deepening the understanding of cultural activism in Slovakia, stimulating new ideas, and initiating a debate around a topic of how to navigate and confront ongoing challenges. If the resistance in culture is to be sustained, it needs to be framed as a process of mutual learning in which the cultural workers can learn from the others that had been facing precarisation and oppression long before us and much more intensely.

12. february 2025 - 31. may 2025

Participants: Braňo Matis, Eliška Mazalanová, Katarína Mišíková, Dominika Moravčíková, Verona Němcová, Ivana Rumanová, Adam Straka, Daniel Vadas, Aleš Vojtášek a ďalší
Concept: OK!
Graphic design: Braňo Matis

Event initiated by tranzit sk and organized in collaboration with OK!.

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ERSTE Foundation is main partner of tranzit.

Media partners:
Artalk.info, Flash Art CZ & SK, Kapitál, GoOut.net