Art and politics in Romania

The Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) in New York has been harshly criticised in recent days for an exhibition in which swastikas and penises were featured. Now a parliamentary committee is to assess the quality of the ICR. The weekly newspaper Revista 22 criticises the decision. "Politics is entering a domain where it has no reason to be. Contemporary art can please us or not, it can inspire us or leave us cold, it can challenge our values or pass by unnoticed. It is governed by its own laws, and politics should have no say in the process. Every attempt to define art with political criteria or terminology (here we recall Soviet and Nazi art and the oppression of the avant-garde), has led to blatant political errors and has discredited politicians who every now and then like to play the defenders of values and traditions. ... It is discouraging that in Romania everything is politicised: an art exhibition ... the potholes in the streets, the dubious quality of our food or educational programmes. Politics is everywhere, in everything that exists and will exist in times to come. That is a pathological situation the consequence of which is that politics means everything and nothing."

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