Freedom of expression is a core theme of this podcast series. Although it is a central principle of western democracy, a censorious climate is undermining it. The arts world should be a space for experimentation and freedom but has become increasingly influenced by an ‘I find that offensive’ mentality, so that artists who express ideas that run counter to dominant tropes in social media find themselves cancelled and blocked. 

In this episode Wendy Earle interviews Manick Govinda and Agnieszka Kolek about their experiences in defending and promoting freedom in the arts. Agnieszka Kolek is a co-founder of Passion for Freedom, an organisation founded in 2009 to curate festivals of artists who have faced censorship and cancellation. (https://www.passionforfreedom.art)

It has organised events in London, Denmark, Poland and New York. Manick Govinda is a curator and writer working in contemporary art and also mentoring artists. Since openly supporting the campaign to leave the EU he has found himself increasingly ostracised in the art world. 

Agnieszka and Manick talk first about their experience of censorship in the arts in Europe and the work of Passion for Freedom, and then about their work in Warsaw, Poland, where they had an opportunity to put the principles of freedom of expression into practice, as the co-curators of “Culture Tensions” at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art from January 2022 until February 2024.

However, since the change of government in Poland at the last parliamentary general election held on 15 October 2023, the ruling Law & Justice Party (PiS) was eventually defeated by the formation of a new ruling coalition government led by Donald Tusk. The new government began a programme of “settling accounts”, ousting cultural leaders from public sector jobs. This “revenge politics” led to the dismissal of The Ujazdowski Castle’s Director, Piotr Bernatowicz and his three deputy directors this summer.

The new interim director announced that “due to the changes in the programme of the [Ujazdowski Castle], we decided that the Culture Tensions project does not fit into it”. Cancel culture in Poland is not new, many artists were censored, lost their jobs and silenced under Communist rule. 

From 2021 until the summer of 2024, the Ujazdowski Castle was a beacon of free expression, reshaping Poland's cultural landscape away from the usual tropes of globalist, social justice oriented contemporary art that has gripped most of the West. Many artists, writers and curators from the UK and USA who were cancelled in the West were invited to discuss pertinent issues around arts, culture and politics, to curate exhibitions and exhibit their art at this prestigious centre for contemporary art. The Culture Tensions programme is online - for now - and can be accessed on YouTube.