The spectacle of protest: The case of Budapest University of Theatre and Film Arts (SzFE)

• Published in: Creating Through Mind and Emotions pp. 373 - 379
• Main Author: Horváth, Gizela
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: CRC Press 2022
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Artistic activism; Protest art; Young Man; Superimposed; Contemporary Society; Vice Versa; Moral Political State; White Tape; University Occupiers; UK Riot; Board Game; Dense; Occupy Wall Street; Vilanova Artigas; Timeless; Confer; Vaccine Hesitancy; Cape Verdean; Spectacle; Aesthetic state; Violated; Secret University; Trouser Legs; Required State Television; FreeSzFE; Important Communication Platform
• ISBN: 9780367279936; 9780367495381; 0367279932; 0367495384
• DOI: 10.1201/9780429299070-49

Ever since the French Revolution turned into terror, we can ask the question that motivated Schiller to write his Letters on Aesthetic Education, over and over again: how can we fight for the moral-political state without becoming barbaric? Schiller proposes aesthetic education, i.e., creating an aesthetic state in which mind and emotions are equally important. His proposal may seem like a well-intentioned naivety: fighting with the means of beauty does not seem very effective. Reflecting on the protests of the last decade or two, however, we notice just such an attempt. There is an increasing emphasis on creative solutions, visibility, and artistic means. These changes can be linked to the spread of social media and to the fact that events can be reported not only by the central, official, and traditional media outlets but also by the participants themselves, in real-time. This is how a kind of hijacking or détournement (Debord) of the spectacle takes place. Drawing on the insights of Schiller, Debord, and Groys, this paper analyzes a striking example of this new kind of artistic activism, the case of the #FreeSzFE movement from Budapest. The actions of art students from Budapest testify to the possibility of intertwining mind and emotions in the form of the spectacle of protest. Friedrich Schiller proposes aesthetic education, i.e., creating an aesthetic state in which mind and emotions are equally important. His proposal may seem like a well-intentioned naivety: fighting with the means of beauty does not seem very effective. There is an increasing emphasis on creative solutions, visibility, and artistic means. These changes can be linked to the spread of social media and to the fact that events can be reported not only by the central, official, and traditional media outlets but also by the participants themselves, in real-time. This is how a kind of hijacking or detournement (Debord) of the spectacle takes place. This chapter analyzes a striking example of this new kind of artistic activism, the case of the #FreeSzFE movement from Budapest. The University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest is a distinguished educational institution providing a diverse and well-recognized training in the field of the performing arts.