The motto of the Vienna artists’ association, Vienna Secession, is “To every time its art. To art its freedom”.
Detail of the Vienna Secession building with the group’s motto on the facade. Source: Vienna Secession
The phrase was used by Austria’s new government formed by a coalition of the conservative People’s party and the far-right Freedom party. The later was founded shortly after World War II by former Nazis. The Freedom party joined the new government after a series of successful talks with the country’s new chancellor, 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz.
The authorities published the government programme for 2017-2022 titled “Together. For our Austria”. In the section on culture, the motto of the Vienna Secession was noticed on page 182. The Secession was founded by Gustav Klimt in 1987 to protest and oppose the conservative Austrian Artists’ Society.
The government’s document says: “The basis of our cultural policy is the freedom of art and culture guaranteed in the Federal Constitution. We are fully committed to this freedom, especially that of contemporary art, as expressed in the motto of the Vienna Secession, ‘To every time its art. To art its freedom (Der Zeit ihre Kunst, der Kunst ihre Freiheit).'
The text continues with the thesis that “engagement with our common cultural heritage… contributes significantly to Austria’s sense of identity”.
In response, the Vienna Secession rejected any association with the government's official programme. In a letter to artnet News, the Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession offers its vision of the situation: “[f]reedom of the arts is necessarily premised on internationality, pluralism, and dialogue. The notion that art’s purpose is to buttress a national collective identity presses it into a service that runs counter to its thematic diversity […] When a government does not champion a free society, its promise to respect the freedom of the arts is no more than a rhetorical exercise.”
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