In the past two weeks the Slovenian culture scene has been shocked because of the hunger strike of the director of Zavod KSEVT Miha Turšič. We are receiving a lot of questions from Slovenia and abroad about the status of Slovenian culture. The Institute of Soeren Kierkegaard is following these events with concern, and in a large part all of this is the consequence of a well established practice of degrading the field of culture in Slovenia. Miha Turšič has summed up demands of his hunger strike in three points. The first two demands are connected directly to the problem concerning Zavod KSEVT and the third point is demanding that the national budget for culture be restored to a 2%, rather than a 0,4% reduction which is the case now. The Institute of Soeren Kierkegaard sees in the first two demands a symptom of the current inadequate handling of innovative cultural institutions in Slovenia. The third demand is in large part the cause of the first two, although not everything is connected to financial problems. There is also a problem in that the bureaucratic way of thinking is applied to fields in which it does not belong, and that is the field of creativity. Because of this we have decided to send a letter to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, urging them to learn from the exposed case in order to understand the real situation from our perspective in the field of culture. We are also calling upon them not to allow the further destruction of culture, and especially not to push artists over the edge of their capabilities. In the attachment you will find the letter that we have sent to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia.

Translation:

Let us not become a society of extremes!

The decreasing support in the field of culture is ever more disturbing. Due to the recent reduction in the national budget for culture as many organizations pointed out, the support we have had is on the brink of collapse. We see the hunger strike of Miha Turšič as an almost inevitable step, and the situation in the culture center KSEVT is just a reflection of many similar problems affecting Slovenian culture, humanities and art. The Institute of Soeren Kierkegaard has also become a target of bureaucratic entanglements and blackmailing from local authorities, and we are asking ourselves which national institution can we rely on and trust to help us resolve our disputes in a rational and dialogical way. In the actual paradigmatic case it is not clear why it has come to such drastic measures, and why we cannot work together to resolve our differences in a cultivated and tolerant way. After the protest session of the National Council for Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, its petition and many letters of support, the budget for culture received a smaller budget reduction than previously predicted. There seems to be a trend that politicians detect only extreme measures, and these practices are followed by other bureaucrats. We have received many questions of concern from our international partners, but sadly we cannot say to them that the problem is of minor consequence. The problems, long-standing and urgent, need to be addressed holistically.

This is why we see the decision of Miha Turšič as a final warning that the depletion, neglecting and accusing of culture has gone too far. Therefore we call upon all responsible that they resolve the exposed situation and at the same time rethink the future systematic steps of the dialogue with culture producers. We have many mechanisms for cooperation, and we can use and respect them together or we risk becoming a barbaric society that communicates only though extreme situations. And culture is the main tool to prevent this from happening. We most sincerely hope that you will understand.