Guest speakers:

Ferenc Kulin, former general editor of the legendary periodical "Mozgó Világ", literary historian, a close associate to the late prime minister József Antall;

Tibor Wehner, art historian, former head of the art division of the Ministry of National Cultural Heritage;

Endre Kukorelly, writer, editor, journalist, former member of parliament (LMP).

Moderator: Ferenc Hörcher (PPCU FFHS, Department of Aesthetics).

How do intellectuals and artists relate to authority? The question keeps occupying the minds of theoreticians and laypersons alike since at least the strange relationship between Aristotle and Alexander the Great, Seneca and Nero, or Michelangelo and Pope Julius II. What kind of moral and aesthetic compromises are needed when one serves ecclesiastical or secular authorities? Is there any such thing as intellectual independence and free art? Can and should an artist be involved in politics? Where does the difference lie between serving an oppressive regime and being dependent on the market or serving democratic politics? Was it easier to be an artist before the regime change or afterwards?

Date: 9 May, 2013, 5pm.

Location: PPCU FHSS, 1088 Budapest Mikszáth Kálmán tér 1, Sophianum building, room 112.