<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body class=""
style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">
-------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht --------
<div class="moz-forward-container">
<table class="moz-email-headers-table" cellspacing="0"
cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Betreff:
</th>
<td>Invitation to Sign Open Letter and Support Fund for Maja
Smrekar & Defending Artistic Freedom</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Datum: </th>
<td>Mon, 7 Jul 2025 02:37:01 +0000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Von: </th>
<td>Jens Hauser <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:zqx635@sund.ku.dk"><zqx635@sund.ku.dk></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">An: </th>
<td>Jens Hauser <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:jenshauser@sfr.fr"><jenshauser@sfr.fr></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div dir="auto"
style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"
class="">
<div class="">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div dir="auto" class=""
style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div class="">
<p class="">Dear friends and colleagues!</p>
<p class=""><span
class="x_x_gmail_default">I hope you
are well.</span></p>
<p class="">I’m writing to invite you,
as one of the potentially first
signatories, to sign and share an
urgent Open Letter in solidarity with
Slovenian artist Maja Smrekar, Golden
Nica at Ars Electronica 2017 for her <a
href="https://www.majasmrekar.org/k-9topology-cyberarts-2017-prix-ars-electronica-exhibition"
class="" moz-do-not-send="true">K-9</a> and
and <a
href="https://www.majasmrekar.org/k-9topology-hybrid-family" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">Hybrid Family</a> project,
to support her to take legal action
against the Slovenian Democratic Party
(SDS) for unauthorized use of her
artwork, defamation, and the
incitement of public hostility.</p>
</div>
<div class="">As you may be already know,
in the lead-up to Slovenia’s 10 May 2025
referendum on pension reforms for
awarded artists, SDS escalated its
long-running culture war. The <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/10/slovenia-to-vote-in-referendum-on-artist-pension-that-has-fostered-culture-war"
class="" moz-do-not-send="true">party
weaponized Maja’s internationally
acclaimed <span
class="x_x_gmail_default">artwork</span>
<i class="">K-9 Topology: Hybrid
Family</i> by flooding public spaces
with decontextualized billboard images</a>—without
her knowledge or consent—framing her
work as a symbol of moral and cultural
decay, and ‘degenerated art’. Since
then, Maja has been subjected to a
sustained campaign of harassment,
including<span class="x_x_gmail_default">
in public and private space. </span>These
tactics mirror a growing global trend:
authoritarian regimes targeting artists
to suppress dissent, distort public
discourse, and stifle freedom of
expression<span
class="x_x_gmail_default"> - our
fundamental rights. </span>Maja has
therefore decided to take legal
action—an individual stand against the
machinery of Slovenia’s largest and most
financially powerful political party of
the past 30 years. This is not only a
fight for her personal integrity, but a
broader struggle for artistic freedom
and a direct response to the unlawful
political exploitation of her work.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
Your signature would help this week’s
launch of an international platform
and legal defense fund you may consider
donating to, initiated by <span class="">Ewen
Chardronnet </span>(author, editor, <a
href="http://makery.info/" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">Makery.info</a>), <span
class="">Jens Hauser</span> (curator),
<span class="">Dalila Honorato</span> (Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence,
Ionian University), <span class="">Tatiana
Kourochkina</span> (Quo Artis) and <span
class="">Uros Veber</span> (producer,
Projekt Atol): </div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><a
href="https://openletter.earth/in-defense-of-artistic-freedom-support-legal-action-against-political-abuse-56f1c0d0"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://openletter.earth/in-defense-of-artistic-freedom-support-legal-action-against-political-abuse-56f1c0d0</a><br
class="">
<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><a
href="https://artkinship.org/"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://artkinship.org/</a><br
class="">
<br class="">
Thanks in advance for your support
and solidarity,</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Jens HAUSER</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">+33 6 79 85 79 39</div>
<div class=""><a
href="https://ku-dk.academia.edu/JensHauser"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://ku-dk.academia.edu/JensHauser</a></div>
</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">PS: <a
href="https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783689240110/html?lang=en"
class="" moz-do-not-send="true">Life
is Other</a>, just published;
including an edited version of the <a
href="https://www.majasmrekar.org/k-9topology-hybrid-family" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">Hybrid Family
blog</a> with Maja Smrekar & Jens
Hauser</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div dir="auto" class=""
style="word-wrap:break-word">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="word-wrap:break-word" class="">
<div class="">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div dir="auto" class=""
style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br class="">
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>