[spectre] CONF: Mechanisms of Fascisation in Art and Culture (Vienna, 8-9 Oct 26)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Noit Banai, Laura Bohnenblust, Sabeth Buchmann, Isabelle 
Lindermann, Friederike Sigler, Ruth Sonderegger
Date: Sep 22, 2026
Subject: CONF: Mechanisms of Fascisation in Art and Culture (Vienna, 8-9 
Oct 26)

University Vienna, Institute of Art History / Academy of Fine Arts 
Vienna, Oct 8–09, 2026
Registration deadline: Oct 7, 2026

Mechanisms of Fascisation in Art and Culture. An Antifascist Summit.

Fascist movements are exerting an ever-greater influence worldwide, 
whether through government agendas, direct political measures, or 
cultural hegemony. This also includes art and culture. The aim of our 
summit is to explore how art and culture are affected by processes of 
fascisation, how these processes manifest themselves, how they can be 
identified—and, in turn, what they reveal about the new fascisms of our 
time. Based on recent research into fascism, we assume that these 
dynamics are particularly significant in contexts where 
liberal-democratic institutions and assumptions have historically been 
regarded as safeguards against authoritarian encroachment, but they are 
also evident in societies undergoing processes of authoritarianisation 
and intensified state control. Many of these movements 
characteristically place art center stage in their political pursuits. 
By this, art’s validity as an unalloyed ‘good’ force, as espoused by the 
liberal hopes of modernity and 20th-century postwar democracies, is 
being called into question. Thus, one of the central theses of Critical 
Theory is up for discussion: Whether artistic and cultural practices 
must mobilize the power of self-negation against their 
instrumentalization as tools of identity formation and national 
self-affirmation—while also using this power to track down internalized 
micro-fascisms that are subsequently perverted by right-wing extremists 
and turned against minority-oriented struggles for inclusion and 
justice. Together with colleagues across the fields of art and culture 
who have encountered and been affected by these processes—including 
participants from Hungary, Italy, Serbia, Turkey, Hong Kong, and 
Austria—we consider how artistic practices and cultural institutions are 
shaped by fascisation and how, in turn, they may reproduce, negotiate, 
or contest them.

To this end, we seek to extend the current research into fascism to 
encompass art and culture, whilst concurrently formulating anti-fascist 
practices. This focuses attention on replacements—already made or still 
possible—of authoritarian and exclusive notions of art and culture with 
non-hierarchical and pluralist aesthetics and concepts that can be 
linked to political solidarity beyond a divisive over-identification 
with particular interests—for instance, through common struggles for 
social rights and redistribution.

The antifascist summit featuring panel discussions, screenings, 
lectures, concerts, workshops and performances is organized by the 
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Institute of Art History at the 
University of Vienna.

Program:

DAY 1 / 8 October 2026
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (Akademie der Bildenden Künste Wien, 
Schillerplatz 3, 1010 Wien, Mezzanine, Room M13a)

9.00     INTRODUCTION

9.30    SCREENING & TALK
Spectres of Fascisation in Contemporary Austrian Cultural Politics: 
Peršmanhof and Lueger Memorial
with Martina Genetti, Alon Ishay, Elsa Logar/David Ressmann and Simon Nagy
   11.00    COFFEE BREAK

11.30    DISCUSSION
Art and Culture in the Orbán Era: Lessons, Legacies, Futures with József 
Mélyi & Kristóf Nagy

13.00    LUNCH

14.00    WORKSHOP
Serbia’s Cultural Sector under State Repression and in Solidarity with 
the Student Movement
with Miloš Janjić, Nenad Lajbenšperger & Tatjana Nikolić

15.30    COFFEE BREAK

16.00    PANEL DISCUSSION
Mechanisms of Anti/Fascisation from Turkey to Brasil with Asena Günal, 
C&G, Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair & Maurício Ianes

18.30    PERFORMANCE (Aula at Schillerplatz)
DOOMSDAYDUDES – Die letzte Survival-Show
with Nora Schön, Marie Simons & Team

DAY 2 / 9 October 2026
Institute of Art History, University of Vienna (Institut für 
Kunstgeschichte, Garnisongasse 13, Campus courtyard 9, Room 1 & 3)

9.30    PANEL DISCUSSION
The Space to Dissent: Art and Culture in Hong Kong and Turkey with C&G 
and Asena Günal

11.00    COFFEE BREAK

11.30    LECTURE & SCREENING
Making Art in (Post)Fascist Times: Tracing the Lineage of Meloni's grip 
on Arts and Culture
with Alessandra Ferrini

13.00    LUNCH

14.00    WORKSHOPS
Songs of Resistance
with Jana Dolečki and other members of Hor 29. Novembar

Meme the Pain Away with Anahita Neghabat

15.30    COFFEE BREAK

16.00    ROUNDTABLE New Fascisms, Digitality and Gender with Maja Figge, 
Nikolaus Kockel and Anahita Neghabat

18.00    CONCERT
HOR 29. NOVEMBAR – Antifascist, Resistant, Feminist — and, Above All, Loud

Please register by October 7 via email at register at akbild.ac.at.
Separate registration for the performance is required due to limited 
capacity.

Organized by Noit Banai, Laura Bohnenblust, Sabeth Buchmann, Isabelle 
Lindermann, Friederike Sigler and Ruth Sonderegger

https://www.akbild.ac.at/en/institutes/art-theory-and-cultural-studies/events/conferences/2026/mechanisms-of-fascisation-in-art-and-culture-an-antifascist-summit


Reference / Quellennachweis:
CONF: Mechanisms of Fascisation in Art and Culture (Vienna, 8-9 Oct 26). 
In: ArtHist.net, Sep 22, 2026. <https://arthist.net/archive/54351>.