Soft Spots

This publication brings together new as well as existing essays, interviews, short stories, and reports from different fields and geographies on various issues, mapping the space of Eastern Europe and beyond with a special emphasis on beyond. The point of departure is exhaustion—mental exhaustion, cultural exhaustion, material and economic exhaustion—and the ensuing strategic position of weakness or softness. The texts address a variety of topics: racialization, decolonization of museums and museology, the intricacies of cultural exchange, and the implications of radical modernist traditions of thought and aesthetics. They are accompanied by artistic interventions by Dorota Brázdovičová, Markéta Soukupová, and Tarek Lakhrissi. Also included are excerpts from Pižmo, an independent magazine for strengthening cultural diversity published by the SAM83 gallery collective in Česká Bříza. ************** Ahsan Hamja, Albert Gwendolyn, Carneiro Amanda, Fajardo Brenda Villanueva, Gabris Robert, Guillermo Ramon, Hartanto Honggare Robin, Herza Filip, Horváthová Jana, Isabella Brigitta, Krejcarová-Černá Jana, Loi Giulia, Michalska Dorota Jagoda, Olúfémi O. Táíwo, Ravasz Ábel, Remešová Anna, Schormová Františka, Zai Xu, Ištok Rado (ed.), Laru-an Renan (ed.), Sikora Piotr (ed.), Stejskalová Tereza (ed.)