The Value of Freedom, Exhibition, Belvedere 21, Vienna: until 10 February 2019

Freedom is an allusive term that never wears the same face as it so often takes on different meanings for different people at different times. It seems despairingly subjective. However, it’s meaning is not completely random, as freedom never stands alone. It constantly leans on the crutch constructed out of the interdependencies between society and the individual. This reliance means that freedom is continuously renegotiating its meaning to satisfy the demands of these external factors. One such segment of the display that explores this examines how various governmental structures affect society and its freedom.  

Around 60 artists deconstruct and inspect these influencing forces by chartering freedom’s evolution against the backdrop of historical, cultural, psychological, religious and legal developments in society. By gaging the past, they are able to arrive at the present stance on freedom. Over 60 artists give  over 60 perspectives of this complex multi-faced idea. Some of these diverging interpretations concerned with freedom’s fragility, while others were drawn to its ability to define identities.

No matter what idea inspired, or what method was adopted, all the artwork proclaims with one voice that ‘with individual freedom comes great social responsibility’.

Belvedere 21:

Belvedere 21, Quartier Belvedere, Arsenalstraße 1, 1030 Vienna