Soft Spots – Rado Ištok, Renan Laru-an, Piotr Sikora, Tereza Stejskalová (eds.)

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. The book is available in Czech and English versions and will be sold through the local distributors ArtMap and Kosmas. The English version was published in cooperation with the international distributor Spector Books.

Featured authors:
Hamja Ahsan, Giulia Loi, Gwendolyn Albert, Dorota Brázdovičová, Amanda Carneiro, Jana Krejcarová-Černá, Brenda Villanueva Fajardo, Robert Gabris, Jana Horváthová, Ábel Ravasz, Ramon Guillermo, Robin Hartanto Honggare, Filip Herza, Brigitta Isabella, Tarek Lakhrissi, Dorota Jagoda Michalska, Anna Remešová, Sráč Sam, Františka Schormová, Markéta Soukupová, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Zai Xu