The Impact of the SECA Network on Contemporary Art

Dimitri talks with curator Aaron Moulton about THE INFLUENCING MACHINE, his controversial 2022 exhibition at the Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Poland, which explores the largely forgotten but deeply consequential activities of the Soros Centers for Contemporary Art (SCCA) in early ‘90s Eastern Europe, including: How the SCCA “landed like a UFO” in former eastern bloc countries from 1992 to 1995, engineering the scripted avant-garde, the rise of socially-engaged practice, comparing and contrasting SCCA with the CIA’s promotion of abstract expressionism, ontologies of randomness and meritocratic achievement in the art/media world… Unleashing a dump truck of cash on two dozen cities at the height of shock therapy and currency collapse, the curiously advanced new media practices of the Centers, a Trojan Horse called “art”, grooming local artists to embrace Open Society values, subtly blacklisting artists who thrived under the socialist system of Artist Unions, building early internet infrastructures in Romania, Eastern Europe as the bleeding edge of the cyber-frontier, “cowboy wizard internaut” Jonathan Peizer, artists as the first point of call for any new technology, the mysterious "British spy lol" Bill McAllister, the 1994 “Alchemic Surrender” false flag exhibit on a Ukrainian battleship… Suzy Meszoly’s intriguing journey from SCCA “czarina” and faithful Soros lieutenant to Buddhist vibrational healer and New Age conspiracy theorist extraordinaire, the challenges of discussing George Soros the Boogeyman, the prescient 1989 profile of Soros from a recently deceased friend of the show named TRAIN, comparing Meszoly’s 1990 Romanian exhibit “The Media Were With Us” with the 2003 German documentary “Checkmate: Strategy for a Revolution”, the CIA dramaturgy of Ceaușescu’s overthrow, Josh Harris, Pynchon’s “Bleeding Edge”, Gelitin, 9/11, Marina Abramovic and crossing the Pizzagate event horizon… Part one of two. For access to full-length premium episodes, upcoming installments of DEMON FORCES, and the SJ Grotto of Truth Discord, subscribe to the Al-Wara’ Frequency at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.