SOUTHERN WIND   —  the background of a Forum  — . South-Middle Europe is not a geographical notion. You can't find it on the map. It has no borders. It is amorphous, not easy to catch. Its nearest synonym goes back to the times of the Dual Monarchy : "the South."  South-Middle Europe exists only virtually, the localization of a mental attitude.  South-Middle Europe is standing on the border: North — South, East — West. (Christianity — Islam, Western democracies — post-dictatorships.) South-Middle Europe is the idea distilled from historical experience. In the provinces, everybody is struggling with his or her identity crisis. In fact, two examples of identity crisis will not easily find themselves in good terms and the principal characteristic of this is hysterical identity : bigoted nationalism.      South-Middle Europe is the awaking self-conscience of the wind. The first step taken towards self-conscience is dirailing hysterical identity in the favour of a real and strong identity that is not rooted in "the people's, the nation" or some current political issue but in culture and ideas clarified from historical experience.      South-Middle Europe is a dream being dreamed on, the Forum of strong identities.     Southern Wind is a Forum of contemporary creation that aims at altering perspectives and false conditioning, false mentality. That is why Southern Wind is not only an artistic Forum. Beside artists, contemporary creators (philosophers, theorists, critics, historians etc.) are also called for, people who are capable of finding words and arguments to describe their situation and are able to express their own alternative countering with a future made up for them by others.       According to a sad experience of this century, people do not primarily pay attention to one another in this central region of Europe; instead they watch the distant horizons. We know more about the artistic activity of Berlin, Paris or, say, New York than what is happening in Budapest, Belgrad, Zagreb or Ljubjana.       Attention is focused on the centre supposed to be real. The elementary aim is accomodation, and the centre itself is turning towards us only to the extent  of its being able to revel in the reflection of its own glory. There has been only a few who dared to turn away from the Middle European ethos of "secondary freshness" so that they refused a worn and/or folksy (popular) view of art and the imitation of fashions at the same time.       For the one who is reading "the history of Hungarian art" carefully enough, it is impossible to disregard the fact that mere adjustment to the artistic style of a given period is considered to be valuable in itself and Hungarian art is not described along an intrinsic order of values.     The main purpose of Southern Wind is turning towards, paying attention to the immediate neighbours and getting to know. While discovering others, that is, our own region, our own internal orders of values may also be clarified. Following their trace, at last we can become remarkable in the eye of the civilized West for our own values and not as a reflection of the others.

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Sándor Kiss