An important part of the project was The Populism Reader, a collection of essays accompanying the show that sought to address productively a moniker notoriously polymorphous and difficult to define. “Populism” tried to go beyond such automatic reflexes by thinking through, and thereby beyond, contemporary populism. This dubious utopia has now been shattered by the new populists, whose rhetoric is similar whether they are “officially” left- or right-wing: The new German Linkspartei and the Front National in France both campaign against immigrants taking away jobs from “our people”-although it should be added that the Left still largely abstains from the anti-Islam agenda espoused by right-wing politicians like Fortuyn.Īmong artists and intellectuals, reactions to this populist upsurge have often taken the form of moralistic and snobbish condemnation. During the past fifteen years, the technocratic projects of New Labor, Gerhard Schröder’s Neue Mitte, and the “purple” coalitions in Holland and Belgium all sought to blend the welfare state with neoliberalism, hoping to end class antagonism through economic growth and social services, in an attempt to realize a kind of postpolitical state. By the time their “Populism” project finally appeared in various European venues last summer-the endeavor featured coinciding group shows in Vilnius, Oslo, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt-populist movements in opposition to (and sometimes within) traditional political parties had become even more prominent voices of dissatisfaction within mainstream politics. In 2003, when curators Lars Bang Larsen, Cristina Ricupero, and Nicolaus Schafhausen were first making plans for a group of exhibitions dealing with the question, Europe was just reeling from the rise and murder of the populist right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn.
A SPECTER is haunting Europe-the specter of populism.
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