DENOUNCING CORRUPTION THROUGH VISUAL MEANS: CIVIL SOCIETY INITIATIVES IN POST-COMMUNIST ROMANIA
DENOUNCING CORRUPTION THROUGH VISUAL MEANS: CIVIL SOCIETY INITIATIVES IN POST-COMMUNIST ROMANIA

Summary/Abstract: In the context of the anti-corruption social movements in post-communist Romania, what role do local civil society associations, and more specifically artivism play in the articulation of corruption as a public problem? This translates into the desire to overcome the idea of corruption as a heavy Balkan heritage that explains the existence of a contestation movement only through external pressure. Therefore, this study argues that through a specific form of artivism, Funky Citizens, a very active NGO on the anti-corruption stage, is an example of a modernizing agent in post-communist Romania. To do so, this socio-historical study uses concepts and perspectives borrowed from the theoretical field of pragmatic sociology instrumentalized for the pursuit of apprehending artistic activism mobilized in the anti-corruption fight. The argument put forward is that the specificity of the Romanian case can be grasped through visual means of expression of actors that promote this specific modernizing project. So, this research reveals a new attitude towards corruption, different from that present during the first 20 years after the revolution, which implies the need to investigate its references to the recent past. Finally, this contribution reflects on the usefulness of artivism as a new language to channel ideas, in the pursuit of contributing to the articulation of a certain type of public memory of communism.

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