Join us on Tuesday 13 October during the 58th AICA International Congress in Rennes for a panel discussion on current issues relating to freedom of expression and creativity. This panel, moderated by Gergely Nagy, will bring together Lali Perteneva, President of AICA Georgia; Sara Whyatt, Research Director at Freemuse; Eric Otto Wear, member of the AICA Freedom of Expression & Censorship Committee; and the artist Taysir Batniji.
The event will take place at 10.00 am in the Robert Castel lecture theatre, MSHB, University of Rennes 2, Villejean Campus.
Taysir Batniji
Palestinian artist Taysir Batniji (Gaza, 1966) graduated from Al-Najah University in Nablus (BA, 1992) and the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Bourges (DNSEP, 1997). Based in Paris, he divides his time between France and Palestine. In this geographical and cultural in-between space, he has developed a multidisciplinary artistic practice centered on the image since 2001.
His work, imbued with impermanence and fragility, draws inspiration from both his personal history and current events. Through a « distanced » approach, he diverts, stretches, and plays with his initial subject, offering a poetic—sometimes biting—perspective on reality.
Following his first solo exhibition in Paris in 2002, his works have been widely exhibited across Europe and the world and are now part of the collections of several prestigious institutions. Since 2018, institutions such as the Rencontres d'Arles, Mac Val, Mathaf in Doha, and Palazzina dei Giardini in Modena have dedicated monographic exhibitions to his work.
A recipient of the Abraaj Group Art Prize (2012) and the Hermès Foundation and Aperture Foundation’s "Immersion" program (2017), he is represented by the Sfeir- Semler Gallery (Hamburg, Beirut).
Sara Whyatt
Sara Whyatt is Research Director at Freemuse, the international organisation for artistic freedom. She previously headed PEN International’s freedom of expression programme for more than 20 years before becoming a freelance consultant in 2013, and has since worked with numerous organisations on artistic freedom and freedom of expression. She is a member of the Expert Facility for UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and an expert with the Council of Europe Directorate for Democracy’s Free to Create – Create to be Free initiative.
Gergely Nagy
Gergely Nagy (1969) is a journalist, editor, and author based in Budapest. He currently works for Qubit.hu. He is the former editor of Artportal, a leading Hungarian online magazine on contemporary art, and was one of the organizers of East Art Mags, a collaborative network of art magazines from East-Central Europe. His main fields of interest are contemporary art, cultural policy, and cultural resistance.
He is one of the founders of OFF-Biennále Budapest, the largest independent contemporary art initiative in the East-Central European region. Gergely has contributed to several in-depth reports on the state of artistic freedom and freedom of expression in Hungary. He is also a member of the Critical Culture Group, which organizes discussions and public events on the state of contemporary culture and the working conditions of cultural workers in Hungary.
Lali Pertenava
Lali Pertenava is an art critic, curator, and cultural researcher whose work moves between artistic practice, civic space, and critical reflection on the social role of culture in Georgia. Based in Tbilisi, she serves as President of AICA Georgia, where she advocates for the visibility of contemporary art and for the protection of artists’ rights within rapidly changing political and institutional environments.
Originally trained as an art historian and now a PhD candidate in History at the University of Zurich, Pertenava’s research ‘Art, trauma, and memory in contemporary Georgia: visual cultures of remembrance and identity formation’ examines how artistic practices intersect with memory, conflict, and urban transformation in post-socialist societies. Her curatorial projects often unfold in historically layered or contested spaces. Most recently she co curated the Armenian Georgian group exhibition Common Breathturn / Gemeinsame Atemwende at the Giotto Museum in Yerevan (Oct–Nov 2025).
Alongside her curatorial and research work, she has contributed to international cultural and civil society initiatives with organisations such as Open Society Foundations focusing on evaluation, cultural policy development, and the social impact of arts or other civil society projects. In addition, she writes about media culture, visual research, and contemporary art; her writing has appeared in local and international publications including Artforum and ArtAsiaPacific. Besides, she is a lecturer of introduction to contemporary art at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs.
Eric Otto Wear
Member, Censorship and Freedom of Expression Committee, International Association of Art Critics (AICA) 2024- ; President of AICA Hong Kong, 1999-2001.
Wear is a critic, historian and practitioner focused on art's social and ideological contexts. From 1989 to 2007, he served as Associate Head of the School of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he directed the Master in Design programme and collaborated with museums and galleries. He subsequently relocated to Shanghai, advising local authorities and developers in China and Taiwan on sustainable cultural practice.
A Rhodes Scholar, Wear studied at the University of Oxford and Goldsmiths College, London, and holds a PhD in art history from the University of Hong Kong. He sits on the board of Art and Culture Hong Kong International (ACHKI) and divides his time between Lisbon and Paris.