About Kontrapunkt

The NGO "Kontrapunkt" is established in December 2001 in Skopje. Its founding members are: Iskra Geshoska, Aleksandra Bubevska, Bedi Ibrahimi, Zarko Trajanovski, Nikola Gelevski, from Valandovo - Robert Alagjozovski, Nikola Madzirov from Strumica.
The group of persons has been active since the early 1990ies in the field of culture – amongst other by:
-publishing the magazine Margina. Since 1994 four annual issues propose texts by domestic and by foreign authors that deal with issues such as the theory and the politics of culture, globalization, feminism, arts and literature, etc. The magazine’s name reflects its programme: it tackles issues put aside by official discourses in Macedonia and it gives a voice to regions and groups at the periphery of Macedonian life;
-organizing and co-organizing regional and local events (since 1998);
- running the project "Disseminated Margins" (2000-2002);
-running the cultural center Tochka in Skopje, opened in May 2002, a place suited to organize public debates, cultural and art event (especially those which are connected with the social involvement of art) and to serve as Kontrapunkt’s back office.

The motive why we formed the NGO Kontrapunkt is organized promotions of the principles of decentralization, demonopolization, democratization, distribution and diffusion in the field of culture and cultural policy.


Idea

Power dwells in the center of the cultural policy. It is an integral part of the culture. All signifying actions - i.e. all the practices that have some meaning - include power relations.

We want to accentuate the permanent changes that occur among culture, politics and theory in the wider social field.

Our aim is to develop the critical thinking against all the hegemonistic intellectual practices.

We follow Terry Eagleton, who draws significant difference between the academics and the intellectuals. The academic is somebody who deals with certain forms of discourse within the academic institutions.

The intellectual is somebody who tries to mediate between the institutions and the whole culture.

The intellectual is not somebody whose craft are ideas (as with academicians) but who tries to enable those ideas to influence the wider social surrounding. The intellectual has a feeling for political responsibility!