Reading workshop “Post-Socialism and Nationalism”

On 9 June at 6 pm, as part of its informal education programme, the Evening School, the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art invites you to the reading workshop “Post-Socialism and Nationalism”. The workshop is organised in collaboration with philosopher and researcher Toms Ķencis.

The workshop will take place in Kronvalda Park near the Chinese pavilion (nearby Former Faculty of Biology), as well as online.

Link to the online meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87226092331?pwd=cysxM0RNUkFNM2pjS2JEeTBzejBGQT09
ID: 872 2609 2331
Password: 830087

As early as 1882, Ernest Renan in his famous lecture “What Is a Nation?” (Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?) concludes that for nations, forgetting some past events is as important as remembering others. The twentieth century offers much to forget, and time accelerates more by each year. Collective memory and cultural heritage have replaced history as the central form of representation of the past. In the twenty-first century, this raises more and more questions: What is a community or collective that remembers? Do we need to remember everything? Is it art’s task to remind something?
National identities in the former Socialist Bloc countries are further complicated by a number of factors: the radicalization of nationalism in the postcolonial environment, the contradictions between ethnic and territorial concepts of the nation, the devastating effects of neoliberal capitalism on social ties, transitional violence and the lack of adequate theoretical tools. Therefore, this time we invite you to join us looking at the relationship between the nation and memory through concepts related to contemporary art and monuments.

Texts to be discussed:

•    Piotr Piotrowski, “Between Real Socialism and Nationalism”, in: P. Piotrowski, Art and Democracy in Post-Communist Europe. Reaktion Books, London, 2012, pp. 155–201.

•    Harry Weeks, “’After-War’: Kristina Norman and the Negotiation of Post-Communist Community”. [2012]

To receive the texts, please email to: ieva.ast@gmail.com.

The Latvian Center for Contemporary Art within its programme, the Evening School continues reading workshops or non-academic and informal discussions about seminal texts, devoted to current issues of contemporary art and culture as well as exploration of the recent past. The programme is curated by Ieva Astahovska. The project is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation.