[artinfo] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. BORIS GROYS. THE POST-COMMUNIST CONDITION. ART AND CULTURE IN EASTERN EUROPE

[Dr. Nicole Ruchlak]

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

THE POST-COMMUNIST CONDITION.

ART AND CULTURE AFTER THE FALL OF THE EASTERN BLOCK

Thursday, June 10th, 2004 - Saturday, June 12th, 2004

Das Moskau

Karl-Marx-Allee 34

10178 Berlin

Further information and registration:

www.postcommunist.de

kongress at postcommunist.de

The current state of eastern Europe is generally described as a
transition from state socialism to the western brand of capitalism. How
can this transition be interpreted? As a belated continuation of the
bourgeois revolutions of the 19th century? As a counter-revolution that
takes those countries that once overcame capitalism back to capitalist
conditions?

The answer to these questions essentially depends on how the eastern
European variety of socialism is assessed: Was it the continuation of the
traditional, semi-feudalistic conditions under a merely outward form of
socialism or was it an authentic attempt to put socialism into practice
which failed for one reason or the other? Both eastern European as well
as western intellectuals offer different judgments on this, depending on
these opposing standpoints.

In any case, the decline of state socialism has put an end to isolation
which plagued eastern European countries for decades. After being imbued
with the communist ideal of internationalism for a long period of time,
these countries were suddenly swept away by the tide of globalization.
For artists and intellectuals from the East, globalization provides a
chance to become better acquainted with the world. Yet neither can
western artists and intellectuals ignore the cultural processes in the
eastern European nations, as was the case during the Cold War. The
conference strives to offer artists and intellectuals from East and West
the opportunity to become familiar with the cultural situation after the
end of the Cold War by means of presentations, speeches, discussions.

SPEAKERS:
MIKHAIL BERG
ELIOT BORENSTEIN
SVETLANA BOYM
SUSAN BUCK-MORSS
BORIS BUDEN
ROGER CONOVER
EKATARINA DEGOT
BRANISLAV DIMITRIJEVIC
IVAYLO DITCHEV
ALESS ERJAVEC
ANDREY FOMENKO
BORIS GROYS
CARL HEGEMANN
MIKHAIL IAMPOLSKI
VALERIA IBRAEVA
AUGUSTIN IOAN
VIKTOR JEROFEJEW
BORIS KAGARLITSKY
DRAGAN KUJUNDZIC
IVA KUYUMDZHIEVA
BOYAN MANCHEV
OLGA MATICH
CHANTAL MOUFFE
MIKHAIL RYKLIN
INGO SCHULZE
IGOR SMIRNOV
IGOR ZABEL
SLAVOJ ZIZEK
u.a.