[artinfo] Cultural Policies as Crisis Management?

[Albert Heta]

Cultural Policies as Crisis Management?
September 21-23.2006.
Prishtina, Kosova


“Cultural Policies as Crisis Management?” is part of
the ongoing work of Stacion  CCA – Stacion Center for
Contemporary Arts, Prishtina http://stacion.org,
focused in establishing stronger art and cultural
initiatives and challenging present cultural policies
as an additional process to the political negotiations
for the future political status of Kosova. 

This project will act as a platform for intellectuals,
artists and culture producers for engaging in the
ongoing political process, and promoting contemporary
cultural policies as models for strengthened
cooperation in West Balkan countries and Europe, with
special focus on the necessity for re-creation of
normal communication between culture producers and
culture institutions from Kosova and Serbia that could
serve as a possible positive catalyst for the
mainstream society in both countries.

The workshop is organised in cooperation with eipcp -
European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies,
Vienna in the framework of translate. Beyond Culture:
The Politics of Translation
http://translate.eipcp.net/

There is not much ambiguity in today’s role of
cultural policy in the Balkans. It is almost entirely
determined by the process of the so-called postwar
normalization, which follows strictly the pattern of
liberal multiculturalism. Now, when the political
constitution of their independent nation states is
coming finally to an end, the peoples of the region
are expected to reorganize all their relations,
including cultural exchange, in accordance with the
principles of mutual recognition and democratic
tolerance. They should accept each other’s cultural
differences as essential features of their national
identities and never violate the right of the other to
claim its cultural uniqueness and singularity. This is
believed to be the only way to achieve the ideal of
peaceful coexistence in the Balkans.
However, there are also critics of this concept, who
say that this is not historically new to the region.
Therefore, instead of being a solution, the
multiculturalist vision of cultural policy appears to
be part of the problem and seems to legitimize
retroactively the very cause of the nationalist wars
in the nineties.

The workshop will take up the criticism of this
concept and discusses other theoretical and practical
approaches to the question of cultural exchange. It
will place the question of cultural policies in the
Kosovar context and specifically investigate the role
of the artistic and cultural field within the
political process.

Programme:

Thursday, 21.9.06

17:00   Opening of the workshop and presentation of 
“European Cultural Policies 2015”, Andrea Hummer,
Boris Buden, Albert Heta
Venue: ODA Theater, Prishtina

Friday, 22.9.06  Open Sessions
Chair: Boris Buden
Venue1: Kosova Art Gallery, Prishtina

10.00	Albert Heta: Opening Remarks
10:15	Boris Buden: On the Limits of the Concept of
Cultural Policy
10.50	Shkelzen Maliqi, Mehmet Behluli: Cultural
Policies: Introduction to the Kosovar Context
11:35	Petrit Selimi: Nation-building process in
Kosovo: practical issues from the cultural context
12:15	Besnik Pula: Department for Social Critique -
Presentation
12.55	Borka Pavicevic: Reflections on the Exhibition
Pertej, Belgrade 1998
13:40	Lunch
14.40	Branimir Stojanovic: The State and Contemporary
Art
15.25	Dusan Grlja, Jelena Vesic, Milan Rakita: Prelom
Collective
16:10	Café
16:30	Marion Hamm: Global Social Movements as "Global
Social Movements from Below"? Reclaim the Streets and
Indymedia 
17:15	Erden Kosova: The Shortcomings of the Engaged
Art Practice in Turkey
18:00	Marita Muukkonen: Current state of crises in the
the arts and culture / politcs vs. policy making

Saturday, 23.9.06  Presentations and Closed Workshop

Venue2: Kosova Art Gallery
10:30   Milica Tomic, Belgrade: Discussion with the
artist and work presentation

12:30 Closed Workshop
Venue3: KIJAC

http://translate.eipcp.net/Actions/discursive/lines/pristina
http://www.stacion.org/

Cultural Policies as Crisis Management? is supported
by European Cultural Foundation. Other sponsors
include: Kosova Foundation for Open Society, Swiss
Office Prishtina.
Beyond Culture: The Politics of Translation has been
funded with support from the European Commission. 
This publication [communication] reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
reinformation contained therein.