[artinfo] CFP: Visual Urban Transformations (in Central and Eastern Europe) (Berlin, 28-29 Mar 14)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Euroacademia <office at euroacademia.eu>
Date: Feb 10, 2014
Subject: CFP: Visual Urban Transformations (Berlin, 28-29 Mar 14)

Berlin, March 28 - 29, 2014

Deadline: Feb 25, 2014

Call for Papers for the Panel:

Visual Urban Transformations: Transition and Change in Urban Image 
Construction in Central and Eastern Europe

(As part of the Third Euroacademia International Conference 
'Re-Inventing Eastern Europe' to be held in Berlin, Germany, 28-29 
March 2014)

Deadline for paper proposals: 25 February 2014

Panel Description:

As the chaotic canvases of cities are being stretched over a 
framework of identity, its further exploration seems more than 
appropriate. Amidst the incredibly rapid urban growth crowding more 
than half of the world population in towns and cities, the questions 
are only going to keep multiplying. How are city identities made and 
re-made, used and abused, imagined and narrated, politicised and 
communicated, expressed and projected, imposed and marketed? And 
above all, how do they thrive within the dynamic interpolation of the 
nexus of East-West, Europe-Balkans, and centre-periphery, urban - 
suburban, old and new. As out-dated as these dichotomies sound, in 
many places their daily life is far from over. As old cities became 
new capitals and new capitals struggle for more capital, the 
challenges of maintaining state-driven collective identities in the 
face of cultural fragmentation and diversification, coupled with 
consumer-attractiveness is turning them into urban palimpsest. This 
transformation is ever more complex in the cities of Central, Eastern 
and South-Eastern Europe. In these last decades, during the period of 
socio-political and cultural deconstruction, the redefinitions of 
their urban space reflect the need to refashion, consolidate or even 
establish their new/old identities. Flooded with imported 
'non-places', (not) dealing with the material legacy of memories of 
the recent past that seem unable to resolve, trying to accept or 
reject the rest of Europe in the race towards 'Europeanization', 
these cities adopt different approaches in their aim to resemble and 
at the same time, differ. Zagreb generously welcomed its marketing 
nickname "pocket size Vienna", while regenerating itself with the 
mega Museum of Contemporary Art tailored up to an imagined 'Western 
European' standard. Skopje's attention seeking project transformed 
the 'open city of solidarity' into a literal national identity 
construction site. The list goes on. Queuing to win the old 
continent's capital of culture contest and eager to squeeze into the 
ever-enlarging itinerary of the consumerist Grand Tour, the only 
thing cities are not allowed to be, is invisible.

As the research on cultural identities of the city is becoming more 
abundant, this panel aims at adopting a wide-lens inter-disciplinary 
approach, while focusing on various transitional processes affecting 
identities in the urban context in its global-regional-national-local 
interplay.

Some example of topics may include (but are not limited to):

*    Collective memory, identity and urban image construction
*    Appropriation, instrumentalisation and functualisation of public space
*    Contemporary nomadism and the city as a common denominator for 
collective identities
*    Architecture as 'politics with bricks and mortar'
*    Is there a new rise of the city-state?
*    Urban regeneration projects, landmark buildings and 'starchitects'
*    Non-places and (non)identity
*    Immigrants and the cultural identity of cities
*    City marketing and city branding in transition
*    European capitals of culture and European identity
*    Identity creation and the cultural offer of the city
*    Urban cultural heritage as identity-anchor
*    Creative changes of the cities
*    Art and industry in urban development
*    Urban aesthetics
*    Ugliness, kitsch and value in shaping contemporary urban spaces
*    Post-communism and the shape of urban change
*    East-West nexuses in urban development

If interested in participating, please send a maximum 300 words 
abstract together with the details of your affiliation until 25th of 
February 2014 at application at euroacademia.eu

For the complete details of the conference and on-line application please see:
http://euroacademia.eu/conference/third-reinventing-eastern-europe/

Reference / Quellennachweis:
CFP: Visual Urban Transformations (Berlin, 28-29 Mar 14). In: 
H-ArtHist, Feb 10, 2014. <http://arthist.net/archive/6964>.