CFP: Visualizing the Nation: Post-Socialist ImagiNations, Budapest, 27-28 Nov 2015

Call for papers

*Visualizing the Nation: Post-Socialist ImagiNations*
International conference
Budapest, November 27‒28

While nationalism was expected to vanish in the post-Cold War era, it has
instead not only
survived, but returned with a vengeance. Empowered by a renewed vitality,
it has gained a
dominant presence all around the world. With respect to Europe, it became
characteristic not
only of the former-Eastern bloc, but also of the post-crisis life of more
affluent countries. The
present conference intends to focus on the Central-, Eastern European
region, but comparisons
with more established democracies outside of the region are also welcome.
Nationalism in any form is considered one of the most visual of all
political currents.It presents
itself via a plethora of vivid images, symbols, myths, and performative
rituals. Contributing to
these are dreams, fantasy and imagination, projected equally to the past
and to the future.
Quite surprisingly, however, despite the undeniably visual nature of this
social phenomenon,
conferences on nationalism, though abundant, hardly ever address the visual
dimensions of their
topic. This one broadens the scope of interpretation, moving beyond an
exploration of the
political, sociological and philosophical aspects of the “imagined
communities” of the present,
and focuses instead on the often overlooked but fundamental course of
visualization of the
Nation.

Nationalism inherently speaks the language of images. It offers sensual
experiences, anda basic
feeling of belonging, as conveyed by a multitude of cherished symbols,
signs and elevated
performative rituals. Its building blocks are moments of a shared history
commemorated by
monuments (and by counter-monuments of those excluded from the officially
sanctioned
memory of the nation), propagated by within and institutional framework
.Thus, art and culture
have always played a prominent role in the nation-building process. By
subverting the assumed
naturalness of national identity, detecting hidden elements, decoding
messages and uncovering
the mechanism by which nationalism impacts our daily lives, art has also
been capable of
disrupting the hypnosis and mass delusion produced by extreme nationalism.
Socially-engaged,
critical artists shed light on the operation of both officially promoted
state-nationalism and on the
privatized forms of national identity.

Visualising the Nation: Post-Socialist ImagiNations is staged as a
concomitant event of the
closing exhibition of the Private Nationalism Project (at the Budapest
History Museum / Kiscell
Museum and Budapest Gallery, Oct. 27‒Dec. 15, 2015). At the same time, the
conference
intends to move beyond the exhibition concept of scrutinizing the process
of internalization of
national sentiments and attitudes to explore the issue of post-socialist
nationalism and its visual
aspects within a wider scope.

The four sections of the two-day conference address the issues:
I. Post-socialist nationalisms / re-imagined, re-visualized new communities
/ competing
and conflicting visions / visualizing the conflict / subversive art
practices / role of the
artist, role of the critic
II. Invading the public space in the name of the nation / forms of symbolic
politics /
rewriting history and memory / competition, conflict over the past /
monuments –
counter monuments / visual activism
III. Re-nationalized cultural institutions and cultural canons / use and
abuse of national
symbols, signs of the nation / nationalized popular culture / institutional
critique,
critic of national institutions / art interventions
IV. Exclusive versus inclusive visions of the nation / visualizing trans-,
post-, and supra
nationalism / the enemy within and beyond the borders/ minorities,
large-scale
dislocation, migration / dreams and nightmares / competing traumas

Please submit a 1-2 page proposal of the paper to be presented in the
framework of one of these
sections, along with Curriculum vitae, by September 6th 2015.

Proposals should be sent it to: [email protected]

Organizers: Institute of Art History, Research Centre for the Humanities,
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest; Budapest History Museum, Kiscell
Museum;
Private Nationalism Project, Approach Art Association, Pécs
Advisory board: Members of the Research Group of Critical Theories,
Institute of Art History

Organized by:
Edit András
Institute of Art History, Research Centre for the Humanities,
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest
Enikő Róka and Zsóka Leposa
Municipal Gallery – Museum Kiscell
Budapest History Museum, Budapest
Maria Dentl
Erste Foundation, Programme Culture, Vienna

The conference is supported by the Erste Foundation

=========================
Margaret Samu, Ph.D.
Art Historian, Freelancer

Current Affiliations
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York University
The New School Parsons School of Design
Stern College for Women

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