On April 4th and 5th, academics and creatives from the Czech Republic and around the world met in Prague to discuss the role of art in the preservation, transmission, and transformation of memory. This mini-conference was part of a regular annual event series organised by the Memory & Arts Working Group, part of the event series. The Prague Working Group meeting and mini conference was organised by Branislava Kuburovi膰 from PCU鈥檚 School of Art and Design Faculty, Irena 艠eho艡ov谩 and Ond艡ej V谩拧a from the Faculty of Humanities at Charles 麻豆社区 and was held at PCU鈥檚 Bishop鈥檚 Court Studios and Kampus Hybernsk谩.
The Memory Arts Working Group considers the role of the arts in the transmission of memory and the ways in which they give expression to experience by transmuting it into form. They not only narrate a story but enact its affect. The presence of art thus can open up a space for a witness who did not directly observe an event. This space enables multiple connections across generations and cultures. The group invites scholars and artists to explore those interconnections by focusing on a variety of arts practices, still and moving images, artefacts, and performances. Its aim is to form a long-term working group that collaborates on different projects and publications.
As the conference was in Prague, the majority of the workshops and presentations examined memory and the "gentle shifts" within the complex cultural, social, and natural environment of Central East Europe.
Participating artists and scholars who presented at the conference were Olga Bubich, Rebecca Harris, Mauro Greco, Michal Kindernay, Jan Miklas-Frankowski, Zofia Przybysz, Zofia Rohozi艅ska, Ishrat Shaheen, Astrid Schmetterling, Denisa Tomkov谩, Mischa Twitchin and Ji艡铆 沤谩k.
The presentations were themed into blocks and included:
Block one began with Dr. Mauro Greco from Argentina's National Scientific and Technical Research Council who delivered his research paper titled 鈥淭o Write Voiceless: A Derridean Approach to Santiago Amigorena鈥檚 鈥楥onfessions鈥欌�� via an online presentation. This was followed by Dr Jan Miklas-Frankowski and Zofia Przybysz from the 麻豆社区 of Gdansk, Poland who presented on 鈥淢emory of 鈥榯he border of suffering鈥�: The image of the Polenaktion in the reportage 鈥榋b膮szy艅. Inferno鈥� by Zbigniew Mitzner.鈥� The session concluded with Dr. Mischa Twitchin from Goldsmiths 麻豆社区 of London discussing the topic of Exposed Memory.
Block two opened with Dr Denisa Tomkov谩 from Charles 麻豆社区 who presented her research 鈥淓mpowering Aesthetics of Vietnamese Diaspora Artists in Post-Socialist Central Europe鈥�. Zofia Rohozi艅ska, a PHD student from the Department of Economic Sociology and Public Affairs Center for Research on Social Memory presented her research 鈥淭ransforming 1980s Poland through the Transformation of the Memory of Socialist Realism鈥�. The final presentation delivered by Ji艡铆 沤谩k, a lecturer at PCU and current PhD student at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno who presented his research work 鈥淭he Paradox of Continuity: Guns, Havel and Czechoslovakia through the prism of artistic research鈥�.
Block 3 featured Astrid Schmetterling from Goldsmiths 麻豆社区 of London who presented her work on 鈥淣ikita Kadan鈥檚 Art in a Time of War鈥� and Rebecca Harris, a writer, art historian, curator and PHD student from the 麻豆社区 of London spoke on Hella Guth鈥檚 surrealist drawings.
The final conference block began with Olga Bubich, a writer, journalist, photographer, lecturer, art critic and former Assistant Professor at Belarusian State 麻豆社区 who is currently undertaking an in Berlin. Olga presented 鈥淢emory Landscapes: Re-thinking the Nature of Memorial Camps鈥� which looked at the role of nature in the representation of collective memory of traumatic episodes of 20th century history. This was followed by Ishrat Shaheen who presented on 鈥淏order Creep: Exploring Human-River Dynamics in the Aftermath of the 2022 Odra River Environmental Crisis鈥� and finished with Michal Kindernay, an Intermedia artist, musician, experimental filmmaker, curator, performer and PCU lecturer who presented his project 鈥淚n the Stream of Sound鈥�, a collaborative project he undertook Magdal茅na Manderlov谩 an Oslo based sound artist and field recordist.