[spectre] CFP: Comparative Visual Politics from Post-Yugoslav Countries (Basel, 22-24 May 25)

[Andreas Broeckmann LEU]

From: Hella Wiedmer-Newman
Date: Jan 17, 2025
Subject: CFP: Comparative Visual Politics from Post-Yugoslav Countries 
(Basel, 22-24 May 25)

Basel, eikones - The Center for the Theory and History of the Image, May 
22–24, 2025
Deadline: Feb 20, 2025

“Prismatic Memories: Comparative Visual Politics from Post-Yugoslav 
Countries.”

This conference “Prismatic Memories: Comparative Visual Politics from 
Post-Yugoslav Countries,” to take place from 22-24 May 2025 at eikones – 
The Center for the Theory and History of the Image at the University of 
Basel, invites proposals for 25-minute presentations on the visual 
aspects of memory culture and politics in post-Yugoslav countries. In 
mainstream discourse, visual memory projects in the countries that once 
constituted Yugoslavia are often discussed in isolation because of the 
specific local histories and mythologies they refer to. However, these 
ostensibly disparate histories, like the light beams refracted through a 
prism, in fact intersect in aleatory ways. Meanwhile the history of 
Yugoslavia that unites them all, can manifest quite differently, often 
influenced by the ideologies that characterized the Yugoslav wars of the 
1990s.

This year, in the context of the thirtieth anniversaries of both the 
Srebrenica Genocide on July 11, 1995, and the ratification of the Dayton 
Peace Agreement on November 21, 1995, presents an opportunity to explore 
the visual memory politics of post-Yugoslav countries -- most of them 
still in a state of neoliberal “transition” -- in relation to each 
other. Attending to the iconographic, narrative, aesthetic and art 
historical embeddedness of the various displays of memory, whether they 
take the form of a public memorial, a graffito, an exhibition or another 
kind of intervention, we are looking at instances of politics – both 
past and contemporary -- becoming visible. We also ask after the 
infrastructures and administration of such memories, and their 
(geo)political entanglements. While we are interested in case studies 
that memorialize a range of historical events, we are especially 
interested in case studies from after 1999 and the last decade.

The conference will take an interdisciplinary approach. Contributions 
from a range of disciplines including art history, cultural studies, 
comparative literature, memory studies, philosophy, anthropology, 
political science and beyond, are welcome. In addition, we welcome 
perspectives from curators and other cultural workers, as well as people 
involved in arts and cultural administration. The conference language is 
English, and presentations should not exceed 25 minutes and will be 
followed by a discussion period. If you have any questions, please send 
them to hella.wiedmer-newman at unibas.ch. Please send a short abstract of 
up to 200 words with a bio of up to 100 words by February 20, 2025. The 
conference is an in-person event. Travel and accommodation costs up to a 
certain amount will be covered.


Reference / Quellennachweis:
CFP: Comparative Visual Politics from Post-Yugoslav Countries (Basel, 
22-24 May 25). In: ArtHist.net, Jan 17, 2025. 
<https://arthist.net/archive/43707>.