[spectre] CONF: Cartographic Imaginaries ... Central and Eastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean ... (Paris, 11 Jun 25)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Elif Karakaya
Date: Jun 6, 2025
Subject: CONF: Cartographic Imaginaries (Paris, 11 Jun 25)

Paris, Île-de-France, FRA, EHESS, Salle 50, Campus Condorcet, 2 Cours 
des Humanités, Aubervilliers, Jun 11, 2025

Cartographic Imaginaries: Spaces and Images of Central and Eastern 
Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

In the 20th century, the collapse of empires (Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, 
Russian/Soviet) and multiethnic states (Yugoslavia) reshaped the 
territories of Central and Eastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, 
the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The (re)delimitation of these spaces led 
to the displacement of communities, the restriction of mobility, and the 
reconfiguration of regions along with their communication networks. 
Throughout history, cartography has not only recorded imperialist and 
colonial ambitions but has also played a crucial role in nation-building 
as these regions redefined themselves. While maps suggest a visual 
regime based on abstraction, the lived experiences and embodied 
practices of individuals and communities affected by the transformation 
of these regions have reframed space in ways that differ from its 
official representations: migratory routes establishing networks between 
previously unconnected places; refugees’ memory sketches of their lost 
homelands expressing cartographic imaginaries; artistic interventions in 
space echoing Situationist drift, offering an experiential approach to 
space that reveals hidden connections and narratives within the urban 
and social fabric. These embodied and phenomenological approaches 
constitute a form of “situated” spatial knowledge, as introduced by 
Donna Haraway in her seminal essay Situated Knowledges (1988), which had 
a significant impact on the discipline of geography. The concept of 
“situated knowledge” has influenced methodologies of spatial studies by 
highlighting how geographical knowledge often reflects colonial, 
nationalist, patriarchal, or capitalist frameworks. Similarly, the rise 
of a “spatial turn” in studies focused on Central and Eastern Europe, 
the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and Central Asia has paved the 
way for a critical re-reading of territorial and identitarian narratives 
while promoting multi-situated and decentralized approaches.

This graduate conference invites participants to explore the various 
meanings that the concept of 'map' can assume—not only as a material and 
functional tool but also as a vessel for the imagination. In a sense, 
inventing a new cartography corresponds to developing new scientific 
methodologies. In the era of globalization, global and transnational 
perspectives in the humanities and social sciences also encourage 
questioning the cartographies and historiographies developed in the 20th 
century, particularly in the field of art history. In this context, 
Piotr Piotrowski, in his essay “On the Spatial Turn or a Horizontal 
History of Art” (in Art in the Age of Globalization, 2022), advocates 
for “pluralist art-historical narratives” and calls for the emergence of 
a polyphonic, multi-situated, and multidimensional (art) history. 
Following his lead, many scholars challenge the vertical and 
universalizing conception of art history, and the standards established 
and imposed by Western powers.

Beyond its methodological implications, cartography also refers to a 
visual regime, inviting us to reflect on how images—artistic or 
otherwise—alter our perception of space. It can be viewed as a visual 
atlas, a collage of images establishing various spatial connections, 
reminiscent of The Mnemosyne Atlas by art historian Aby Warburg. Maps 
also serve as an artistic medium and material through which dominant 
spatial narratives are reconsidered or contested.

How, then, can we approach visual practices and objects that offer 
subversive cartographies, reimagining and remapping the territories of 
Central and Eastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and 
Central Asia? How do images—artistic or otherwise—challenge the 
geographical and cartographic knowledge produced within 
(post-)imperialist, colonial, or nationalist frameworks? What do artists 
from these regions teach us about the malleability, plasticity, and 
fluidity of their geographies? Against the claims of objectivity and 
positivism put forth by imperial, colonial, and nationalist 
cartographies, how can we weave memories, affects, and dreams—echoing 
Bachelard’s insights—into the register of space and geography?

This graduate conference aims to foster critical reflection on these 
spatial reconfigurations and their resonances in both historical and 
contemporary contexts. We invite interdisciplinary contributions that 
re-examine the past and present of this vast region through various 
disciplines and fields of study, including migration studies, urban and 
cultural studies, sociology, history, art history, visual anthropology, 
political science, and critical geography. Contributions focusing on 
visual objects and practices are particularly encouraged. By adopting a 
multi-situated approach, we seek to open new perspectives on how visual 
and material culture challenges spatial and geographical knowledge.

PROGRAM
9h30-10h : Accueil café / Welcome Coffee

10h-10h30 : Mot de bienvenue de Marc AYMES, directeur du CETOBaC / 
Opening remarks by Marc Aymes, director of CETOBaC

10h30- 10h45 : Introduction, Alessandro GALLICCHIO (Académie de France à 
Rome - Villa Médicis)

10h45-11h45. Visions urbaines et architecturales dans l’espace 
(post-)soviétique / Urban and Architectural Visions in the (Post-)Soviet 
Space

WOLKENSTEIN Paul, CREE, INALCO « De la conception à la réception : 
représenter l’architecture brejnévienne en Asie centrale »
PACHEO – VASCONCELLOS Rachel, CERCEC- EHESS/ CNRS, Université de 
Sao-Paulo, Labur-USP, « Pour une critique de l’urbanisme prospectif : 
propositions théoriques et méthodologiques pour l'analyse de projets de 
“villes du futur” en Russie »

11h45-12h : Pause-café / Coffee break

12h-13h. Fabriques spatiales du pouvoir et mémoire en Turquie 
contemporaine / Spatial Constructs of Power and Memory in Contemporary 
Turkey

YAKARLAR Tuğberk, University of Ottawa, « Mapping Civilization: Turkey’s 
Cartographic Imaginary and Intra-Civilizational Tensions »
KİLAVUZ PİNAR Elsa, EHESS - CETOBAC / CESOR, “Cartographier la mémoire : 
visibilité et sécurisation du Musée juif d’Istanbul dans l’espace urbain

13h-14h30 : Pause déjeuner / Lunch break

14h30 -15h30. Cartes en tension : récits militaires et reconfigurations 
de l’espace / Maps in Tension: Military Narratives and Reconfigurations 
of Space

RAZAVI Roxanne, CESPRA, EHESS, « Cartographies terrestres et célestes en 
Iran : temporalités religieuses et reconfiguration des espaces pendant 
la « Défense sacrée » (1980-1988) »
PHELIPPOT Geoffrey, EHESS - CAK, Le Danube fortifié : cartographie et 
vues urbaines de l’Europe centrale et orientale au XVIIe siècle
15h30-16h : Pause-café / Coffee break

16h-17h30. Espaces contestés : contre-cartographies et gestes 
artistiques contemporains / Contested Spaces: Counter-Cartographies and 
Contemporary Artistic Gestures

REHERMAN Judith, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie – KIT, « Present 
Tense, Absent Homeland: Mona Hatoum and the Politics of Mapping »
KARADAĞ Althea, CERMOM-INALCO, « Traverser, performer, transgresser: 
contre-cartographies des artistes femmes contemporaines de Turquie »
DE MARTINO Anna, Centre Georg Simmel – EHESS/ Université de Catane, « 
Performer la frontière, enquêter le geste cartographique »

17h30-17h45 : Conclusion de la journée / Closing remarks

18h-19h : I’m glad you're still here. Performance artistique par Saša 
Tatić suivie d’une discussion / Artistic performance by Saša Tatić 
followed by a conversation

19h-21h : Cocktail dinatoire (Faculty Club, campus Condorcet) / Dinner 
reception

Reference / Quellennachweis:
CONF: Cartographic Imaginaries (Paris, 11 Jun 25). In: ArtHist.net, Jun 
6, 2025. <https://arthist.net/archive/49426>.