The Museum of Conflict - Art as Political Strategy in Post-Communist Europe
Research conference - Tuesday 12 September
11:00
Matthias Pauwels
— Welcoming note
11:30
Meta Haven
— Imagination of Engagement
12:00
Mihnea Mircan
— Wild Museology
Mihnea Mircan will present the history of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest,
referring to the political and cultural debate over the necessity of a Museum, the inauguration of MNAC
in wing E4 of the Palace of the Parliament and the polemic that ensued, the institutional difficulties that
MNAC is confronted with today, as well as a few exhibitions that directly engaged the political significance
of the building: Romanian Artists - and Not Only - Love Ceausescu's Palace, The Painting Museum and the series of projects Under Destruction.
12:30
Calin Dan
— 2nd thoughts about Power Architecture
Calin Dan worked on and off for almost two years in Tallinn-Estonia
on his new film Trip a psychedelic exploration of Linna Hall, the gigantic
city concert hall built by a local architect as a landmark for the Moscow
Olympics of 1980. Due to the complex interplay between the exercise of political
power at national and federal levels, and also to various other factors, Linna Hall
survived into the post s Soviet era as a strong case about the ambiguity of Power Architecture.
Calin Dan will share his story about Linna Hall, making at the same time a parallel with
Casa Poporului (The Palace of Parliament), the infamous building from the 80s by which Ceausescu changed the face of Bucharest.
13:00 lunch
14:00
BAVO
— Only art can save democracy now?
When tackling the hot issue of whether art can be the guardian of democracy and openness and
if so, how one cannot
bypass the farcical encounter of G.W. Bush with an anti-war protester during a speech in the Australian parliament.
While the activist was violently being removed by the MPs, Bush retorted with an obscene
smile: don't you just love free speech.
This is symptomatic for the paradoxical state of democracy today. While everybody is supposed
to act democratically, any direct democratic interference is met with an obscene wink by a
ruling order that on the one hand praises the authenticity of dissent, while on the other hand
violently depriving it from any real political relevance.
It is in this very 'transferential relationship' that art is locked today. In the case of the
Museum de Arte Contemporana in Bucharest the art sector is asked to defend democracy alongside
politicians who don't seem to have any scruples about legitimizing their new home in the 'ultimate'
architectural icon of Ceausescu's dictatorial regime by mobilizing the same old patriotic and
religious passions among the masses. So, while democracy is manipulated by the new alliance
between economic pragmatism and religio-nationalist idealism, art is supposed to live out the
dream of democracy and openness. This however, without ever receiving the 'aesthetic rights' to either reconfigure or question the obscure laws and values that rule socio-political life.
The fundamental question to be posed prior to any discussion on the political aspect of art as the gatekeeper of democracy
is thus What democracy? What openness? and For whom, if at all,
should this be guarded? In this lecture we will work through some key positions in the contemporary
debate on the state of democratic politics today and the role reserved in it for art. For this purpose,
we'll use Boris Groys' concept of the Struggle for equal aesthetic rights and Jacques Rancière's Politics of aesthetics.
14:30
Wouter Davidts
— Architecture for the People
In my lecture I will depart from the movie 'A century of Architecture
in Belgium 1875 - 1975' ['Een eeuw architectuur in België 1875 -1975'] by
Belgian film maker Jef Cornelis and architecture critic and historian Geert
Bekaert of 1976. The film tells the story of a century of Belgian architecture
in ten 'stages' and starts with the Palais de Justice in Brussels (1866-1883).
The gargantuan courthouse by Joseph Poelaert is labelled as a 'crazy monument to
a civilization and society that no longer believes in neither architecture
nor justice, but simply adores progress. Continuing with late 19th century
bourgeois architecture and Art Nouveau, Bekaert - who is at the time heavily
influenced by neo-marxist architecture theorists like Manfredo Tafuri a.o. -
describes modern architecture's failure to become truly modern since it never
succeeded to formulate an adequate answer to modernity and the real housing needs of
the new working class. Since the 19th century, architecture has failed to solve
'the contradiction between the palais de justice and the slum.'
The most crucial statement of the movie however is made when showing buildings
of the first half of the century, and houses by seminal modernist architects
Louis Herman De Coninck and Gaston Eysselinck in particular. After labelling
this architecture as 'poetry in secret code' [poëzie in geheimschrift], Bekaert
states that 'architecture can be no secret code in a society that calls itself
democratic.' ['Architectuur kan geen geheimschrift zijn in een samenleving die
zich democratisch noemt.'].
Anno 2006, this statement hasn't lost any of its force nor legitimacy. At
a moment when both democracy and society are ever more under continuous
pressure, it remains crucial to question the potential and authority of
architecture within this context. What is the language that contemporary
architecture is supposed, or maybe merely able to speak in the manifold and
complex sociopolitical configurations that we currently face throughout
Europe and abroad.
In my lecture I will demonstrate that the tension that Bekaert builds his
argument upon - between housing and public programs - might no longer be
productive at the beginning of the 21st century. Departing from the populist
impulse in architecture that started in the 19th century - transforming it into
'a cause of the people' - I will argue that, within an era of blatant political
and cultural populism, it might be precisely in the 'formation' of the various
public institutions - not only the courthouse, but 'bourgeois' institutions such
as the opera, the library, the theatre and the museum as well - that there's a
significant role for architecture (again) to discern - from a both cultural and
political perspective.
15:00 break
15:30
Florian Waldvogel
— As the word dies the eyes of god grew bigger
Florian Waldvogel will speak about Contemporary Art and Critism, Kokerei Zollverein, NIZZA TRANSFER and Manifesta 6.
16:00
Edi Muka
— The Unstable Condition of 'Peripheral'
For several years now we've witnessed the emerging of
several art scenes known or labelled as 'peripheral',
meaning on the far edges of the global system. It is for
some time now we're engaged in discussions about the 'potentials of the periphery', but have neglected its 'failures'.
To me the 'peripheral' condition is closely connected to the Unstable
condition, under which 'peripheral' societies function. Instability
(or better say Insecurity) remains the general condition of today's
global society. However the unstable condition of the periphery is
largely conditioned by the extended transitory period and its effects
on all known forms of conventional institutions, which explain
the lack of such structures. Nevertheless, various unstable forms
of institutions appear and disappear, offering possible tackling
with a 'lost in transition' situation, producing new temporary experiences and symbolical meaning.
Maria Hlavajova
— Respondant
17:30 dinner
19.30
Matthias Pauwels
— Introduction to round table
— Round table discussion with all speakers