A troubled and segmented East-European history has given rise to a troubled and segmented museum history. Museums in Central and Eastern Europe have found themselves, time and again, faced with difficult and uncomfortable choices. Immediately after the Second World War, museums had to update their exhibitions in order to narrate radically different stories. One of the major changes also included exhibiting the socialist present, such as the accomplishments of the regime, and the recent past: the violent, revolutionary coming to power of communist parties all over Eastern Europe became part of the permanent exhibition of local and national museums. Museums also had to literally hide entire collections that were suddenly found inappropriate. After the fall of communism, these collections were brought back to museum halls (although much of their history, documentation and context had been lost) and it was time for the communist collections to become bothersome and thus be hidden or even destroyed.

 

The workshop seeks to explore the specificities of reaction to political and social change in the context of museums and heritage sites. Museums could be considered in terms of their historiographic and political foundations, as the outcome of mobilizations of a wide variety of actors who have contributed to their creation or their dismantling (museum professionals, architects, academics, public historians, victims’ associations and other cultural brokers). In some contexts, the heritage process has contributed to a discursive criminalisation of previous regimes – for instance the transformation of detention centres in museums or memory sites. In others, it has facilitated implicit forms of rehabilitation, under the guise of commercially exploiting the legacy – architectural, artistic, political – of the former regime. Finally, a significant number of museums and memory sites were faced with the challenge and task of reinvesting their collections with a new meaning and a new narrative, framed in new historiographies and nation-building projects.

 

Convenors:

Gruia Bădescu, University of Oxford

Simina Bădică, the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant Nelly Bekus, University of Exeter Damiana Oțoiu, University of Bucharest

 

 

The workshop is organized by the Regional Center for Advanced Francophone Research in Social Sciences (CEREFREA Villa Noël), University of Bucharest and supported by the following institutions and projects:

- Museums and Controversial Collections. Politics and Policies of Heritage-Making in Post-Colonial and Post-socialist Contexts project of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-2368, New Europe College, Bucharest.

- AHRC (Care for the Future) - Labex Pasts in the Present joint funded project The Criminalization of Dictatorial Pasts in Europe and Latin America in Global Perspective, University of Exeter and Institut des Sciences Sociales du Politique, Paris (ANR-11-LABX-0026-01)

- Political Science Department, University of Bucharest.

 

 

Program/ Programme

 

Reluctant Heritage: Revisiting Museums and Memory Sites in Central and Eastern Europe in a Transnational Perspective / (Re)faire l’héritage.

Revisiter des musées et des lieux de mémoire en Europe centrale et orientale d’une perspective transnationale

Bucharest/ Bucarest, CEREFREA Villa Noël <http://www.villanoel.ro/>

4-5 November/ Novembre 2016

https://www.facebook.com/events/326636824342738/

 

 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH

 

VENDREDI, 4 NOVEMBRE

 

9.00- 9.05       Welcome

 

9.05 – 9.15     Introduction to Museums and Controversial Collections.

Politics and Policies of Heritage-Making in Post-Colonial and Post-socialist Contexts (Damiana Otoiu) [FR]

 

09.15 – 11.00 Panel 1. Reluctant Heritage: Narrating War

 

Chair

 

Alexandra Chiriac, School of Art History, University of St Andrews

 

Cristian Cercel

Representations of the Two World Wars in the Military History Museum in Dresden/ Représentations des deux Guerres mondiales dans le Musée d’histoire militaire de Dresde [EN]

 

Paul R. Mullins, Timo Ylimaunu; Titta Kallio-Seppä and Tuuli Koponen Contesting Warfare Memories: Photography and Dark Heritage of War in World War II in Finland/ Contester les souvenirs de guerre: photographie et héritage sombre de guerre dans la Finlande de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale [EN]

 

Petra Švardova

Soviet War Memorials as National and Transnational Sites of Heritage/ Les mémoriels de guerre soviétiques comme des sites nationaux et transnationaux d’héritage [FR, via skype]

 

Nataša Jagdhuhn

Memorial WWII Museums in the Process of the Post-Yugoslav Transition.

Museum

as time-capsule/  Musées mémoriels de la Seconde Guerre mondiale dans le processus de la transition post-yougoslave [EN]

 

11.00 – 11.15 Coffee Break

 

11.15 – 12.45 Panel 2 Heritage and the Criminalization of Dictatorial

Pasts: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives (Part 1)

 

Chair:  Raluca Grosescu, University of Exeter

 

Gruia Bădescu

Heritage and the Criminalization of Dictatorial Pasts in Europe and Latin

America: Research Perspectives/ L’heritage et la criminalisation des passés dictatoriaux en Europe et en Amérique Latine : Perspectives de recherche [EN]

 

Nelly Bekus

Multiple Cartographies of Negative Remembrance: Limitations of Anti-communist Discourse in Belarus/ Cartographies multiples du souvenir négatif. Des limitations du discours anti-communiste en Biélorussie [EN]

 

Cara Levey

Resisting Museumification: Competing Refunctionalizations of Sites of State Terrorism in Argentina and Uruguay/ Résister la muséification:

Refonctionnalisations des sites du terrorisme d’Etat en Argentine et Uruguay en compétition [EN]

 

12.45 – 14.00     Lunch/ Déjeuner

 

14.00 – 17.00   Urban Memory Walk/ Parcours urbain de la mémoire (Gruia

Bădescu)

 

17.00 – 18.30     Visit of National Museum of Contemporary Art in the

Palace of Parliament/

Visite du Musée National d’Art Contemporain, le Palais du Parlement

 

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH

 

SAMEDI, 5 NOVEMBRE

 

09.00 – 10.30 Panel 3.  Heritage and the Criminalization of Dictatorial Pasts: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives (Part 2)

 

Chair: Nelly Bekus, University of Exeter

 

Flaminia Bartolini

Renegotiating a Fascist past: Mussolini’s villa from neglect to heritage/ Renégocier un passé fasciste : la villa de Mussolini de la négligence à l’héritage [EN]

 

Paul R. Mullins, Timo Ylimaunu; Titta Kallio-Seppä and Tuuli Koponen Empathy and Evil: Interpreting Nazi Heritage in 21st-Century Finland/ L’empathie et le mal: interpréter l’héritage nazi dans la Finlande du 21e siècle [EN]

 

Margaret Comer

Shifting Remembrances of Solovki: A Case Study from the White Sea/ Les souvenirs changeants de Solovki: une étude de cas venant de la Mer Blanche[EN]

 

Naum Trajanovski

Musealizing a contested past: The incongruous case of the Macedonian Museum of the Victims of the Communist Regime/ Muséaliser un passé contesté: Le cas incongru du Musée macédonien des victimes du régime communiste [EN]

 

10.30 – 10.45          Coffee break

 

10.45 – 12.30          Panel 4. Narrating Communism

 

Chair

Simina Bădică, National Museum of the Romanian Peasant

 

Mindaugas Kelpša

Museological Strategies of Memorializing Soviet Lithuania: Vilification vs.

Satire/ Stratégies muséologiques de mémorialiser la Lituanie soviétique:

diffamation vs. satire [EN]

 

Etleva Cani Demollari

Contested Heritage and the National History Museum of Albania/ Héritage contesté et le  Musée national d’histoire de l’Albanie  [FR]

 

Mateja Sinčić

Post-Yugoslavia: (Dis)continuity in the case of the Museum of Yugoslav History/ Post-Yougoslavie: (Dis)continuité dans le cas du Musée d’histoire yougoslave

 

Andrea Kocsis

The Memory in Space. The Transformation of the National Vítkov Memorial in Prague/ La mémoire dans l’espace. La transformation du Mémorial national Vitkov de Prague [EN]

 

12.30 – 13.30     Keynote Lecture

Dr. Andreas Ludwig

“Future History and Conflicting Pasts. Museums as Representations of History in Post-War Germany”/« L’avenir de l’histoire et les passés en conflit. Les musées comme représentations de l’histoire dans l’Allemagne d’après-guerre »

 

13.30 – 14.30          Lunch

 

14.30 – 16.15 Panel 5. Narrating the Nation

 

Chair: Gruia Bădescu, University of Oxford

 

Tamara Banjeglav

Remembering The Siege: Sarajevo’s Museums Between (Ethno)Politics Of Memory And Institutional Strategies Of Forgetting/ Se souvenir l’assiègement:

les musées de Sarajevo entre l’(ethno)politique de la mémoire et les stratégies institutionnelles de l’oubli [EN]

 

Stojsavljević Amalija

Instrumentalization of Exhibitions in Nationalistic Purposes:

Exhibition’s

Practice of today's Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka during the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina/ L’instrumentalisation des expositions pour des fins nationalistes. La pratique expositionnelle contemporaine du Musée d’art contemporain de la République de Srpska à Banja Luka pendant de guerre de Bosnie et Herzegovine [EN]

 

Rabia Harmanşah

Reluctant Museums: Reshaping Memory through Sacred Spaces in Cyprus/ Des musées rétifs: Remodeler la mémoire par des espaces sacrés en Chypre [EN]

 

16.15 – 16.30 Coffee break

 

16.30 – 18.00          Panel 6 Museums in transition

 

Chair

Sarah Zarrow New Europe College

 

Nicolai Vukov

Reluctant Disembedding: “Unchangeable” Museum Representations in a Post-Socialist Context/ Déracinement rétif: Les représentations de musée « inchangeables » dans un contexte postsocialiste [FR]

 

Kristóf Nagy

First the Workers, than the Art: Transformation of Museums of Workers’

Movement to Museums of Contemporary Art in Hungary/ D’abord les ouvriers, ensuite l’art: La transformation des musées du mouvement ouvrier en des musées d’art contemporain en Hongrie [EN]

 

Simina Bădică

Curating Uncertainty: Romanian Ethnographic Collecting during the Second World War in Occupied Ukraine/ Aborder l’incertitude: Conserver des collections ethnographiques roumaines issues de l’Ukraine occupée en la Seconde Guerre mondiale [EN]

 

Ioana Repciuc

Old Objects and New Theories. Polish Ethnographic Museums in the Midst of Change / Objets anciens et théories nouvelles. Les musées ethnographiques polonais en pleine transformation [EN]

 

18.00 – Concluding remarks / Conclusions

 

18.30 – Optional Program: Thinking between regions

 

Viewing of fragments from “Sites of Memory", Argentine TV miniseries coordinated by Estela Schindel (University of Konstanz) and the Argentinean Ministry of Education

 

——-

 

The workshop is organized by the Regional Center for Advanced Francophone Research in Social Sciences (CEREFREA Villa Noël), University of Bucharest and supported by the following institutions and projects:

 

- Museums and Controversial Collections. Politics and Policies of Heritage-Making in Post-Colonial and Post-socialist Contexts project of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-2368, New Europe College, Bucharest.

 

- AHRC (Care for the Future) - Labex Pasts in the Present joint funded project The Criminalization of Dictatorial Pasts in Europe and Latin America in Global Perspective, University of Exeter and Institut des Sciences Sociales du Politique, Paris (ANR-11-LABX-0026-01)

 

- Political Science Department, University of Bucharest.

 

List of participants:   

·       Bădescu, Gruia – Christ Church, University of Oxford, UK

·       Bădică, Simina –National Museum of the Romanian Peasant,

Bucharest, Romania

·       Banjeglav, Tamara – Department of Cultural Studies, University

of Rijeka, Croatia

·       Bartolini, Flaminia – McDonald Institute for Archaeological

Research, Cambridge, UK

·       Bekus, Nelly – History Department, University of Exeter, UK

·       Cercel, Cristian – Ruhr Universit Bochum, Germany

·       Comer, Margaret – Cambridge University, UK

·       Chiriac, Alexandra – School of Art History, University of St

Andrews, UK

·       Demollari, Etleva Cani – National Historical Museum, Albania

·       Grosescu, Raluca - History Department, University of Exeter, UK

·       Jagdhuhn, Natasa – Europäisches Kolleg Jena, Germany

·       Kallio-Seppä Titta – University of Oulu, Finland

·       Kelpša,  Mindaugas – University of Vilnius, Lithuania

·       Kocsis, Andrea – Department of Archaeology and Anthropology,

University of Cambridge, UK

·       Koponen Titta – University of Oulu, Finland

·       Ludwig, Andreas  – Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam,

Germany

·       Mullins, Paul R. – Department of Anthropology, Indiana

University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, USA

·       Levey, Cara, University College Cork

·       Nagy, Kristóf – Artpool Art Research Center-Museum of Fine Arts

Budapest, Hungary

·       Otoiu, Damiana – Political Science Department/ CEREFREA,

University of Bucharest, Romania

·       Repciuc, Ioana – Romanian Academy, Iaşi branch, Romania

·       Sinčić, Mateja – IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy

·       Stojsavljević, Amalija – University of Vienna, Austria

·       Svardova, Petra – Institute of History, Slovak Academy of

Sciences, Slovakia / INALCO, Paris, France

·       Trajanovski, Naum – Graduate School for Social Research,

Institute of Philosophy and Sociology,  Warsaw, Poland

·       Vukov, Nicolai – Université de Sofia Saint Kliment

Ohridski,Bulgaria

·       Ylimaunu, Timo – University of Oulu, Finland

·       Zarrow , Sarah – New Europe College, Bucharest/ History

Department at New York University, Romania/ USA

 

—

 

Damiana Otoiu

 

Political Science Department

 

University of Bucharest

 

8, Spiru Haret Street

010175, Bucharest 1

Ph.: 0040 21 3141268

Fax: 0040 21 3133511

E-mail: damiana.otoiu@fspub.unibuc.ro

http://cevipol.ulb.be/fr/users/dotoiu

http://www.nec.ro/research-programs/uefiscdi-cncs/te-projects/current/museums

https://enseignements-2016.ehess.fr/2016/ue/1729//