ART AND POLITICS: CASE-STUDIES FROM EASTERN EUROPE

Art Institute
Vytautas Magnus University
Kaunas, Lithuania
October 26-27, 2006

Political art, art as a tool of power and a hostage of authority - these
questions are hard to escape when researching Eastern European culture. The
20th century turned this region into a laboratory of social engineering and
political experiments where boundaries of artistic practices have been
tested too. Here one can easily find the most radical examples of cultural
production that flirts between art and politics, the magic and failure of
avant-garde utopia, the sharpest conflicts between ethics and aesthetics.
Thus contexts of art practices as well as political contents of artistic
strategies (rather than pure stylistic qualities and artistic values) are
under consideration in recent studies of Eastern Europe art history.

An objective of the conference is to bring together different case studies
on art and politics in order to analyse a complex relationship between
artistic and political regimes as well as political meanings of art in
Soviet and Post-Soviet conditions. Participants are invited to consider the
following topics:

Subversions of political art in non-democratic state
Cultural policy and culture as resistance
In search of panacea: resistance, transgression, appropriation
Critique of representation and creating of new myths
Aesthetical norms and/or national style
Self identities [autobiography, body, individual mythologies] in the
sidelines of regime
* Ideological art and artistic ideologies.

Participants are requested to submit their papers in the form of case
studies using a particular artifact, event or phenomena as a ground for
research of a broader problem focused on the varied intersections of art and
politics. Presentations will be limited to 20 minutes. A publication of
conference proceedings is also planned.

Abstracts (250-300 words) accompanied with short CV should be sent to the
address below by April 20, 2006. Accepted papers will be notified by May 2,
2006.

Conference organiser:
Art Institute, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

Academic Referees:
Assoc. prof. Rasa Zukien_ (Art Institute, VDU, Kaunas)
Prof. Egidijus Aleksandravicius (VDU, Kaunas)
Prof. Vojtech Lahoda (Institute of Art History, Academy of Science of the
Czech Republic, Prague)
Prof. Piotr Piotrowski (Institute of Art History, A. Mickiewicz University,
Poznan)

Coordinators:
Linara Dovydaityte, dr. Jurate Tutlyte.

Art Institute
Vytautas Magnus University
Laisves ave. 53-405
LT-44309 Kaunas
Lithuania
E-mail: Linara_Dovydaitytefc.vdu.lt; Jurate_Tutlytefc.vdu.lt