The first international conference organized under the research project Identity Crisis Network will take place in Zagreb! Following the open call, we have invited twenty scholars, curators, artists, and other individuals and collectives to join in the conversation that seeks to challenge established notions of identity and subjectivity in contemporary art and culture.

In the past few decades, the concept of identity has been marked as a fixed political determination. Given the term’s inherent fluidity, diversity, multiplicity, and ambiguity, attempts to narrowly define it have proven restrictive, stretching its boundaries and ultimately causing them to burst. Practices aimed at making marginalized groups visible in the art world have often led to compartmentalization or tokenization, deepening polarization and provoking culture wars within art institutions, as well as outside them. This position opens up space for questioning the very foundations of contemporary art practices and their potential to generate transformative experiences beyond normative and constraining limits. The Identity Crisis Network conference seeks to explore whether it is possible to move beyond established identity categories and simplified labels, both in cultural and political discourse. We aim to engage with these issues not through a one-sided critique but by examining the potential to generate change within the realm of art. Through this conference, we reflect on the philosophical, institutional, aesthetic, and political landscape we inhabit as artists, curators, and theorists, intending to envision new spaces where potential and contingent outcomes can emerge.

Keynote speakers: Jack Halberstam (Columbia University), Anna Longo (Paris 1–Panthéon-Sorbonne), Svitlana Matviyenko (Simon Fraser University), Simon O'Sullivan (Goldsmiths, University of London)

Selected speakers: Bill Balaskas, Salim Bayri, Mark Cinkevich, Hana Janečková, Klara Kofen, Suzana Milevska, Boris Ondreička, Ying Sze Pek, Tjaša Pogačar & Brandon Rosenbluth, Mohammad Salemy, Mårten Spångberg, Simon(e) van Saarloos, Darko Vukić, Scott Wark, Agata Wieczorek, Xtreme Girl

​Location: Gorgona Hall (Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Croatia)
Dates: 23rd & 24th of May 2025

The conference language is English and admission is free.

​Link to the schedule and more information: https://identitycrisisnetwork.com/conference-2025/

Organizers: Identity Crisis Network (Luka Cvetković, Klara Petrović, Michalina Sablik, Luja Šimunović and Vera Zalutskaya)

This project is realized with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international cultural program of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2025.

SCHEDULE:

Friday, 23 May 2025

09:30 – 12:00
Panel: One and Many Crises
Bill Balaskas, Suzana Milevska, Mark Cinkevich, Ying Sze Pek

12:15 – 13:45
Keynote: Svitlana Matviyenko

14:45 – 17:15
Panel: Epistemic Ruptures
Salim Bayri, Agata Wieczorek, Simon(e) van Saarloos, Hana Janečková

17:30 – 19:00
Keynote: Jack Halberstam

09:30 – 12:00
Panel: Protocols for New Becomings
Mårten Spångberg, Mohammad Salemy, Darko Vukić, Boris Ondreička

13:00 – 14:30
Keynote: Simon O’Sullivan

15:30 – 18:00
Panel: Playing the Self Beyond Algorithms
Klara Kofen, Tjaša Pogačar & Brandon Rosenbluth, Scott Wark, Xtreme Girl

18:15 – 19:45
Keynote: Anna Longo

19:45 – 20:00 Closing Remarks