Art Geography of Central Europe: landmarks, networks, sources
28-29. 10 2022
The final conference of the "A Bridge over Time. Contemporary Picture of the Past" project
Programme
28.10 | 7 p. m. Piotr Wyrzykowski, artist talk and screening in CCA LAZNIA 1
29.10 | noon – 8 p. m. Screening of Józef Robakowski’s works in CCA LAZNIA 1
29.10 | 10 a. m. – 5 p. m. Conference in the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk
The two-day conference summarizing the educational and research project entitled "A Bridge over Time. Contemporary Picture of the Past" co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The main objective of the project was to gather current knowledge about contemporary art (neo-avant-garde or post-avant-garde art, performing arts, installation and object art, textiles or experimental ceramics) of Central Europe in order to create a comprehensive study of the region's art, while taking into account its local or national specificities. The goals of the project are, on the one hand, to gather facts and interpret them, and, on the other hand, to lay the foundation for an educational platform to enable consistent teaching of the history of contemporary art in Central Europe at the academic level.
During the conference the results of research conducted by national teams of scholars and curators from the Visegrád countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia) will be presented as well as the National Timelines containing a collection of the most important events from the period covering the research from the 1960s to the political breakthrough in 1989, including events from the socio-political sphere that formed the backdrop of artistic events.
One of the conference aims will be to establish the artistic geography of the region. Thus, not only major works of art will be presented, but also networks of contacts, often developed as unofficial exchanges. During the meeting, the collected resources and ways of accessing them will be presented, so as to open up the possibility of further research.
At the conference, as a contribution of local research, films by two Polish artists two artists whose art dealt with the socio-political context of this part of Europe: Jozef Robakowski, who pioneered media art and conceptual art in Poland; and Piotr Wyrzykowski, who as a young artist in the 1990s and early 2000s commented on the relationship of art and the status of the artist to the then dominant socio-political reality of newly regained artistic freedom of newly regained artistic freedom.
The conference will have a working character. In the course of its duration, also the final publication will be developed, the aim of which is to create a draft of a curriculum for universities and art academies on a topic Neo-avantgarde art in Central Europe.
More about Bridge over time project here.