Legacies of Cultural Resistance in Post-Communist Central & Eastern Europe

This conference is organised jointly by the Trinity Centre for Resistance Studies, the Trinity Long Room Hub and the Irish Association for Russian, Central and East European Studies. Registration is through Eventbrite or by email to aporb@tcd.ie.

The aim of the conference is to explore the legacy of cultural forms of resistance, opposition and dissent in Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism in 1989/91. It aims to investigate the extent to which modes, patterns and strategies of cultural resistance in the late-socialist period informed (or continue to inform) dissident visual art, literature or music in recent decades. What kind of continuities and discontinuities can be observed in cultural forms of protest across the 1989 divide? How did the consolidation of democratic regimes in the 1990s affect critical forms of artistic expression? Did the authoritarian turn of the mid-2010s result in the revival (in a modified form) of practices that characterised the non-conformist cultural sphere of late socialism? What forms of cultural innovation can be identified in contemporary oppositionist art and what are its main sources of inspiration? What role do horizontal, cross-border, and transnational entanglements and connections play in the development of cultural forms of resistance? How did the hierarchy of the modes of self-expression change (the decreasing significance of literature and the rise of social media) in the past three decades? How has the role of gender as a constitutive element of identity changed in protests happening over that period?

Please let us know if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: aporb@tcd.ie