PANEL DISCUSSION: Decolonizing Institutions: The Responsibility of Representation

 

 

We are pleased to share that Tímea Junghaus, executive director of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC), will take part in the panel discussion, Decolonizing Institutions: The Responsibility of Representation, among other participants Angéla Kóczé (CEU, Romani Studies Program), Renan Laru-an (SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin), Dr. Zsolt Sári (ICOM Hungary) moderated by Eszter György on May 25, at 5:45 – 6:30 pm.

 

This panel discussion is part of a three-day hybrid symposium, The Season of Darkness: Being Civil in an Uncivil Society, organized by OFF-Biennale Budapest.

 

The event will be streamed via OFF-Biennale Budapest’s Facebook

 

When the season of darkness comes, not all hope is lost, nor should it be. It is the darkest times—a time defined by multiple crises—when we (re)discover the importance of solidarity, care, and empathy. It is the war that reminds us of peace; it is the darkest deeds that emphasize human rights; it is the propaganda that makes us strive for clarity; it is the excesses of power that teach us to value democratic procedures; it is the corruption that accentuates the need for social justice; it is the bigotries that make us work for a more tolerant society; and it is authoritarianism that highlights autonomy. In a season of darkness, we formulate our civil responses and responsibilities; we create networks, finding new ways of collaboration.

 

OFF-Biennale Budapest’s symposium circles around the newly (re-)emerged urgencies in the region broadly understood as “Eastern Europe” that were brought forth by the ongoing full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine. The three-day event is organized as a way of preparation, and—based on the “lumbung experience”—it intends to open up the organization and participation process of OFF’s fourth edition in 2024.

 

The symposium’s discussions aim to assess the viability, sustainability, and possibilities of an often forced civilship in the East of Europe: when self-organized civil initiatives take on higher stakes, working under ever worsening (or even threatening) conditions, partly taking over responsibilities of the state, and partly hindered by it to continue their independent operations. If the societies in the Eastern part of Europe have never actually been modern, democratic, and free—in the Western notions of these terms—how are civil initiatives to act with integrity and autonomy, especially in times of war? How can civil initiatives and communities work together in the region, also on an institutional level? With the symposium OFF-Biennale would also like to connect with the methodologies and practices of the lumbung inter-lokal that OFF was a part of at documenta fifteen.

 

Venue: Nyolcésfél, Budapest 1084, Német u. 16.; 7th floor
Please click here to see the whole program.