Trading Zones: Art and Philosophy in Eastern Europe since 1945

The Workshop investigates the trading zone between artistic and aesthetic practice and philosophical ideas in Central and Eastern Europe. We are interested in artists from the region who are engaged in a critical dialogue with philosophy and philosophical ideas (both from Eastern Europe and beyond), and whose work possesses transformative experiential, intellectual and political potential. We are equally interested in philosophers and theorists from the region whose thinking engages or addresses art. We view the relationship between art and philosophy as a productive form of synergy rather than as an instance of appropriation, static commentary, or prescriptive instruction. In the workshop, we hope to address the following questions, among others: which philosophical traditions and discourses have contemporary artists in or from Eastern Europe engaged with since 1945? How familiar and aware were theorists and philosophers from Eastern Europe with contemporary artistic trends, but also with the art of the past? Where have theorists or philosophers tended to conceive of art and aesthetic practice schematically, or with too much idealism? More generally speaking: to what extent can art and philosophy resist both all-encompassing formalism and ideological instrumentalization? And, last but not least, in relation to current theory formation: why is the interpretation of Eastern European art often still exclusively based on Western philosophical narratives, neglecting to take into account the rich traditions of theory and aesthetic thinking that exist in Eastern Europe, now and in the past?

PROGRAMME

26 June 2025

14.00 – 14.30
Welcome and Introduction
Hana Gründler and Sven Spieker

The Nation and its Aftermath
14.30 – 15.00
"The Artistic Ukrainian Movement (MUR) in the Long (After)Life of National Modernism (1945-1949)", Alexander Dmitriev (Charles University, Prague / European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder)

15.00 – 15.30
"A Migrant Painter’s Worldview after 1945", Adrienn Kácsor (Bauhaus University)

Break

Freedom and Crisis
16.00 – 16.30
"The True Realm of Freedom? The Polarity of Surrealism and Functionalism in the Writings of Karel Teige and its Critique", Jana Ndiaye Berankova (Columbia University, Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Reid Hall, Paris)

16.30 – 17.00
"Art and Crisis in the Thinking of Jan Patočka", Karel Císař (UMPRUM, Prague) and Hana Gründler (KHI – MPI, Florence)

17.00 – 17.30
"How to Digest Ernst Bloch? Carlfriedrich Claus‘ Readings of Bloch", Constanze Fritzsch (KHI – MPI, Florence)

Break

Objects and Words
18.00 – 18.30
"Reism, the Anti-Humanist Humanism", Branislav Jakovljević (Stanford University)

18.30 – 19.00
"Presence and Vision: The Artistic Reception of Poststructuralism in Romanian Conceptual Art", Cristian Nae (National University of Arts, Iasi)

19.00 – 20.00 Dinner (for speakers only)

20.00 – 21.00 Film Screening: The Cybernetic Grandma (Jiři Trnka, 1962)

27 June 2025

Thinking (Through) Media
9.30 – 10.00
"Cybernetics in Art Discourse and Art Practice across East-Central Europe", Katalin Cseh-Varga (University of Vienna)

10.00 – 10.30
"Pikto-sophy: Philosophical Inspirations in the Art of Jerzy Truszkowski in the Context of Late State Socialism in Poland", Jakub Banasiak (Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw)

10.30 – 11.00
"An Intellectual Legacy of Bad Photography: Boris Mikhailov’s Unfinished Dissertation (1984/85)", Kseniia Pereplotchykova (European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder)

Break

Art, Ideology, Politics
11.30 – 12.00
"'Artists Have to Study Philosophy': Mikhail Lifshits Speech ‘Partiinost’ and ‘Realism’ (1975)", Sven Spieker (University of California, Santa Barbara)

12.00 – 12.30
"The Polit-technological Architecture of Art Institutions in Russia between 1990-2022", Keti Chukhrov (Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe)

12.30 – 13.00 Final Discussion