Aesthetics of Memory: Soviet Gulag and Apartheid
August 11, 2022 - August 12, 2022
Aesthetics of Memory will engage an interdisciplinary lens to explore the intersection of the politics of memory and the arts in the context of ongoing debates about histories of repression and violence, and more specifically the traumatic pasts of the Soviet Gulags and apartheid. Focusing on the transgenerational repercussions of these violent histories, this project is part of our interest in both scholarly research and public scholarship on the representation of past crimes through film, visual arts, photography, performing arts, and narrative representation of stories of suffering. The colloquium will be organised along three categories: (a) trauma narratives and bearing witness; (b) visual arts and photography; (c) performance art and exhibitions.
View all the speakers’ bios HERE or click on the Name of the speaker.
DAY 1, THURSDAY, 11 AUGUST 2022
| TIME | PRESENTATION TITLE & PRESENTER(s) | RESPONDENT(S) / CHAIR |
| 09:30-09:55 | Welcome and Opening Remarks – Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Prof Katya Tolstoj | |
| 10:00-11:25 | Roundtable Discussion: Thinking with/through Art: Analogy, Juxtaposition and the Power of ‘sympathy’ in the Encounter between the Gulag and Apartheid.
– Prof Tamar Garb To attend, register HERE |
Respondents:Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela,
Prof Nanci Adler, |
| 11:30-12:55 | The Aesthetics of Memory versus the Aesthetics of Terror and the Gulag – Ms Irina Flige
– Mr Dmirtii Prytikyn To attend, register HERE |
Chair:Dr Andrea Gullotta |
| 13:00-13:55 | LUNCH | |
| 14:00-15:25 | Between memory and cruelty: On the failure of postapartheid lament – Prof Heidi Grunebaum | Chair:Greer Valley |
| 15:30-15:45 | TEA BREAK | |
| TIME | PRESENTATION TITLE & PRESENTER(s) | CHAIR |
| 15:50-17:00 | After Fire: Art and the State(s) of Emergency in Namibia and South Africa – Prof Nashi Mushaandja, Greer Valley, Dr Pfunzo Sidogi, Ms Stephané Conradie | Prof Siona O’Connell |
| 18:30 | Dinner at The Lanzerac Hotel | |
DAY 2, FRIDAY, 12 AUGUST 2022
| TIME | PRESENTATION TITLE & PRESENTER(s) | CHAIR | |
| 09:00-10:10 | Aesthetics vs. Ontology of the Gulag. A Case Study of Varlam Shalamov’s “The Glove”– Prof Katya Tolstoj | Prof Nanci Adler | |
| 10:15-11:25 | All That Is Left: Haunting and Toxic Memory Objects– Prof Björn Krondorfer | Prof Jennifer N. Fish | Working Tea |
| 11:30-12:40 | Ballie Boys– Prof Siona O’Connell | Prof Tamar Garb | |
| 12:40-13:15 | LUNCH | ||
| 13:15-14:25 | Representing, or Reconceptualizing Suffering? Case Studies of the Narratives of Gulag Survivors– Prof Nanci Adler | Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela | |
| 14:30-15:40 | The Symbolics of Systemic Cruelty: Domestic Labor in the Everyday Visual Landscape– Prof Jennifer N. Fish | Ms Stephané Conradie | |
| 15:40-16:00 | TEA BREAK | ||
| 16:00-17:10 | Mediated cruelty: Second-hand aesthetics of horror– Dr Andrea Gullotta | Prof Heidi Grunebaum | |
| 17:15-17:35 | Poetry As a Form of WitnessingPOETRY OFFERING
– Prof Tim Seibles |
Dr Wilhelm Verwoerd | |
| 17:35 | WRAPPING UP IN PLENARY AND NEXT STEPS | ||
| 18:30 | Dinner at The Wine Glass (Stellenbosch) | ||
