CENTRAL EUROPE IN THE CENTER OF ATTENTION
October 08, 2021 18.00
Panel discussion
East and West, center and periphery, Europe and Eastern block, or even more often regionalism versus globalism, these definitions are continuously coming up when talking about the Central European region in context. As of today, the Central European cultural ecosystem including its art market has been smoothly integrated into the broadest international context, however, it has many aspects which continue to hold the characteristics based on such factors as shared history, common values and interests, regional cultural interdependence.
Do we encounter regionalism and these local characteristics as a power within the global cultural community and the international art market? Does it make any sense to think in terms of regions when the world has gone entirely global in so many ways? Has the cultural scene or the art market in Central Europe or the even more converging region of the Visegrad countries benefited from defining itself as a tighter community? How are the impacts of the COVID pandemic changing the relevance and significance of regional cooperation, does regionalism make more sense now than it did a few years ago? Do actors of national cultural and artistic communities of Central Europe share a common regional philosophy or mentality, and do they actually have to do so if they want to succeed as a common region? Do collaborative efforts or even institutions defined as regional hold stronger positions in a broader international context than local, national institutions do?
Dr. Zoltán Somhegyi
ModeratorDr. Zoltán Somhegyi
art historian, Associate Professor, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary
Zoltán Somhegyi is a Hungarian art historian with a PhD in aesthetics, and is Associate Professor of art history at the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary. As a researcher, he is specialised in eighteenth-nineteenth century art and theory, and besides that his other fields of interest are contemporary fine arts and art criticism. He is the Secretary General and Website Editor of the International Association for Aesthetics, member of the Executive Committee of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences, Consultant of Art Market Budapest: International Contemporary Art Fair, and Editor-in Chief of HAS – Humanities, Arts & Society Magazine.
Dorota Monkiewicz
SpeakerDorota Monkiewicz
Dorota Monkiewicz is a curator and a writer. She was the founding director of Wrocław Contemporary Museum (2011 – 2016). She also served two terms as a president of AICA Poland ( International Association of Art Critics). In the years of 1990-2009 she worked in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art in The National Museum in Warsaw. Her field of interest are critical, feminist and conceptual art. She also curated exhibitions from the Central European perspective such as travelling exhibition “The Wild West. A History of Wrocław’s Avant-Garde”(2015-2016) and “Avant - Garde and the State” in the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź (2018-2019).
Alicja Knast
SpeakerAlicja Knast
General Director, National Gallery Prague
Alicja Barbara Knast MA, HAE museologist, musicologist graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. During her professional career as museum professional she managed, curated or collaborated well over one hundred exhibitions temporal or permanent. Her main area of specialisation is capital projects in museums, programming, policies and strategies for new developments of galleries or museums. She led and completed Chopin Museum’s permanent exhibition, Polin Museum’s core exhibition and Muzeum Śląskie’s new seat and revitalisation projects of the former coal mine. She worked as a consultant for the Polish History Museum, The Wawel Royal Castle, City of Rybnik, Museum of Greater Poland Uprising and Museum of Modern Art Warsaw. Since 2021 she helds a position of general director in the National Gallery Prague.
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Adam Reichardt
SpeakerAdam Reichardt
Adam Reichardt is the Editor in Chief of New Eastern Europe, a bimonthly magazine published in Poland by the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College of Eastern Europe. In addition to his work on NEE, Adam is a media and journalism scholar at the College of Europe, Natolin Campus (Warsaw) and is the co-host of a podcast series about the region called “Talk Eastern Europe”.
Max Ryynänen
SpeakerMax Ryynänen
Max Ryynänen is Senior Lecturer in Theory of Visual Culture at Aalto University Finland. He is the ex Chair of the Finnish Society for Aesthetics and the Editor-in-Chief of Popular Inquiry: The Journal of the Aesthetics of Kitsch, Camp and Mass Culture and The Journal of Somaesthetics. His latest books include e.g. Aesthetics in Dialogue (ed. with Zoltan Somhegyi, 2020), On The Philosophy of Central European Art (Lexington Books, 2020) and Art, Excess, Education (ed. with Kevin Tavin and Mira Kallio-Tavin, Palgrave 2019). He in an ex-gallerist (ROR Gallery, Kallio Kunsthalle) and sometimes still an active art writer (during the years, e.g. Kunstkritikk, Flash Art International, Art Pulse).
Zsófia Bata-Jakab
SpeakerZsófia Bata-Jakab
Zsófia Bata-Jakab, CEO of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency, always had a passion for supporting aspiring talents of the industry. During her career, she gained widespread experience in fashion management in Hungary and abroad. She believes that the creativity and innovative solutions of the Hungarian designers compete at a world-class level. Her mission is to support the designers through the mentoring programs of HFDA and provide an opportunity to attend national and international events.