‘SHAPING DESIRED FUTURES’

Between 2015 and 2018, Trauma & Revival – Cultural Relations between Eastern and Western Europe proposed an ambitious journey that showcased and reflected on East-West cultural connections in the Cold War and today, via artists’ residencies, workshops, cinema, research, roundtables, a digital timeline and various exhibitions (Facing the Future: Art in Europe after World War II, Orient, the 'New East' in Central and Eastern European Art) in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Poland and Russia.

With this project, BOZAR has modestly attempted to show how artists were and still are at the forefront of efforts to change perceptions on the ‘other’. This is how new forms of collective resilience or catharsis can emerge and help us move away from our shared traumas towards the revival of our societies. With this final conference we seek to revisit the project results and present the final publication of the project Shaping Desired Futures. But above all we will discuss possible new forms of cultural dialogue and exchange in order to shape a common future.

PROGRAMME

9:30  Doors and registration

10:00 Introduction: Paul Dujardin/Sophie Lauwers

Chapter I: Shaping Desired Futures for Europe
A series of presentations and panel discussions reflecting on the main outcomes of the Trauma & Revival project.

10:15 - Presentation of the Manifesto: Shaping Desired Futures
Dialogue between editor Aria Spinelli (independent curator and researcher), Pános Kompatsiáris (assistant professor of Art and Media at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow), Eckhart Gillen (art historian, freelance curator)
Q&A 

11:15 Coffee break 

11:30 First panel: Dynamics of cultural production and exchange in Europe today
Artist statement: Artem Filatov (artist)
- Sonia Dermience (independent curator, director of Komplot)
- Alexandra Danilova (curator of contemporary art at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts)
- Elena Sorokina (curator of the HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts))
- Elena Tsvetaeva (director of Baltic Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts)
Moderator: Marc Franco
Q&A

12:45  Maija Rudovska (independent curator and researcher) on Kaspars Groševs in dialogue with Hardijs Ledins and Imants Žodžiks (Human in the living environments <-> 10 minute walk from solitude) 

13:15 Lunch Break 

Chapter II: Shaping Desired Futures beyond fortress Europe
Reflecting on the role that cultural relations play in Europe and its capital, Brussels, today

14:30  Keynote by Wato Tsereteli (artist & independent curator)
Q&A

15:30 - Second panel: Can the Arts reset Europe as an object of desire?
Artist statement: Maarten Vanden Eynde (artist)
- Maarten Vanden Eynde
- Iaroslava Boubnova (director of the National Gallery Sofia)
- Simon Sheikh (curator and researcher, Programme Director, MFA Curating Goldsmiths, University of London)
- Wato Tsereteli
Moderator: Kathleen Weyts
Q&A

16:45 Coffee break

17:15 Third panel: Which role can Brussels, as a capital of Europe, play?
Artist statement: Hana Miletic (artist)
- Alisa Prudnikova (director of regional development of ROSIZO-NCCA)
- Daniel Blanga Gubbay (artistic director Kunstenfestivaldesarts)
- Hana Miletic
- Arnaud Pasquali (deputy Head of the Culture Unit at the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission)
Moderator: Kathleen Weyts 
Q&A 

18:30 Closing Reception