[spectre] Visions after the Fall :: Budapest, June 8-11, 2006

[Marko Stamenkovic]

Visions after the Fall:

Museums, Archives, and Cinema in the reshaping of popular perceptions 
of the socialist past



Open Society Archives Budapest :: June 8 - 11, 2006

Open Society Archives :: Central European University :: Budapest :: 
Hungary  <http://www.osa.ceu.hu> www.osa.ceu.hu



The workshop will analyze the use of audio-visual material - including
archival footage, documentary and feature films, exhibition catalogues,

memorials, and other traces of historical remembrance - in the process of

'reshaping' the memory of the socialist past in Eastern Europe. The aim of

the workshop is to contribute to the understanding of the ways in which

historical revisionism uses both familiar and recently discovered

audio-visual material - from popular cinematographic imagery to previously

classified information. The principles of exhibiting these materials and

other ways of making them available to the broad public will be in the focus

of the workshop discussions.





I. Museums: Between Terror and 'Normalization'



The presenters at the panel will analyze different cases of recent

historical exhibitions which addressed the socialist past, introduced new

archival documents, drew attention to the sites of political repression, and

challenged the established socialist historiographies.



Scope of issues:



      * Sites of terror turned into museums and exhibitions

      * Representations of everyday socialism

      * Commemorations of the transition: the roles of state museums in

transitional justice

      * Multi-media presentations and the role of video material in

representing history



II. Archives: the source of the unique and unknown



The presenters at the panel will analyze the use of archival (especially

audio-visual) footage in recent historical research as well as in works

intended for the wider public, such as documentary and fiction films. The

panel will discuss the consequences in terms of expanded access to the

footage as well as methodological issues of its presentation to audiences

with different degrees of historical and audio-visual expertise.



Scope of issues:



      * Emergence of previously classified material in (re)shaping the past

      * East, West, elsewhere - Unification of sources

      * The emergence of new political borders and the division of previously

shared heritage

      * Educational role of the audio-visual material,

      * The change in reading the material depending on the context and

audiences' competence



III. Cinema: shaping the public



The panel will analyze recent works of fiction and non-fiction addressing

the image of the socialist past, discussing whether inter-country

comparisons are meaningful when speaking about the socialist past in the

region.



Scope of issues:



      * Historical accounts presented to the mass audience: are there any

rules of the game?

      * Private footage and home video in cinema: contrasting 'big' and

'small' histories

      * Archival research in filmmaking and the role of experts

      * Authenticity in creating historical accounts: modes and methods



<http://www.osa.ceu.hu/2006/2006-06-08.shtml>http://www.osa.ceu.hu/2006/2006-06-08.shtml



--
Marko Stamenkovic


O3ONE
Andricev venac 12, 11000 Belgrade
Serbia & Montenegro
Tel: +381 11 323 87 89
Mobile: +381 64 25 025 97
<mailto:marko at o3.co.yu>marko at o3.co.yu
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