[spectre] Fwd: CFP: Monuments of the Soviet Occupation Period (Riga, 30-31 Oct 25)

[Andreas Broeckmann LEU]

From: Ieva Astahovska
Date: Jul 16, 2025
Subject: CFP: Monuments of the Soviet Occupation Period (Riga, 30-31 Oct 25)

Art Academy of Latvia, Riga, Oct 30–31, 2025
Deadline: Aug 22, 2025

Monuments of the Soviet Occupation Period as Dissonant Heritage.

The conference will focus on monuments from the Soviet occupation 
period, paying particular attention to their ambiguous but significant 
place in the context of the cultural heritage of the recent Soviet past. 
Conference participants are invited to discuss these monuments not only 
as remnants of a past regime, but also as tangible and intangible 
heritage of the Soviet era and as historical evidence of the occupation, 
which should be included in the process of explaining and updating history.

The conference organisers invite applications from cultural heritage 
specialists, art scholars, artists, as well as historians, memory 
studies researchers, and scholars from other fields working on issues 
related to monuments as dissonant heritage.

Possible themes include but are not limited to:
- monuments and other memorial cultural objects as evidence and 
explanatory elements of Soviet history and ideology
- the involvement of artists and other cultural figures in the 
implementation of Soviet ideology and its representation in monuments
  - the relationship between Soviet power and national narratives of the 
past
- the process of preserving or removing monuments and the 
controversy/polemics surrounding it in the Baltic States and Eastern 
Europe since 2022
- the decolonial turn and the impact of postcolonial and decolonial 
discourse on the monument removal process
- monuments from the Soviet period as reminders of the complexity of the 
region’s histories
- monuments and memory politics in relation to themes of historical 
conflicts, tragedies, and traumas
- monuments as evidence of the cultural and historical heterogeneity of 
the Soviet period, its different historical interpretations, and their 
various historical, artistic, urban, cultural heritage, and educational 
aspects
- analysis of examples of the motivation and context of artists and 
cultural figures in creating monuments, and how these contexts are 
reflected in the current political situation
- analysis of the relationship between artists and the institutions 
regulating artistic processes
- legal, political, historical, anthropological, art historical, 
monument protection and preservation, and heritage and memory aspects 
related to monument removal campaigns
- the involvement of contemporary art, exhibitions, and art projects in 
the decolonialisation debate, including the revision of controversial 
monuments

Submission of applications: Interested participants are invited to 
submit a summary of their paper (no more than 200 words) and a short 
biography by August 22, 2025 to: dissonantmonuments at gmail.com. 
Confirmation of participation in the conference will be sent by August 
29, 2025.

More information at the Latvian Society of Art Historians and Curators 
website: https://ej.uz/dissonantmonuments.

If you require further information, please write to 
dissonantmonuments at gmail.com.

The conference is organised by the Latvian Society of Art Historians and 
Curators in collaboration with the Art Academy of Latvia, the Latvian 
National Heritage Board, and the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art. 
Conference working group: Ieva Astahovska, Rihards Pētersons, Jana 
Grostiņa, Dana Stuce.

Reference / Quellennachweis:
CFP: Monuments of the Soviet Occupation Period (Riga, 30-31 Oct 25). In: 
ArtHist.net, Jul 16, 2025. <https://arthist.net/archive/50385>.