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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,

Dr Andrea Gullotta

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 LandscapeProf 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)