Summer School: Our Many Easts
Our Many Easts summer school is organised by Moderna galerija in Ljubljana in partnership with ZRC SAZU (the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts) as part of the L’Internationale project Museum of the Commons.
In the last week of August 2024, Moderna galerija in Ljubljana is organizing its third international summer school, this time entitled Our Many Easts. The first summer school, Constructing Utopia, took place in 2018, and the second, The Big Shift: The 1990s. Avant-gardes in Eastern Europe and Their Legacy, in 2019. Our Many Easts will be held at Moderna galerija’s two venues, the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, as well as at ZRC SAZU, Krater, Bunker, and other locations in Ljubljana.
The 2024 summer school will continue to focus on themes related to Eastern Europe, with a special emphasis on the expanded notion and understanding of the East, its arts, artists, art collectives, and the social and political contexts that have defined the geopolitical-social-cultural East(s) over the last decade.
When the end of the Cold War was proclaimed in 1989, the victory of liberalism over communism was expected to bring 'Western liberal democracy' and an 'open society' to the countries of the former Eastern bloc and beyond. Consequently, the Non-Aligned Movement, founded in Belgrade in 1961 as a third way between the two blocs, lost its relevance. Then, in the 1990s, nationalisms and ethnic tensions led to war and the break-up of socialist Yugoslavia. Yet what we have seen over the last 30 years is not only the dissolution of the idea of liberal democracy that the East so eagerly embraced, but also, as Ivan Krastev put it, liberalism abandoning pluralism for hegemony. Recent years have seen constant tensions in the East, the emergence of new autocratic regimes, continuing refugee crises, persistent nationalist tendencies in the Balkans, the war in Ukraine, the unresolved 'Palestinian question' and the genocide in Gaza. When the Berlin Wall came down, there were 16 border fences in the world. Today there are 65, and the number is growing. To return to Krastev and Holmes: The future was better yesterday. From this perspective, we ask what tools can historical experiences, genealogies of knowledge, artistic practices from the East(s) provide us with in our present, bereft of future?
The summer school will offer many different perspectives on the idea of the East(s), starting with the question: What is left of the idea of Eastern Europe today? This broad theme will cover topics such as the legacy of the Eastern European avant-gardes, archives as tools of emancipation, the new 'non-aligned' networks, art in times of conflict and war, ecology and the environment. The summer school will be organized around five themes: The East and Beyond, The Yugoslav Socialist Project as a Source of Knowledge, The Non-Aligned Movement, Film-History-Archives, and Social Ecology.
Summer school participants will have a unique opportunity to experience Moderna galerija’s Arteast 2000+ collection up close, get an in-depth insight into the exhibitions at MG+MSUM together with the artists and curators, visit the archives, discuss the themes of the East(s) with experts in the field, experience the local art scene, meet artists and theoreticians, participate in the annual Mladi levi (Young Lions) festival, take a very different tour of Ljubljana, and much more.
Our Many Easts is aimed at postgraduate students and art professionals interested in the focal topics, and will offer courses on the interpretation and presentation of selected topics in the formats of workshops, lectures, performances, guided tours, and discussions.
The workshop facilitators and speakers include Ana Adamović, Zdenka Badovinac, David Crowley, Hana Ćurak, Sanja Horvatinčić, Urška Jurman & Mateja Kurir & Polonca Lovšin, Bojana Kunst & Ivana Müller, Krater collective (Gaja Mežnarić Osole, Danica Sretenović), Tevž Logar, Kumjana Novakova, Tanja Petrović, Bojana Piškur, Martin Pogačar, Dubravka Sekulić, Mabel Tapia, Mila Turajlić, Ala Younis.
The author of this year's summer school concept is Moderna galerija curator Bojana Piškur. The student’s tutor is Adela Železnik (senior curator at the MG+MSUM), while the project is coordinated by Sanja Kuveljić-Bandić (MG+MSUM).
The Summer School includes an extensive public programme with lectures, performances and discussions. Read the full programme on the MG+MSUM website
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Mladen Stilinović, It’s necessary, 1980. Pastel on paper. Courtesy of Moderna galerija.
Related activities
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–Moderna galerijaZRC SAZU
Open Call – Summer School: Our Many Easts
Our Many Easts summer school takes place in Ljubljana 24–30 August and the application deadline is 15 March. Courses will be held in English and cover topics such as the legacy of the Eastern European avant-gardes, archives as tools of emancipation, the new “non-aligned” networks, art in times of conflict and war, ecology and the environment.
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–Van Abbemuseum
The Soils Project
‘The Soils Project’ is part of an eponymous, long-term research initiative involving TarraWarra Museum of Art (Wurundjeri Country, Australia), the Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, Netherlands) and Struggles for Sovereignty, a collective based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It works through specific and situated practices that consider soil, as both metaphor and matter.
Seeking and facilitating opportunities to listen to diverse voices and perspectives around notions of caring for land, soil and sovereign territories, the project has been in development since 2018. An international collaboration between three organisations, and several artists, curators, writers and activists, it has manifested in various iterations over several years. The group exhibition ‘Soils’ at the Van Abbemuseum is part of Museum of the Commons. -
–VCRC
Kyiv Biennial 2023
L’Internationale Confederation is a proud partner of this year’s edition of Kyiv Biennial.
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–MACBA
Where are the Oases?
PEI OBERT seminar
with Kader Attia, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz, Emily Jacir, Achille Mbembe, Sarah Nuttall and Françoise VergèsAn oasis is the potential for life in an adverse environment.
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MACBA
Anti-imperialism in the 20th century and anti-imperialism today: similarities and differences
PEI OBERT seminar
Lecture by Ramón GrosfoguelIn 1956, countries that were fighting colonialism by freeing themselves from both capitalism and communism dreamed of a third path, one that did not align with or bend to the politics dictated by Washington or Moscow. They held their first conference in Bandung, Indonesia.
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Institute of Radical ImaginationMuseo Reina Sofia
Cinema as Assembly
Cinema as Assembly investigates cinema as a space of social gathering and political engagement that prefigures and enacts forms of living beyond colonial capitalism.
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21 Jun 2023 –6 Jul Van AbbemuseumMaria Lugones Decolonial Summer School
Recalling Earth: Decoloniality and Demodernity
Course Directors: Prof. Walter Mignolo & Dr. Rolando VázquezRecalling Earth and learning worlds and worlds-making will be the topic of chapter 14th of the María Lugones Summer School that will take place at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven.
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23 Apr 2023 –30 Sep 2024 MSNArchive of the Conceptual Art of Odesa in the 1980s
The research project turns to the beginning of 1980s, when conceptual art circle emerged in Odesa, Ukraine. Artists worked independently and in collaborations creating the first examples of performances, paradoxical objects and drawings.
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24 Aug 2024 –30 Aug Moderna galerijaZRC SAZUSummer School: Our Many Easts
Our Many Easts summer school is organised by Moderna galerija in Ljubljana in partnership with ZRC SAZU (the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts) as part of the L’Internationale project Museum of the Commons.
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10 Feb 2024 –1 Apr MACBACançó per a molts moviments. Escenaris de creació col·lectiva
Un experiment efímer en què la planta baixa del museu es converteix en escenari de trobades, converses i escoltes compartides.
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4 Feb 2024 –10 Mar MSU ZagrebVan AbbemuseumModerna galerijaZRC SAZUOpen Call – School of Common Knowledge
MSU (Zagreb), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), MG+MSUM (Ljubljana), ZRC SAZU (Ljubljana) and L'Internationale invite applications for the new School of Common Knowledge (SCK) to be held in Zagreb and Ljubljana 24–29 May 2024. The School of Common Knowledge draws on the network, knowledge and experience of the L’Internationale museum confederation. Its ambition is to be both nomadic and situated, looking at specific cultural and geopolitical situations while exploring their relations and interdependencies with the rest of the world. The SCK is built on the basis laid by the Glossary of Common Knowledge project initiated by Zdenka Badovinac and Moderna galerija (Ljubljana) and continues its co-learning methodology.
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24 May 2024 –30 May MSU ZagrebVan AbbemuseumModerna galerijaZRC SAZUSchool of Common Knowledge
School of Common Knowledge draws on the network, knowledge and experience of the L’Internationale museum confederation. Built on the basis laid by the Glossary of Common Knowledge, a project initiated by Zdenka Badovinac and Moderna Galerija in Ljubljana, it continues its co-learning methodology. Its ambition is to be both nomadic and situated, looking at specific cultural and geopolitical situations while exploring their relations and interdependencies with the rest of the world.
Related contributions and publications
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Troubles with the East(s)
Bojana Piškur22 Jan 2024 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyPast in the Present -
…and the Earth along. Tales about the making, remaking and unmaking of the world.
Martin Pogačar14 Nov 2023 ... and the Earth alongClimatePast in the Present -
The Kitchen, an Introduction to Subversive Film with Nick Aikens, Reem Shilleh and Mohanad Yaqubi
Nick Aikens, Subversive Film13 Jul 2023 lumbungPast in the PresentVan Abbemuseum -
The Repressive Tendency within the European Public Sphere
Ovidiu Ţichindeleanu6 Dec 2023 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyPast in the Present -
Right now, today, we must say that Palestine is the centre of the world
Françoise Vergès21 Dec 2023 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyPast in the Present -
Body Counts, Balancing Acts and the Performativity of Statements
Mick Wilson20 Dec 2023 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyPast in the Present -
Until Liberation I: Learning Palestine
Learning Palestine Group8 Dec 2023 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyPast in the Present -
Until Liberation II: Learning Palestine
Learning Palestine Group12 Jan 2024 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyPast in the Present -
Performances from the opening of The Heritage of 1989. Case Study: The Second Yugoslav Documents Exhibition
Jusuf Hadžifejzović, Azra Akšamija, Ilija Šoškić27 Apr 2017 DialoguesModerna galerija -
Epistemologies of the South
Zdenka Badovinac, Jesús Carrillo, Patrick Flores25 Jan 2017 DialoguesModerna galerija -
The Veil of Peace
Ovidiu Ţichindeleanu31 Oct 2023 Past in the Presenttranzit.ro -
Art at Work – At the Crossroads between Utopianism and (In)Dependence
2022 Moderna galerija -
Realize! Resist! React! – Performance and Politics in the 1990s in the Post-Yugoslav Context
2021 Moderna galerija -
»We should never abandon the possibility of our active presence«
Zdenka Badovinac, Ieva Astahovska, Bermet Borubaeva, Darja Filippova, Nika Ham, Dorota Michalska, Radek Przedpełski, Ekaterina Vorontsova21 May 2021 Moderna galerija -
Our Movements Are Loud
Bridge Radio10 May 2021 Moderna galerijaHDK-Valand -
Tuning, Bias, and the Wild Beyond
Nora Akawi, Khyam Allami10 May 2021 Moderna galerijaHDK-Valand -
Editorial: Towards Collective Study in Times of Emergency
L’Internationale Online Editorial Board29 Nov 2023 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyStatements and editorialsPast in the PresentEN es sl tr ar -
Newsreel 65 – “We have too much things in heart…”
2021 Moderna galerija -
The Heritage of 1989. Case Study: The Second Yugoslav Documents Exhibition
2017 Moderna galerija -
From Kapital to Capital. Neue Slowenische Kunst – an Event of the Final Decade of Yugoslavia
2015 Moderna galerija -
Song for Many Movements. Opening Performance Live on Radio Alhara
Jokkoo with/con Miramizu, Rasheed Jalloul & Sabine Salamé23 Feb 2024 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencySonic CommonsPast in the PresentMACBAEN es -
Museums under Political Control
Workers from Moderna galerija28 Feb 2022 Moderna galerija -
We Have Been Here Forever. Palestinian Poets Write Back
Rana Issa4 Mar 2024 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyPast in the Present -
Indra's Web
Vandana Singh1 Mar 2024 ... and the Earth alongPast in the PresentClimateZRC SAZU -
Diary of a Crossing
Baqiya and Yu’ad27 Mar 2024 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyPast in the Present -
The Silence Has Been Unfolding For Too Long
The Free Palestine Initiative Croatia11 Apr 2024 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyPast in the PresentSituated OrganizationsInstitute of Radical ImaginationMSU Zagreb -
Everything will stay the same if we don’t speak up
L’Internationale Confederation17 Apr 2024 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencyStatements and editorialsPast in the PresentSituated Organizations -
Reading list: School of Common Knowledge 2024
School of Common Knowledge21 May 2024 School of Common KnowledgeSituated OrganizationsMSU ZagrebModerna galerijaZRC SAZU -
War, Peace and Image Politics: Part 1, Who Has a Right to These Images?
Jelena Vesić14 May 2024 Past in the PresentZRC SAZU -
Live set: A Love Letter to the Global Intifada
Precolombian13 Jun 2024 Towards Collective Study in Times of EmergencySonic CommonsPast in the PresentMACBAEN es -
Dispatch: In between the lessons. Staying together in uncertain times, laughing in the face of trouble, and disobeying; the future belongs to us
Antonela Solenički19 Jun 2024 School of Common KnowledgeSituated OrganizationsMSU ZagrebModerna galerijaZRC SAZU -
Dispatch: The Commonsverse and Situated Organisations – or why the era of big institutions will come to an end
Denise Pollini19 Jun 2024 School of Common KnowledgeSituated OrganizationsMSU ZagrebModerna galerijaZRC SAZU -
Dispatch: A Buriti Tree
Lucas Pretti10 Jul 2024 School of Common KnowledgeMSU ZagrebModerna galerijaZRC SAZUSituated Organizations -
Cultivating Abundance
Åsa Sonjasdotter28 Jun 2024 The Climate ForumClimatePast in the PresentHDK-Valand -
Dispatch: To whom it may concern – the voice of the censor and re-calibrating words as an act of survival
Anonymous27 Jun 2024 School of Common KnowledgeSituated OrganizationsMSU ZagrebModerna galerijaZRC SAZU -
Rethinking Comradeship from a Feminist Position
Leonida Kovač18 Jul 2024 School of Common KnowledgeSituated OrganizationsMSU ZagrebModerna galerijaZRC SAZU -
Reading list - Summer School: Our Many Easts
Summer School - Our Many Easts6 Sep 2024 Past in the PresentModerna galerija