Gesamtkunstwerk Counter-Revolution Event

Vasyl Cherepanyn
Gesamtkunstwerk Counter-Revolution
Lecture Series, Summer 2019

In his lecture, Vasyl Cherepanyn will analyze the cultural and political context in Europe with regards to democracy affected by populism, the potential of political solidarity and the threat of the extreme right, arguing that the future of a united Europe is at stake for the left today. The presentation also focuses on the functioning of public institutions under the conditions of war in Ukraine, where radical attitudes and hostility have continued to increase, and hate speech has spread on both national and international levels, connecting symbolic and real violence to their influence on cultural processes. What actions need to be taken to reclaim democracy in a time when it became a fetish to cover the political alternative? How do ideological polarizations in contemporary societies affect the way the artistic field operates? Instead of speculating about what art and culture can bring to politics, it’s the artists themselves who must proclaim – where art fails only politics can help?

Vasyl Cherepanyn is Head of the Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC, Kyiv) and a lecturer at the Cultural Studies Department of the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He has been lecturing at European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), University of Helsinki, Free University of Berlin, Merz Akademie in Stuttgart, Masaryk University in Brno, Institute for Advanced Studies of the “Political Critique” in Warsaw, Greifswald University. He was a visiting fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He recently co-edited Guidebook of the Kyiv International (Medusa Books, 2018) and ‘68 NOW (Archive Books, 2019) and curated The European International and Hybrid Peace projects. VCRC is the organizer of The School of Kyiv – Kyiv Biennial 2015 and The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017. VCRC has received the European Cultural Foundation’s Princess Margriet Award for Culture in 2015, and the Igor Zabel Award Grant for Culture and Theory 2018.

SEMINAR ROOM 1, BUILDING 9.2
INSTITUT FÜR KUNSTGESCHICHTE, UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA
UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, HOF 9
GARNISONGASSE 13, 1090 VIENNA

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC