Six Stalin Cities, exhibition and seminar in Budapest

[anna balint]

Six Stalin Cities (March 10 - 31)
A Special seminar in the Galeria Centralis
Organized by CAC in cooperation with the Open Society Archives 
(http:// www.osa.ceu.hu), The Red House - Centre for Culture and Debate, 
Sofia (http://www.redhouse-sofia.org), and the New Europe College, 
Bucharest (http://library.nec.ro).

Preliminaries

The CAC initiates (special) courses that promote critical approach and 
analysis, and which enable multidisciplinary examination with the 
participation of CEU students, faculty and some external experts. Based on 
the agreement between the Open Society Archives (OSA) and CAC, a series of 
special seminars and discussions will be linked to each actual exhibition 
presented at the Galeria Centralis from March 2004 onwards. The aim is to 
contextualize the exhibitions by reflecting on the displays from the point of 
view of the social sciences, humanities and arts; to analyze and understand 
better the displayed materials and their socio-cultural contexts (traditions, 
heritages, environments, experiences etc.); and to discuss related but more 
general topics inspired by the collection.

The First Seminar-Series
The first "experimental seminar-series" is connected to the Six Stalin 
Cities-exhibition. According to the exhibit-description, provided by the OSA, 
"The exhibition is intended to give a comprehensive overview of the Eastern 
European cities which, mainly after 1949, were named after J.V. Stalin: 
Katowice, Eisenhüttenstadt, Dunaújváros, Brasov, Varna and Stalingrad, the 
latter named after the generalissimo as early as the 1920s. The fifties saw 
major construction work in both the newly created and the renamed Stalin 
Cities. The photos, documents and plans presented in the exhibition show the 
most important buildings, indoor and outdoor settings of the cities (re)
designed in that period." 
For more details: http://www.osa.ceu.hu/galeria/catalogue/2004/ stalingrad/

The "Six Cites" are, thus, displayed in a documentary format, and the 
thematic collection shows that how "egalitarian" plans were put into 
practice, how the Communist vision and ideology determined everyday-life, and 
what is the so-called socialist-realist architecture is all about. Having 
this assemblage of a distinctive urban planning and its realization, the 
special seminar will focus both on the "socialist" and "post-socialist" 
conditions of cities in general, and of these cities in particular. The city 
will be approached from different disciplinary and methodological points of 
view - from sociology, social psychology, architecture, urban history, art 
history and theory - by experts from these fields.

Format and Program
The seminar is designed as a series of seminars delivered by invited experts 
from various fields. Their lectures are combined with discussions which is 
both open for CEU students and faculty, and to the interested audience.

Schedule of Presentations

March 10-12 (Presentations 1-3.)

Cultural Memory & Built Environment in Post-socialist Central and Eastern 
Europe. Reflections from Bulgaria
Lecturer: Svetla I. Kazalarska
(Department of Cultural Studies, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ochridski" 
(Bulgaria)
Time: 11. a.m. - 13. p.m.

March 18-19 (Presentations 4-6.)
The Construction of Consumer Identity in Public Space. Visual Interface of 
the Post-socialist City
Lecturer: Luchezar Boyadjiev
(Centre International d'Accueil et d'Echanges des Recollets, Paris; Sofia)
Time: 11 a.m. - 13 p.m.

March 22-24 (Presentations 7-9.)
Ways of Reconstruction: The Socialist and Post-socialist City from an 
Archivist's Point of View
Lecturer: Bogdan-Florin Popovici
(Brasov County Division of National Archives, Romania)
Time: 11 a.m. - 13 p.m.

March 25-26 (Presentations 10-13.)
Cities in Transition: Romania as Seen from a Theoretical and Practical Point 
of View
Lecturers: Anca Ginavar and Vera Marin
("Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urban Planning, Bucharest)
Time: 10 a.m. - 13 p.m.

March 29-31 (Presentations 14-16.)
The Socialistic District of Block of Flats - the State Social Project and the 
Everyday Life. Ethnosociology of the City
Lecturer: Meglena Zlatkova
(Department of Ethnology and Sociology, University of Plovdiv "Paisii 
Hilendarsky")
Time: 11 a.m. - 13 p.m.