Remembering (In)Correctly? Individual and Collective Memories in Times of Crisis

public talk

Language: English

Duration: 60 min

15 Oct, 19:00

Ob Aus Luft

Moderator: Andrei Zavadski
Speakers: Maria Stepanova, Olga Bubich, Marina Davydova

There is no correct or incorrect way to remember. But we are constantly being disciplined into particular ways of recollecting: by memory politics, media discourse, our families, our surroundings, our own changing ideas of ourselves, and so on. During crises — and wars as an extreme manifestation thereof — such disciplining becomes even more pronounced. We constantly feel we should rethink our memories, reconceptualize them, adjust them somehow. We are made to believe that there is a correct way to remember. The idea behind the suggested topic is to question this and to discuss ways to negotiate our different identities and memories actualized under extreme conditions.

Born in Belarus, Zavadski holds a BA in regional studies from Moscow State University of International Relations / MGIMO-University (2009), a dual MA in public history from Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences and Manchester University (2014), and a PhD in media and communication studies from Freie Universität Berlin (2020). He is currently a research associate at TU Dortmund University and an associate member of the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. His research is situated at intersections of memory studies, public history, museum studies, and media studies. It focuses on memory in Eastern Europe, memory museums, and digital memories.

Dr ANDREI ZAVADSKI
researcher, writer

Born in Moscow, Stepanova is an internationally acclaimed Russian poet and novelist. Her poetry has had a profound influence on contemporary Russian literature. She is considered to have repopularized the traditional ballad as a poetic genre. Her works have been translated into English, Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, German, Finnish, French, and other languages. She was awarded the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in 2022.

MARIA STEPANOVA
poet

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in an Armenian-Russian family, she graduated in 1988 from the department of theatre criticism at the Russian Academy of Theater Arts. For many years, Davydova wrote theater reviews for Izvestia, one of the oldest Russian newspapers, and was the editor-in-chief of TEATR magazine. As an author, she published two monographs analyzing the last twenty years of the history of Russian theater. Marina has received numerous awards for theater criticism and won the Stanislavsky Award for the best book of the year in 2005. Additionally, she regularly publishes articles in the German magazine Theater heute. Davydova is one of the initiators of the NET festival (New European Theatre) in Moscow, founded in 1998, and served as its artistic director for 23 years. In 2016, Markus Hinterhäuser engaged her as a curator for the drama programme of the Wiener Festwochen. Beginning in the 2024 season, she will be the director of drama at the Salzburger Festspiele. As an open opponent of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Marina Davydova lives in exile in Berlin.

MARINA DAVYDOVA
theatre critic, director and playwright

Born in Minsk, Olga is the author of three photobooks and more than 300 essays, reviews and interviews. Since 2014 she has been a team member of "The Month of Photography in Minsk'' - the only independent photography festival in the country. As an art critic, Olga addresses a wide range of topics, including the art and culture sphere in Belarus, the role of photography and art in preserving memories, freedom of expression, and LGBTQ+ visibility. The project "The Art of (Not) Forgetting", conceived in February 2021, reflects a desire to capture the memories of people who are currently surviving a harsh and traumatic historical period. Now Olga is based in Berlin as an ICORN Fellow.

OLGA BUBICH
art critic, photographer, writer