Solidarity / Solidarities: A conference hosted by the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies
5-6 June, 2009. As part of CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION 1989 – 2009, a series of events celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 1989 democratic transformation in Europe, the conference Solidarity / Solidarities will be organized at UCL SSEES. For full programme of the conference please click here.
Over the course of 1989, from June to November, and on into 1990, the cold-war status quo was radically brought to an end by a series of revolutions and political transformations that swept across Central and Eastern Europe. From the shipyards of Gdansk, via Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and Prague’s Wenceslaus Square, to the boulevards of Bucharest, the ‘people’s democracies’ of the region were brought face to face with the democratic will of their own people on their own city streets and squares.
Children of the Revolution 1989 – 2009 is a series of events taking place this year in London, twenty years on, examining these revolutionary happenings and their legacy. This conference, the inaugural event of the Children of the Revolution Season, will engage with the historical moment of Solidarity and other oppositional movements in Central and Eastern Europe, with a view to reassessing the concept of ‘solidarity’ both in its theoretical dimensions and in its relevance for political action today.
Confirmed Speakers include: Neal Ascherson, Jon Beasley-Murray (University of British Columbia), David Crowley (Royal College of Art, London), Ben Lewis (BLTV) Călin-Andrei Mihăilescu (University of Western Ontario), Stanisław Obirek (Lódz University), David Ost (Hobart and William Smith Colleges), Laszlo Rajk (Koztigon Architects' Studio Ltd), Andrzej Rychard (Polish Academy of Science), Jan Urban (New York University, Prague), Sławomir Sierakowski (Krytyka Polityczna / Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Warsaw), Jan Sowa (Ha!art Corporation / Jagiellonian University), Aneta Szylak (Goldsmiths College / Wyspa Institute of Art) Andrej Ujica (ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe), Gediminas Urbonas (Lithuanian Artist, Associate Professor, Visual Arts Program M.I.T., Cambridge, U.S.A.)
Ticket Prices: £35 for 1 day, £50 for 2 days inclusive of refreshments & admission to evening receptions at University College London and the Romanian Cultural Institute. Free admission to UCL staff & students, but registration is essential.
To register, or for further information, visit:
http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/solidarityconf.htm
SOLIDARITY/Solidarities is organised in partnership with EUNIC-London, and is supported by the European Commission Representation in the UK, Polska! Year, and the M.B. Grabowski Fund.
Friday 5 & Saturday 6 June 2009, Christopher Ingold Chemistry Lecture Theatre, Christopher Ingold Building, Gordon Street, London WC1 6BT
