In 1997 Bulgarian scholar Maria Todorova convincingly and innovatively illustrated the mechanisms through which the European eye had always “imagined the Balkans.” What happens, however, when it is the Balkans who imagine themselves, tracing back-often selectively-their past in order to construct the present? Journalist Marina Lalović and writer Elvira Mujčić in conversation with Martina Napolitano will reflect on the role of memory in Balkan artistic production in recent years, the impact that the wars of the 1990s still have on the social and cultural consciousness of these countries, and how cultural production manages to hold together the past and the present, that is, how motifs and themes related to that period are intertwined with current existential urgencies. A special look will also be taken at the artistic production of those who come from the Balkans, tell about the Balkans, but live in a country and, often, in an adopted language, to try to understand what kind of imaginary is constructed when we stand at a certain distance.
The meeting, moderated by Martina Napolitano (University of Trieste; president of Meridiano 13), will feature Serbian-born journalist Marina Lalović and Bosnian-born writer Elvira Mujčić.
Free entrance
