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Call for papers - Art and PoliticsFrom: David Crowley ART AND POLITICS: CASE-STUDIES FROM EASTERN EUROPE Art Institute Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas, Lithuania October 26-27, 2006 Political art, art as a tool of power and a hostage of authority - these questions are hard to escape when researching Eastern European culture. The 20th century turned this region into a laboratory of social engineering and political experiments where boundaries of artistic practices have been tested too. Here one can easily find the most radical examples of cultural production that flirts between art and politics, the magic and failure of avant-garde utopia, the sharpest conflicts between ethics and aesthetics. Thus contexts of art practices as well as political contents of artistic strategies (rather than pure stylistic qualities and artistic values) are under consideration in recent studies of Eastern Europe art history. An objective of the conference is to bring together different case studies on art and politics in order to analyse a complex relationship between artistic and political regimes as well as political meanings of art in Soviet and Post-Soviet conditions. Participants are invited to consider the following topics: * Subversions of political art in non-democratic state * Cultural policy and culture as resistance * In search of panacea: resistance, transgression, appropriation * Critique of representation and creating of new myths * Aesthetical norms and/or national style * Self identities [autobiography, body, individual mythologies] in the sidelines of regime * Ideological art and artistic ideologies. Participants are requested to submit their papers in the form of case studies using a particular artifact, event or phenomena as a ground for research of a broader problem focused on the varied intersections of art and politics. Presentations will be limited to 20 minutes. A publication of conference proceedings is also planned. Abstracts (250-300 words) accompanied with short CV should be sent to the address below by April 20, 2006. Accepted papers will be notified by May 2, 2006. Conference organiser: Art Institute, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania Academic Referees: Assoc. prof. Rasa Zukien_ (Art Institute, VDU, Kaunas) Prof. Egidijus Aleksandravicius (VDU, Kaunas) Prof. Vojtech Lahoda (Institute of Art History, Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, Prague) Prof. Piotr Piotrowski (Institute of Art History, A. Mickiewicz University, Poznan) Coordinators: Linara Dovydaityte, dr. Jurate Tutlyte. Art Institute Vytautas Magnus University Laisves ave. 53-405 LT-44309 Kaunas Lithuania E-mail: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]