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Overcoming Dictatorships Round-table Discussion (8 Oct., 6.30 p.m.) at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (admission free, no booking necessary) Exhibition (9 October – 9 November 2008, weekdays, 10-5, free) and conference (9 October 2008, 9-4), Aston Webb Building, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK What has happened to the art since the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989? How do artists respond to the political, social and economic changes? 17 works by 10 artists from across the EU give us an insight into processes of mourning, remembering and overcoming the past. This exhibition will be opened by a conference exploring the roles of the visual in overcoming dictatorships (for more information, see http://overcomings.blogspot.com/ <http://overcomings.blogspot.com/> ). The conference will be preceded by a round-table discussion with artists participating in the Overcoming Dictatorships exhibition. Chaired by the off-site curator of the Ikon Gallery Helen Legg, it will focus on up and coming contemporary art groups in post-Communist countries and draw parallels with the situation immediately after 1989, when the former underground art replaced the official. The exhibition, conference and round-table discussion are part of the EU-funded project ‘Overcoming Dictatorships – the Encounter of Poets, Artists and Writers’ (principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerhard Besier, Professor of European Studies, Technische Universität, Dresden). Artists participating in the exhibition: Zbynĕk Benýšek - Zbigniew Czop - Mirela Dauceanu - Ulf Göpfert - Harald Hauswald - Silvestro Lodi - Vlad Nancă - Sándor Pinczehelyi - Michele Zaggia - Aleksander Zyśko. Dr. Jutta Vinzent (co-investigator in the EU project and co-convener of the conference) Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art , School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music, College of Arts and Law , The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Birmingham , GB-B15 2TS Email: [log in to unmask] tel.: 0044 - (0)121-414 3259 fax.: 0044-(0)121-2727