Theatre after 1989 in East and Central Europe, International Conference

27-28 November 2009

Brussels, Belgium

Call for Papers – submissions required by 24 April 2009. Send all submissions and inquires to sflock@ulb.ac.be.

1989 was a great turn in the history of East Central Europe. Twenty years after the fall of Berlin’s wall, the Centre for Czech Studies of Brussels Free University has chosen to investigate on the post-1989 period and to focus its reflection on performing arts. The conference will be held on the symbolic date of 27th and 28th November to commemorate the success of the Velvet Revolution. During those two days, we will propose to question historically and artistically the post-1989 period and the perspectives of the new stage in East Central Europe. Speakers will not only be historians and theatrologs, but also artists. The aims of this gathering are to examine 1989 insisting on differences and similarities in East Central European theatre, encompassing all generations, as well as to define its very new characteristics.

Theatre was a big protester in the soviet socialist society and played a key role in the new geopolitical reality of most East Central European countries. Nevertheless, after 1989, theatre ceased to be a bastion of political and intellectual resistance. The nations gradually transformed into democratic regimes and entered logic of market economy. Economic liberalism did not fail to extend itself to the cultural sphere. Theatres then cruelly suffered from a lack of financial support or just indulged in entertainment to the detriment of artistic reflection. The former protagonists of the renewal were disorientated at the changes society had undergone. The conference will attempt to debrief the artists’ reactions in the transition’s years and to analyze the reception of their works by the audience.

The last main line of the conference will focus on the new generation, directors, playwrights and dramaturges who were only children or teenagers in 1989. What does this date mean in their artistic development? Is their questioning similar in Central Europe and the Balkans? Is there any direct filiation between the old and the new generations?

The contributors are invited to present in French or in English a 250-word draft and a 100‑word biographical note and send it to sflock@ulb.ac.be before the 24th April 2009.

Organisation

Sarah FLOCK, FNRS research follower, Free University of Brussels

Jan RUBEŠ, Centre of Czech Studies’ Director, Free University of Brussels

Should you have any further questions, please contact Sarah Flock
sflock@ulb.ac.be

Sarah Flock

Aspirante du FRS-FNRS
Centre d’études tchèques
ULB CP 180
Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50
1050 Bruxelles
T: +32(0)2 650 47 49
www.ulb.ac.be/philo/cet
www.ulb.ac.be/philo/slavistique