Imagining Central Europe

“Imagining Central Europe. (Re-)Shaping a Geopolitical Concept in Literature, Visual Arts, and Popular Culture” is a three-day international conference, held at the University of Vienna on 23-25 September 2024. It aims to critically continue the discourse on Central Europe in the cultural sciences and the humanities. At the same time, the conference updates it by addressing current media and political transformation processes from an explicitly interdisciplinary perspective. In five panel sessions with speakers from diverse fields of Central European Cultural and Media Studies we will explore old and new perspectives in the studies of Central European arts, culture, and media. The conference will establish new scientific networks and thus breathe new life into a discourse that some have long since declared to be closed.

The conference will start with a keynote lecture by Prof. (em.) Dr. Dr. h.c. Aleida Assmann in room HS21 in the main building of the University of Vienna. After the keynote lecture, the conference will proceed at the Marietta-Blau-Saal also in the main building of the Univ. of Vienna.

There will be a diverse social programme, which all registered participants will have access to. It includes cultural events, such as a City Drift that will bring the participants closer to the ‘Central Europeanness’ of the host city. In the Central European Culture Salon, we will bring together scholars, artists, editors, and bloggers whose work is centered geographically and thematically in Central Europe. During this public event experts will discuss current tendencies and challenges in the cultural and scientific sectors of Central European countries and the possibilities of cooperation with a public audience. On the last day of our conference, we will organize an Open Space Workshop during which we will wrap-up the results of the conference and create a foundation for future scientific cooperation.

Find more information on our centraleurope.univie.ac.at.