Expert Talks vol: 2 / Curating the End-Game: Pain, Guilt and a Triumph of Empathy

Our next Expert Talks are here. The public program at the Hyperspace Social Tech Hub in Sofia will include conversations under the general objective of ‘Co-Producing Common Space and Shaping Formations of Solidarity in the Western Balkans and beyond’. The title of this session is Curating the End-Game: Pain, Guilt and a Triumph of Empathy.

We know for a fact that there is always a war somewhere in the world today. The war in Europe is raging. The WW3 has not started yet. Thank God for that! There have been short, long, hybrid, and even 100-years-long wars. Wars end at some point. Wars tend to end when the blood spilled is choking humanity. Often the perpetrators of war though are left unpunished. The victims are often not honored. We are in an “end-game” situation for the last empire of the 20th century. 

We should plan for the world after. We should make sure that when the perpetrators are held to account, and the victims are honored, there are still humans around. We should work towards a Triumph of Empathy. How is this possible, if at all, with art as a tool? 

Curators/Experts:

Snejana Krasteva / In the service of time / Friday, December 2nd, 2022. 6.30 pm

Sonja Lau Abraham / Art and the Legal System from a feminist point of view / Friday, December 2nd, 2022. 7.30 pm

Inke Arns / Unlocking Empathy 2.0 / On History, Media, and Art / Saturday, December 3rd, 2022. 6.00 pm 

Elma Hodžić / How do we tell stories of conflict? How do we construct post-conflict reality / On-line talks, TBA

The Expert Talks are part of the evolving, multidimensional, across the borders activities organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art - Sofia as a partner in the Western Balkans Project of Manifesta 14, the nomadic biennial of contemporary art which was held in Prishtina, Kosovo (July 22 – October 30, 2022). Loosely described as “visual talks”, these will encompass theoretical, visual and critical “voices”, off and on-line contributions, as well as panel discussions by contributors from the region and beyond.

The Manifesta 14 Western Balkans Project is co-funded by the European Union.

More details: here

Hyperspace Social Tech Hub is the new place for meetings and events in the center of Sofia, created by the technological WordPress hosting company @wpx.net. The common direction of WPX and Hyperspace is to bring together the IT sector and creative industries to share new knowledge and creative energy. The program of Hyperspace will include various formats: from seminars, lectures and debates, to workshops, exhibitions and visual experiments.