May 28, 2025, 11:00-12:30 Romania and Moldova time (10:00-11:30 CET) | Online | English language (with possibility of automatic translation in the desired language, as subtitles)
Formare Culturala from Romania invites cultural practitioners, art professionals, researchers, representatives of cultural organizations and heritage institutions from Romania and the Republic of Moldova to participate in the first virtual round table within the “Nordic Insights: Addressing cancel culture in public spaces through artistic dialogue and cultural innovation” project.
International experts and practitioners are also invited to participate, if interested in the themes of the project.
“Contesting the Past in Public Spaces: Memory Politics and Monument Controversies”
The first virtual round table will bring together Nordic and Eastern European experts to explore comparative approaches regarding controversial monuments in public space. The event will facilitate a structured dialogue about the role of art in representing history and memory, as well as innovative artistic methodologies for recontextualizing problematic monuments.
Important: The event will be conducted in English, with the possibility of subtitles in the language desired by participants.
Invited experts
The round table will be facilitated by Niels Righolt – cultural developer, CEO of Centre for Kunst og Interkultur (CKI), Denmark, specialist in cultural democracy, audience development and intercultural dialogue.
The discussion will include presentations by experts.
Format
The event will follow the following structure:
- Introduction to the topic by Niels Righolt
- Presentation about contested monuments in Nordic countries by Hanna Granlund
- Presentation about the sociology of memory and the politics of public space by Cezar Buiumaci
- Break
- Plenary discussion facilitated by Niels Righolt
The session will include participants from Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Nordic countries, who will have the opportunity to address specific questions and contextualize the discussion with their local situations.
Themes
- Memory, representation and contested monuments: exploring how public art becomes controversial when historical narratives are contested by different communities or when contemporary values conflict with representations from the past
- Institutional responses to contested heritage: examining how cultural institutions, municipalities and governments manage controversies related to public monuments
- Violence, trauma and memorial practices: analyzing how traumatic historical events are memorialized in public spaces
- “Grassroots” actions and institutional changes: exploring how activist interventions and community initiatives contest official narratives embedded in public monuments and determine institutional responses
Benefits for participants
- Access to the expertise of Nordic specialists in public art and monument recontextualization
- The opportunity to contribute to the development of an action plan for addressing controversial monuments in Romania and the Republic of Moldova
- Connecting with professionals interested in the intersection between public art, cultural memory and contemporary values
- Educational resources and relevant case studies
Who can participate?
We invite to participate:
- Representatives of cultural and heritage institutions
- Artists and curators interested in art in public space
- Architects and urban planners
- Researchers in the field of history, cultural memory and heritage studies
- Representatives of cultural NGOs
- Professionals from local public administration involved in managing public spaces
- Students and faculty from relevant fields
How to register
To participate in this virtual round table, please complete the registration form here by May 27, 2025. Participation is free thanks to the project funder. The number of participants is limited to facilitate an in-depth and interactive discussion.
Contact
For additional information, please contact: Oana Nasui Project Manager Email: [email protected]
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The “Nordic Insights: addressing cancel culture in public spaces through artistic dialogue and cultural innovation” project is implemented by the Formare Culturala platform from Romania. It is funded by the Nordic Culture Fund through the Globus Opstart+ program, which supports artistic and cultural projects that connect Nordic countries with other regions of the world, encouraging long-term collaborations and networks that promote artistic development and experimentation.
Formare Culturala is a private resource platform for cultural and creative industries in Romania initiated in 2012 that produces cultural debates, trainings, cultural networking sessions and knowledge transfer projects in the creative and interdisciplinary sector.
Center for Kunst og Interkultur (CKI) is a Danish organization dedicated to audience development, promoting interculturality and supporting cultural democracy. The organization’s fundamental values are based on the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions.
Intercult is an independent production and resource organization based in Stockholm, operating in Sweden and Europe since 1996 as an initiator of collaborative cultural projects and developer of intercultural competences. The organization functions as a European Resource Center for Culture.
