Central Eastern European (CEE) UK-based artists often find themselves underrepresented in their participation in local and national cultural events.
At the next Wednesday canvass, we will be joined by a panel of artists, curators, and researchers who are actively involved in the debate on the position of CEE artists and art practitioners in the UK. The panel will be discussing their experience in contributing, relating and practicing forms of inclusion and representation in the art economy in the UK.
We aim to answer some of the urgent questions that emerge from those cultural practices:
– How does their background relate to their art practice?
– What are their experiences in the art economy in the UK?
– What do they see as their role in promoting CEE art or culture – and is there a difference between the two?
Our guests:
Patrycja Godula – a curator and, together with Iga Bozyk, a funder of Polish Contemporary Art Organisation (PCAO) from Edinburgh, Scotland. PCAO is a platform dedicated to promoting and exhibiting works by Polish contemporary artists at various stages in their careers and a non-profit initiative that aims to present thought-provoking mixed-media art to the Scottish as well as international public. It is also devoted to creating a common ground for artists to develop international networking and business opportunities with other likeminded individuals and institutions.
Dr Jakub Ceglarz – an artist and academic researcher working at the University of Birmingham and Birmingham School of Art (Birmingham City University). His current research titled ‘In-between Spaces: Inclusion and Representation of Central and Eastern European (CEE) artists in the UK creative economy is a collaborative project (University of Birmingham and Polish Expats Assoc) that explores often unrecognised space that CEE artists occupy in relation to the diverse spectrum of practitioners in the UK. This has a material effect on the development opportunities that those artists face and with it brings a sense of social and professional exclusion among members of CEE community. The impact of such exclusion can be seen in the fact that CEE migrants living and working in the UK are at higher risk of being affected by homelessness, modern day slavery, and hard-right radicalisation.
Prof Sara Jones – a Professor of Modern Languages at the University of Birmingham Her research looks at the ways in which state socialism is remembered in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in Germany and Romania. Her current project, Testimony in Practice (supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council – AHRC), explores the ways in which telling life stories through art can have a social, cultural and political impact. She is working with the theatre company La Conquesta del Pol Sud and the Romanian and German novelist Carmen-Francesca Banciu to produce a play about Banciu’s life as a dissident in Ceausescu’s Romania.
This event is a collaboration between the two current research projects; “In-between Spaces: Inclusion and Representation of Central and Eastern European (CEE) Artists in the UK” (M4C Creative Economy Engagement Fellowship, University of Birmingham) and “Towards a Diasporic Postsocialism “(The Leverhulme Trust , University of Warwick).
**Please note that the discussion will be audio recorded for research purposes – please speak to the organisers if you have any questions or if you’d prefer not to be recorded.**