Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies

Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
centred on the current Austrian perception of the identities of inhabitants of the Balkans.
The second presenter in the panel was Jaka Primorac from the Institute for International
Relations with a paper entitled “Culture of hits vs. culture of niches – cultural industries
and processes of cultural identification in Croatia” where she highlighted the emergence
of two cultures that are influencing the development of new identitarian models that
are becoming more dominant in Croatia. By giving an analysis of the selected data on
cultural consumption and cultural production she outlined how, on the one hand, there
is a strong influence from global cultural industry in Croatia (that is also present in the
region) but, on the other hand, there are opportunities that are offered by the culture
of niches. The following presenter was Maja Breznik from the Peace Institute with a
paper entitled “Cultural identities from the bottom up – labour relations perspective”
where she approached the re-questioning of cultural identities from the perspective of
labour relations taking ‘artists’ and ‘authors’, that is, the ‘creative class’ as the subject of
her examination. The main focus of the presentation dealt with the identity of cultural
workers due to their present precarious labour relations and the ever-present reduction
of their labour rights. In the next presentation entitled “From productivity to creativity
– the role of art collectives in solving the contradictions of the transitional period”, guest
speaker Sezgin Boynik from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, brought collective
and collaborational art practices to the attention of the panel. He analysed how the
ideological implications of collective art practices in the post-Yugoslav states relate
to the conception of socialist self-management and the transition from socialism to
capitalism. In his analysis he gave examples of several collective art practices, mainly
from Croatia. After the presentations a short discussion followed where the audience
asked for clarification of selected historical data relating to certain issues of Austrian
influence in the region, and of definitions of the Southeast European/Balkan region.
The need for more refined explanation of the influence of global cultural industry on the
culture in the region of Southeastern Europe was also stressed, which was related to the
second presentation in the panel.
The second panel of the conference was devoted to “Visual and performative reconstruction
of identities” and was chaired by Andrea Komlosy. The first presentation was
delivered by Milena Dragićević Šešić from the University of Arts in Belgrade, on the topic
of the “Cultural policies, identities and monument building in Southeastern Europe”.
Dragićević-Šešić dealt with the politics of memory, with its structures of remembering,
repressing and forgetting as forms of ‘predatory nationalism’ (Appadurai), through
the public cultural and educational system. By analysing a number of performances,
installations and exhibitions she outlined a hypothesis that the public arts in Belgrade
throughout the 1990s had an ambiguous and ambivalent role that depended on the
organizers’ and/or producers’ intentions. In the presentation she focused on those aspects
of public arts that questioned the official policy of remembrance and representation, and
turned instead to a new official urban policy suggesting a concept for public space as space
for entertainment and consumption. The next presenter was Aldo Milohnić from the
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