22 research outputs found
Visualising the EU: the Central and East European Enlargement Experience
Starting with an analysis of the recent launch of EUTube, this article poses a number of different
questions about the EU’s visibility, particularly from a Central and East European
perspective. Arguing against the more commonly held belief that the EU’s visibility is on
the decline, the article showcases a number of alternative examples of visibility whereby
other actors, coming from the publicity world, critically engage with problems surrounding
the EU such as discrimination, the work-visa regime, the EU Constitution and the CAP
reforms. Focusing on the Polish Plumber campaign in France and Poland as well as the
Bucegi and Ursus beer campaigns in post-enlargement Romania, the article argues that
such campaigns could and should play an important role in expanding the visual horizon
of the EU and opening the door to other ‘legitimate’ authors of ‘text’ and ‘images’ pertaining
to the EU
Shock, Therapy, and Postcommunist Transitions
This article explores how the concept of shock has been used
in connection to processes of social change and transition,
and argues that a wider exploration of the concept in fields
other than political science and international relations can
provide us with important insights into the individual and collective
impacts of transitions. Although criticizing the idea of
shock as therapy, the article presents a number of alternative
uses of shock that can be particularly insightful for understanding
often contradictory behaviors that characterize periods
of transition, as well as a series of dangerous consequences
of attempts to deal with shock through various
techniques of distancing, distraction, and normalization
The Aesthetics of Change: Exploring Post-Communist Spaces
This article explores the relationship between material change and social change under a
proposed theory of aesthetics of change. Suggesting a particular understanding of the aesthetic
as concerned with feeling and perception, as opposed to artistic representation, the
article explores different ways in which practices of seeing, walking and engaging with the
material environment significantly affect our experience of social change. Borrowing from
Walter Benjamin’s notion of the flaneur and his idea of history as directly embedded into
space and the material environment, the article explores the way in which two different
forms of visual and spatial manipulations—the Painting Tirana Project, and the Czech
Dream Documentary—significantly affect the way in which the post-communist transition
was negotiated in Tirana, Albania and Prague, Czech Republic, respectively
The 'Roma Problem' in the EU: Nomadism, (in)visible architectures and violence
This article argues that the ‘Roma problem’ in the EU is often translated into a ‘space problem’. The targeting of Roma spaces—camps, right to movement, Roma homes and palaces—ultimately challenges the Roma’s right to settlement and insures their invisibility. By turning its attention to the recent politics of Roma expulsions in France, this article seeks to better understand their implications by looking at: a) the relationship between the Roma’s sedentary vs. nomadic lifestyle; b) the Roma’s use of space to secure both visibility and invisibility; and c) the state’s problematic use of legal violence in order to control and police the Roma. The article strongly suggests that the Roma ‘space problem’ cannot be solved by attempts to either construct (settlement) or constrict (expulsion) Roma spaces by an outside authority, but rather through an acceptance of Roma’s temporary presence—even if it involves a long-term temporality—in camps ‘abroad’ and continued support for Roma communities ‘at home’
Restaging the 1989 Revolution: The Romanian New Wave
Almost 20 years after the 1989 Romanian revolution, the subject is experiencing
a powerful comeback in a number of cinematic reflections that are at the forefront of the so-
called Romanian New Wave, including Corneliu Porumboiu’s 12:08 East of Bucharest,
Radu Muntean’s The paper will be blue and Catalin Mitulescu’s How I spent the end of
the world. This article seeks to establish some of the contributions that the New Wave is
making to the reconstruction of the 1989 revolutionary moment, but also, and more
importantly, to the renegotiation of Romania’s present role in the local and global imaginary.
The article offers a particular reading of these films as inspired by Walter Benjamin’s
writings on history and film, a reading that seeks to understand the careful temporal and
spatial renegotiation of the revolutionary moment of December 1989, the key role that the
technology of film has played throughout the course of the Romanian revolution and its
aftermath, as well as the critical importance that the revolutionary moment continues to have
for the way in which Romania imagines itself and is seen from abroad
Walter Benjamin, a Methodological Contribution
This article examines the work and philosophy of Walter Benjamin as
an important source of information for international relations (IR) and
International Political Sociology (IPS) scholars, particularly in light of
his methodological contributions, which could provide important
ground for movements such as the aesthetic turn in IR and everyday
life ⁄ popular culture studies within IR and IPS. Benjamin’s contributions
are examined in light of his most controversial, albeit unfinished, project—
The Arcades Project, a recently published volume that focuses on a
selection of documents from the Benjamin archive; and a study by Howard
Caygill on Benjamin’s attempt to create a ‘‘new philosophy,’’ and
along with it, a new methodology for studying ‘‘experience.’’ The article
focuses on three main elements that stand at the basis of Benjamin’s
unique methodology: (1) his process of selecting the object of study;
(2) his treatment of temporality and processes of change ⁄ history; and
(3) his focus on the visual as key to escaping the limitations of
traditional ‘‘philosophical’’ text
‘Born to Shop’: Malls, Dream-Worlds and Capitalism
It has been twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and a new generation, untouched by the previous communist regimes, has come to adulthood throughout the post-communist world. The Iulius Group’s logo – ‘Born to shop!’ – suggests that these are born shoppers: the capitalist babies of Central and Eastern Europe who are sustaining the largest growth in retail and shopping malls in Europe. With no living memory of shortages, queuing, or government restrictions, they know only the limit of their own – or their parents’ – pocket/credit. Their world could not be more different from the one that their parents and grandparents experienced: both the abundance of goods and services, as well as the opulent settings under which they are now sold, offer striking visual contrasts to the not-so-distant past. In addition, the very experience of consumption is directly connected to the way in which the current social fabric – and new social divisions within it – is interwoven with the physical and architectural changes taking place in the urban setting
Industrial and Human Ruins of Post Communist Europe
With the former industrial cities of Eastern Europe in ruin - once the pillars of these former communist economies - the attention of both investors and academics has shifted towards capital cities and their political and economic potential fueled by the rise of new governments and foreign direct investment. The failed attempts to privatize many of these former industrial spaces, has left entire cities in ruin and despair, forgotten by all but artists and preservationists, who see these spaces not only as aesthetically inspiring but also as charged with redemptive potential. This article puts forward an alternative exploration of the Eastern European post-communist transition through these ruined spaces, arguing that the aesthetic dimension of change is key to understanding the human impact of the transition. Focusing on two former industrial sites – the Hunedoara Ironworks in Romania and the Vitkovice Ironworks in the Czech Republic, the article seeks to understand the rhetorical and material relationship between these ruined spaces and the workers who once inhabited them as well as the effect that different practices of representation – mainly photography - and preservation have had on these spaces
North Korea and the Politics of Visual Representation
Within international discourses on security, North Korea is often associated with risk and danger, emanating paradoxically from what can be called its strengths - particularly military strength, as embodied by its missile and nuclear programs - and its weaknesses - such as its ever-present political, economic, and food crises - which are considered to be imminent threats to international peace and stability. We argue that images play an important role in these representations, and suggest that one should take into account the role of visual imagery in the way particular issues, actions, and events related to North Korea are approached and understood. Reflecting on the politics of visual representation means to examine the functions and effects of images, that is what they do and how they are put to work by allowing only particular kinds of seeing. After addressing theoretical and methodological questions, we discuss individual (and serial) photographs depicting what we think are typical examples of how North Korea is portrayed in the Western media and imagined in international politics