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