Tenth Graduate Workshop

What Is to Be Done – Now?
Discussions of Scholarship on So-called “Russian” Art and Culture

The ongoing Russian war against Ukraine has caused a deep crisis of scholarship and put into question a range of terms, definitions, and points of view that have long been established in the history of art and visual culture of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The tenth workshop of the Russian(?) Art & Culture Group took this as a point of departure to facilitate a critical discussion with the aim to find appropriate terms, approaches, and strategies that give new insights into Imperial Russian and Soviet art and culture and will contribute to these ongoing debates about the future of art historical scholarship in this particular geography.

The workshop was guided by a critical reconsideration of the term “Russian” in relation to the study of Imperial Russian and Soviet art and culture. It reflected on key issues such as re-readings and re-evaluations of Russo-centric narratives, the re-definition of cultures in the territory of the former Soviet Union, blind spots and marginalized areas of knowledge, as well as the entanglements and responsibilities of scholarship in light of the ongoing war.

The tenth anniversary graduate workshop of the Russian(?) Art & Culture Group was held on-site at Constructor University in Bremen on September 27 and 28, 2024.

See the workshop’s booklet including abstracts of all presentations for more details and enjoy some impressions.