Graffitied Memoryscapes: Virtual exhibition opening and online round table on research political graffiti

Tuesday, 27th April 2021, at 1:30 pm (CET)

An exhibition on the interrelations between landscapes, memory and graffiti in the post-Yugoslav space 

The exhibition is based on photos taken over the past decade by four researchers working in the former Yugoslavia: Roswitha Kersten-Pejanić, Vjeran Pavlaković, Eric Ušić, and Kevin Kenjar. Each researcher has analyzed the political sentiments, ascriptions, and statements that are manifested and realized in graffiti and other linguistic and semiotic signs in the physical landscape. 

These images of the visual memoryscape from different parts of Croatia and other countries of the former Yugoslavia explicitly depict political conflicts and ideological premises, historical ruptures, and multiple layers of the past, as well as discourses of Othering and relations of in-group vs. out-group identification. Although the authors have approached these visual semiotics from various disciplines, they all share a common fascination with the graffitied memory scape in this region of contested narratives and complex histories. 

The virtual opening of the exhibition will be complemented by a round table of experts on research on political graffiti and the semiotic landscape in different parts of Europe. Katharina Tyran from the University of Vienna will give an insight into her work on the ex-Yugoslav linguistic landscape in Vienna, and Costas Canakis from the University of the Aegean will share some impressions of his extensive research in different cities and regions of Southeastern Europe and beyond.