All posts by primaklimaweissensee

Is the past obscuring the present?

08.11.2014

Participants at the seminar are from various European countries, so each has a different perspective on the East-West conflict. Each brought a picture which he/she relates to the conflict, in a personal way and has to talk about it. The list of topics touched upon is big and colourful: Ceausescu’s huge celebrations in the 80s, Radio Free Europe, the Finlandization process, the rebranded Romanian chocolate with rum and so on. It’s all about the past and how the conflict mirrored in various events and details.

But then Sarah, a German participant, introduces a whole new pespective. She presents the Political Beauty project, belonging to a group of artists who pointed out that the even though the Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago, many walls still exist today, which are being ignored: the Spanish-Moroccan fences, Us-Mexico border etc.

The discourse focusing on the celebration of the past is problematic because it leaves aside the dimension of the present. And because it tricks us into believing that history=past.

 

Trouble making dilemmas: taking part at the East-West seminar

Allgemein

Like many human beings, I like confort: that of a warm pillow, of good food and of familiar ideas, which I can easily handle. That’s why on a winter day, I choose to stay inside, at warmth, instead of going out in the cold, and that’s also why I rarely get out of my intellectual confort zone, preferring to keep my world view as it is.

But sometimes you need to get out in the cold and to confront ideas which seem rather trouble making, and learn something, if possible. Taking part at the Training “Remembrance of the European East-West conflict” in Berlin can be a good opportunity of shaking some old ideas and making place for a few dilemmas about how we remember the history, what do we remember and how this relates to the present.

So just like the picture says, Achtung, Sie verlassen jetzt Ihre Komfortzone. Hopefully.