Memory Ownership and the Art of (Not) Forgetting?
Tid: Onsdag 29. maj kl. 20-22
Sted: Grand Teatret, Mikkel Bryggers Gade 8, København K.
We are using the ICORN GA occasion to mark the 100 years anniversary of Danish PEN, (created in 1923, but) officially recognized in 1924, and what could be more relevant than to use such an opportunity to raise the question of Historiography, myths and nostalgia as a tool for nationalistic propaganda?
Writers, journalists and artists around the world are hit by censorship, bans or the worse when they challenge the prevailing national narrative and self-understanding through their works.
Indeed, storytelling and history writing have always been used as a tool for propaganda, not least in times of conflict and war, but now a days the wide spreading effect of propaganda seems almost out of control. How do we respond?
Program:
Welcome by Mads Julius Elf, president of Danish PEN
Mia Nygaard, Mayor of Culture, Copenhagen
Keynote speech by Olga Bubich, essayist, journalist, photographer and lecturer (Belarus):
Memory Ownership: The Art of (Not) forgetting
With the wars ongoing in different parts of the world, the dimension of collective memory is increasingly perceived as another, not least significant, battlefield with dramatic consequences risking to affect generations ahead. Past mythologization, nostalgia used as a propaganda tool, censorship of nation’s inglorious past and conscious misremembering are tools actively used by populists and neofascist regimes worldwide, but they also call for civil society action in response – shaping the need in counter-memory activism and memory care as our new strategies of resistance.
Followed by a panel conversation on:
History writing, myths and nostalgia as a tool for nationalistic propaganda. How do we respond?
Participants in the panel:
- Olga Bubich, (see above), Belarus.
- Jørgen Watne Frydnes, general secretary Norwegian PEN, Norway
- Alexander Gubsky, publisher, Moscow Times/Amsterdam, Russia.
- Tanja Tuma (novelist, President PEN Slovenia, board member of PEN international, Slovenia.
Moderator: Mads Julius Elf, publisher, President of Danish PEN, Denmark.
Registration no later than 27. May to pen@pen.dk
Dansk PEN er vært ved dette lukkede arrangement, der holdes i anledning af det internationale fribynetværk ICORNs generalforsamling i København i dagene 29.-31. maj. Der er begrænset plads. Medlemmer af PEN skal tilmelde sig ved at indsende nedenstående formular eller skrive til pen@pen.dk senest d. 27. maj 2024.