Aesthetics of Cruelty: Representations of Violence and Dehumanisation in Russia and South Africa
9 – 10 December 2020
Aesthetics of Cruelty will engage an
interdisciplinary lens to explore the intersection of the politics of memory
and the arts in the context of ongoing debates about histories of repression
and violence, and more specifically the traumatic pasts of the Soviet Gulags
and apartheid. Focusing on the transgenerational repercussions of these violent
histories, this project is part of our interest in both scholarly research and
public scholarship on the representation of past crimes through film, visual
arts, photography, performing arts, and narrative representation of stories of
suffering. The colloquium will be organised along three categories: (a) trauma
narratives and bearing witness; (b) visual arts and photography; (c)
performance art and exhibitions.
View the programme
Watch the recording of the colloquium
