Intelligentsia Unarmed. The Western Discourse Bubble and the Realities of War in Europe
Talk: Karl Schlögel
For most Western intellectuals Ukraine ceased to be terra incognita late, after the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014, and finally after the Russian war of annihilation unleashed on February 24 this year. The images from Mariupol, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Bucha destroyed the hermetic bubble of discourses showing the barbaric reality of warfare. Intellectuals learned about their ignorance and limitations of their knowledge about Europe’s East. Many took that lesson to heart and started to educate themselves, but many cling to outdated clichés, refusing to update their mental maps.
Conceived by the Kyiv Biennial and Biennale Warszawa from the East Europe Biennial Alliance, this special public program Armed Democracy, curated by Vasyl Cherepanyn within the 2nd edition of Biennale Warszawa, revolves around the concepts of imperialism, liberation, fascism, autocracy, revolution, and militarization in pursuit of the world to come on Europe’s burnt out land. The program is a first part of the series organized by the East Europe Biennial Alliance discussing Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine and taking place in Warsaw, Prague, Kassel, and Riga over the summer and fall of 2022.
Online, admission free, in English, without translation
