General Idea of the Conference

The rapid changes that the countries of South-East Europe are confronted with make it a necessity and essential challenge to perform a certain "archaeological cut" through the different heterogeneous layers of the Balkan region. Therefore the international Conference UNDERSTANDING THE BALKANS is conceived as a challenge to examining the alteration stratum of the Balkans, concentrating strongly on questions of society, culture, art, and history. Reflections and analysis dedicated to these complex issues will be examined during the Conference.

UNDERSTANDING THE BALKANS will in this goal try to focus on examining the intersection of the acquired codes in the social, historical, cultural context we have used on the Balkans in our immediate past, as well as in considering the changes through which our societies, and culture, are undergoing over the past decades. The Conference is especially interested in investigating the deeper reasons for on-going conflicts in the region. The Conference will focus on finding ways of concordant common social, political and economic structure to emerge in the new Balkan societies and thus admitting that each region has its own specifics shall try to find a link connecting to the cumulative cultural achievements of the past.

UNDERSTANDING THE BALKANS is open to the investigation of substantially higher synergistic systems on the Balkans and will urge the creation of new visions of the artists, theoreticians, historians, sociologists, and philosophers, and will concentrate on finding a common platform in which the present historic and cultural gaps can be bypassed. Being conceived as an encounter of artists, technologies and visionaries the Conference also welcomes various projects using information technology and different multi-media applications, life sciences, etc.

Themes to be discussed

1. Codes Not Understood: Reasons and Consequences
2. Identities: Creation and Use
3. Mediated Images: Theory and Creation
4. Networks: New Quality or Redundant Accumulation

The format of the Conference

UNDERSTANDING THE BALKANS is inviting 30 leading thinkers from the Balkan region as well as outside from it, covering a wide expertise (sociologists, philosophers, historians, art historians, culturologists, and artists).

Internet coverage

a. Creation of a web site.
The information about the Conference as well as a summary of the texts will be available on the web site.

b. The Conference UNDERSTANDING THE BALKANS will be covered by video footage directly from the Conference on our web page, during the entire duration.

c. Creation of a mailing list.

Proceedings

(November-December 2000)
The proceedings will be published in English and Macedonian with a possible translation to the other Balkan languages.