The sound recording of the international seminar Contemporaneity and transition: perspectives from the South of Europe (Centro Cultural La Corrala, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 17 October 2018) are now available in our multimedia section.

The seminar emphasized the imaginaries and visual construction of the memories of the transition and about the relations between artistic practices, social movements, political organizations and historical dynamics, questioning the process of transition from the territory of contemporary art and visual culture. In fact, forty years after the approval of the Spanish Constitution, which opened the door to the democratization of the country and replaced a Bourbon at the head of state, the transition continues to be a disputed territory, a historical signifier that can be linked to other different meanings in order to take a stand and gain legitimacy in the present. Since 2008, in the wake of the emergence of new political actors and sensibilities in a context of deep economic crisis, the transition has been a recurring theme in the political and cultural arena. In recent years, many works have appeared that analyze the failures of this process, so often mythologized, from different points of view. However, there is still much to think about and learn about the role of practices of symbolic production during the transition process. Much has been written about the transition in historical, social and political terms but, as it is mentioned before, relatively little about its imagery, about the visual construction of its memories or about the relationships between artistic practices, social movements, political organizations and historical dynamics.

Below the lecture by Kostis Kornetis and the round table “Memoria de lucha y represión”

Kostis Kornetis, Generaciones en Transición: Memorias de democratización en Grecia en clave comparada.

Roundtable Memorias de lucha y represión with David Moriente, Alberto Berzosa, Lola Lasurt and Lidia Mateo. Chair: Óscar Chaves.