The Bosnian Case: Art, History and Memory will look into ways contemporary art negotiates history and memory. In particular, historical trauma through case studies of the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the years 1992-1995, and beyond. The historical configuration of the disintegration of the FYR (Former Yugoslav Republic), or “Post-communist trauma” as coined by the sociologist Piotr Sztompka, meets a psychoanalytic prism; the Freudian concept of “Nachträglichkeit” from Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Moses and Monotheism. This iscentral to a psychoanalytical understanding of trauma, usually translated as “deferred action” or “delayed effect” of an early trauma which returns the problem to a historical primal scene and art’s recuperation of its effect.
This research contributes to a further understanding of the post-conflict period of Bosnia by placing an emphasis on contemporary social and political issues and their relation to art. Additionally, in order to understand the background and the socio-political ambiance that made the Bosnian conflict possible, the research will look into both the political and psychological landscapes where the ideas for genocide emerged, cultivated and eventually executed.
This exhibition comprises part of the VCA School of Art 2017 PhD Program.