contributors

Articles by Sofie Bedford and Ulyana Kaposhka

1. Letters from the heart of darkness Dr. Ludvig Moberg, ethnographic collections, and the logic of colonial violence

   It was very common to force people to work for the Congo Free State, and the point of building the railway was to make transportations easier and to get rid of the time-consuming caravans. It is probably one of these men, forced to work until he died, that Moberg collected the skull from. There is no explanation for why he collected skulls in the first place, but he studied medicine for his exam when returning to Sweden.

2. Christian Brinton: A modernist icon A portrait and a study of the collector

   Like the lives of the saints, Brinton consciously crafted his own vita, iconography, and legend by inserting himself within the genealogy of his collection. From the portrait icon to the pious patron, the portraits of Christian Brinton tell us something of not only the actor, but also the narrative of Russian art that the collector constructed.

3. The Icons of “the Red Banker” Olof Aschberg and the transactions of social capital

   Just as the Soviets could trade “Rembrandts for tractors,” Aschberg could trade icons for social capital, while his donations also served the purpose of establishing links between himself in Paris and his business, cultural, and political contacts in Stockholm and ensuring the longevity of Swedish contacts with its great neighbor to the east, Russia.

4. Scattering, collecting, and scattering again The invention and management of national heritage in the USSR

   It is here claimed that it is practically impossible to determine whether the collector and connoisseur in question (namely Igor Immanuilovich Grabar, 1879—1960) was, indeed, saving his objects from scattering and destruction — or contributing to their further enslavement by exploiting them in a capacity that was radically alien, if not inimical, to their nature.

5. Imperial scatter Some personal encounters and reflections

   The Basilys had both the means and opportunities to collect and exhibit Imperial elite art and books. In doing so, it is argued here that they wished to present an alternative narrative of Russia’s past to the Soviet political, economic, and modernist artistic program that they witnessed unfolding in Soviet Russia.

6. Longing for order the post-Soviet architectural discourse in Lithuania

   Lithuanian architecture of the past 25 years is a mirror of social decomposition is here argued. It is suggested that is should serve as a space for engagement with outcomes of this decomposition instead of glossing over it. Further that architecture and architects might contribute to the dissensus in all spheres of life existing today, or might cultivate fantasies about the social unity and spirituality of their art-craft.

7. The Artists’ Colony in the Former Gdańsk Shipyard

   Members of the Artists Colony were participants in the transformation processes, regardless of the functions they performed in such processes, the intensity of contacts with workers at the Gdańsk Shipyard, or the subject of their artistic works. Artists from the Colony identified the area of the former shipyard as a space of their own experience, memory, and history.

8. Albanian November, students calling

   In the analysis of how self-organized groups work, act, and cooperate in young democracies like Albania, it is shown that different financial, human, technical, and political factors determine to what degree the self-organized groups are dependent on the political opportunity system in order to achieve their goals.

9. Hungarian Election 2018. Nationalist rhetoric and foreign capital keep Fidesz-KDNP strong

   Among decided voters, the overwhelming popularity of Fidesz-KDNP has been rather stable since 2015. The opposition tried to push topics other than migration - such as healthcare - that are still important to Hungarian voters, and where real progress during the past eight years of Fidesz-KDNP rule is questionable at best. Nevertheless the winner of the elections is the governing coalition of Fidesz-KDNP. Oppositionist leaders and candidates, including several (re)gaining their mandate in parliament, have been resigning one after another or plan to do so very soon.

10. Azerbaijan’s Mysterious Snap Presidential Election

    The proposition that a Presidential Election was held early because it was simply better to ‘get it out of the way’ in order to be able to focus on time consuming other events might appear far-fetched in other contexts. When considering the history of elections in Azerbaijan it appears to make sense. In fact, it is almost more puzzling why elections are held at all – when everybody knows who will win. But, in difference to the predictable result, the rumors and speculations preceding the election are intriguing and do tell us a lot about what is going on in Azerbaijan.

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