On 28 and 29 June 2022, the European Alliance of Academies hosted the conference „Contested Histories, Shared Futures“ in joint cooperation with Akademie van Kunsten, Amsterdam.

How historical developments can provide impulses for artistic work and contribute to shaping new shared perspectives among art institutions throughout Europe was intensively debated with artists, cultural practitioners and institutional representatives.

Read the welcome address by the President of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Jeanine Meerapfel, read Aleš Šteger’s input on the topic of „Identities of Europe“ and watch the live recordings of the three public panels.

The public panels „Contested Institutions: Making the Past Productive“ and „Contested Monuments: How to Deal with Controversial Monuments in Public Space?“ showed which role European art institutions and artists can play when it comes to a re-appraisal of narratives and our own practices so that the future challenges of European societies can be met.

During the lecture „The War in Ukraine and the Future of European Memory“, Vasyl Cherepanyn, Director of Visual Culture Research Center, Kyiv entered in dialogue with Maria Hlavajova General and Artistic Director of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht on how the war in Ukraine will revolve the future of European Memory.

An event of the European Alliance of Academies, organised by the Akademie der Künste and the Akademie van Kunsten (KNAW). Funded by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb)