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Symposium at the Danish Embassy

“Memory and Politics – New Currents in Memorial Today”

June 05th, 2018
Berlin Global, News from Berlin
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Fostering bilateral relations through the shared evaluation of culture is made possible during the European Cultural Heritage Summit.

As part of the European Cultural Heritage Summit for 2018, the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces and the Royal Danish Embassy will host “Memory and politics – new currents in memorials today,” a symposium to be held on the 19th of June of 2018.

The Danish and German will focus on new currents in the memorialization which takes place in the form of this symposium, with a specific focus on the role of culture and the role of soft power and also to explore the significance of shared memorials and European culture in terms of recollection.

This initiative is part of a newfound increased Danish emphasis on Germany within the field of cultural exchange as a means to strengthen the cultural collaboration between the two states. The event will be initiated by Mette Bock, the Danish Minister for Culture, and will include a series of artists, intellectuals and researchers to uphold the discussion from 10.00am to 16.00pm.

The main aim of the event will explore the theme of memory and meaning in terms of remembrance and culture. Different perspectives will be presented on this matter, through presentation and examples of notable memorials nowadays both in Denmark and Germany. The conversation will include the historical evolution of those memorials, and their development in the general narrative.

Some of the questions that will be tackled in the symposium are: “What constitutes a memorial and what defines memory? What is the relevance of memorials today? And how can memorials be revitalized and reinterpreted in a contemporary context?”

The discussion will be divided into specific topics; memory and politics, memory and memorials, significant issues with memorials today and they will all culminate in a fifty-five-minute panel debate. The event is hosted in collaboration with the KØS, the Danish museum of art in public spaces, and the Bundesstitfung zur Aufarbeituing der SED – Diktatur.

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