Conference held by the university lecturer, PhD. Voica Puşcaşiu

Conference Host: Alexandra Sârbu

Public event related to the exhibition: Andrei Budescu & Cristian Opriş | [IN] ABSENTIA

80 years after the liberation of the Nazi camps, the cruelty of that era is paradoxically both distant and present. Commemorating tragic events, the immense void left by political crimes, can be seen as a societal duty, but how (and when) this commemoration is done through artworks in public spaces can raise many issues. 

The presentation will primarily refer to the history of commemorating the Holocaust in the Romanian public space, but also internationally, with the emphasis on the aesthetics of the monuments, which often take an abstract form. However, artworks that refer to other moments that, although on a different scale, had an impact on the collective memory, representing traumatic wounds that proved to be difficult to manage, will also be considered. 

As a society, the way we remember is also conditioned by the effectiveness of monuments, making them reach a dimension of social importance that art does not always possess. The way in which the messages are conveyed, but also the politics behind the installation of public monuments, attract questions such as: for whom, in fact, are they erected? Respectively: how could they contribute to a better awareness of an immeasurable absence?

Free access. Seats are subject to availability. 

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Voica Puşcaşiu is lecturer at “Babeş-Bolyai” University (UBB), where she teaches subjects related to the History of Modern and Contemporary Art. Graduated in Art History and with a PhD in Philosophy, she is concerned with art in the public space, both commissioned and illegal, as well as the the way the artworks are received by viewers. Using specific methods of the sociology of art, she critically explores places of memory and their modes of operation. At the same time, as a founding member of the first Digital Humanities Research Center in Romania, she explores digital tools that can be used for teaching Art History, especially creating data visualizations and interactive maps. These two lines of research intersect in the recent project “Documentation and Mapping of Public Forum Monuments in the Eastern European Space”, which was awarded by UBB with a grant for citizen science. Her research contributions have appeared in various international publications, and since 2023 she is executive co-editor of “Studia UBB Historia Artium” academic journal.