Art, Politics, “Terrorism”: The Case of Sreten Ugričić

Art, Politics, “Terrorism”: The Case of Sreten Ugričić (June 8 at 6 pm Paris time)

Western democracy faces a resurgence of threats it has not witnessed for over a half-century.  For most citizens of Western nations, these threats remain abstract. But they are quite real (and painfully instructive) in numerous states purporting to function in a democratic manner.

In “Art, Politics, ‘Terrorism,'” a group of critical thinkers from the former Yugoslavia will try to address some of the forces at work in the contemporary subversion of democracy by focusing on the case of Sreten Ugričić, a Serbian writer and philosopher who served a crucial cultural role as former director of The National Library of Serbia before being condemned to exile in 2012 (detailed information on this case can be found here). They will consider how his blacklisting and eventual ousting exemplify the mechanisms of repression that govern Serbian society. They will also give due attention to his important literary and philosophical works.

Participants will include: Branislav Jakovljević (Stanford University), Davor Beganović (University of Tübingen), Olga Manojlović Pintar (The Institute for Recent History of Serbia), Olivera Stošić-Rakić (Freelance Cultural Manager, Ulm), Goran Lazičić (University of Graz), and Sreten Ugričić.

Talk will be moderated by Nemanja Mitrović (EGS).

The occasion for this event is the publication of Sreten Ugričić: Writer, Astronomer, Terrorist (edited by Svetlana Gavrilović and Saša Ilić). The publication of this important volume was supported by The Open Society Foundation Serbia and the Reconstruction Women’s Fund).

EGS is honored to host this discussion and welcome Sreten Ugričić to our community once again.

You can register for this event here.