International conference Expanding of the Boundaries. Jewish Artistic Heritage of Ukraine, April 9–10, 2024, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Organizer: Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies. The conference is supported by the European Association for Jewish Studies. The Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies is announcing an international conference dedicated to understanding Jewish art and the artistic heritage originating from Ukraine in broader historical, cultural, and artistic contexts.
Over the years, the Jewish traditional and contemporary culture associated with the territory of present-day Ukraine has been shaped by various political and cultural conditions. Ashkenazi Jews, Krymchaks, and Karaites lived here and left a distinctive cultural and artistic legacy.
Along with religious life, there was also secular Jewish life, both of which found expression in art. The artistic achievements of the Jews of Ukraine – in all their diversity of genres, schools, groups, and personalities – were created, over time, in the frameworks of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman Empires, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, and finally, since 1991, in independent Ukraine. It is now perceived as part of Ukraine's multicultural heritage.
This perspective leads us to undertake two tasks. The first is the desire to recreate the history of Jewish art in Ukraine by studying the emergence, development, and spread of Jewish artistic culture within the modern borders of Ukraine. The second task is to consider the problem of protecting Jewish heritage from destruction by rocket attacks and artillery shelling in the frontline zone, as well as from robbery in the occupied territories.
The conference will focus on the historical, theoretical, and methodological aspects of the identification, research, contextualization, and musealization of Jewish art created in Ukraine or by authors from Ukrainian lands. The event will help increase interest in the Jewish heritage of Ukraine and establish links between Ukrainian scholars and museum professionals, with researchers from other countries, in their work on common topics.
The application deadline is 15 December 2023.
Responses will be sent to applicants by 15 January 2024.
The organizers will cover accommodation and meals for the participants.
Applications for the conference are submitted through the form on the page: https://bit.ly/UAJS_conference_2024_en.
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