on Friday August 28th 2026, 15.50-17.20 at stage Alva
at Democracy Festival Frihamnsdagarna 2026, Gothenburg
How are historical narratives, images and cultural symbols weaponised — and how can art and visual culture serve as sources of democratic resilience?
This panel brings together four Romanian scholars and practitioners at the intersection of culture, memory and democratic resilience — moderated by Burak Sayin, a Sweden-based cultural strategist and urban innovation expert.
Speakers:
— Antonia Colibășanu (Geopolitical Futures / Foreign Policy Research Institute, Philadelphia): The geopolitics of disinformation and the erosion of institutional trust
— Cosmin Popa (Institute of History “Nicolae Iorga”, Romanian Academy): Russian influence strategies from the Cold War to contemporary hybrid warfare
— Adrian Cioflâncă (Institute of History “A.D. Xenopol”, Romanian Academy / Wilhelm Filderman Centre; expert in Romania’s delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance): The graphic war — how representations of atrocities became weapons of propaganda in Eastern Europe
— Cosmin Nasui (PostModernism Museum): Art as propaganda and resistance — visual culture under communism, and artists and art historians in political detention
The panel examines how totalitarian and authoritarian regimes have constructed, disseminated and recycled cultural narratives — and how art and visual culture can function as tools of both propaganda and resistance. The discussion draws on primary archival research from the DARE programme (Documentation, Archiving, Re-evaluation, Exhibition) of PostModernism Museum, Bucharest, active since 2015.
The panel is part of the project “From Archive to Arena”, funded by the Romanian Cultural Institute through the Cantemir Programme 2026.
Language: English
Produced by ostModernism Museum (Bucharest, Romania) in partnership with Space Time Works (Lund, Sweden) and Radio Romania International.
This project is co-funded by the Romanian Cultural Institute through the CANTEMIR Programme, which supports cultural projects aimed at international audiences.
The Romanian Cultural Institute is not responsible for the project’s content or how its outcomes are used; these are the sole responsibility of the grant beneficiary.