POSTMODERNISM MUSEUM PROGRAMME
From Archive to Arena
Weaponizing Culture vs. Artistic Resilience: From Propaganda to Democracy
How are historical narratives, images and cultural symbols weaponised — and how can art and visual culture serve as sources of democratic resilience?
Romanian Voices in Culture and Memory
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.
Totalitarian Narratives: Art as Propaganda and Resistance
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. .
About the project
The project leverages Romanian artistic production and cultural expertise to provide an Eastern European perspective on how historical narratives, images, and cultural symbols are weaponized—and how visual culture can instead foster social cohesion and intercultural dialogue.
The project frames culture as a vital infrastructure for democratic resilience, aligning with the Declaration on the Necessity of Culture and Media as a Safeguard for Our European Democracies (signed by EU member states, including Romania) and the European Commission’s European Democracy Shield.
By introducing the decade-long multidisciplinary research of the of the PostModernism Museum’s DARE (Documentation, Archiving, Re-evaluation, Exhibition) program—which investigates political propaganda, socialist architecture, public monuments, and artistic repression—to the open-access, high-attendance environment of The Democracy Festival Frihamnsdagarna in Gothenburg, the project directly enriches international dialogue on memory, resistance, and democratic values.
Marking the first international presentation of the PostModernism Museum’s DARE (Documentation, Archiving, Re-evaluation, Exhibition) program in the Nordic region, the project also delivers two lasting digital outputs: an educational short 2D animated film tailored for young audiences, and a documentary audiovisual recording of the festival panel.
Produced by PostModernism Museum (Bucharest, Romania) in partnership with Space Time Works (Lund, Sweden) and Radio Romania International
One of the project activities, the debate, brings together prominent Romanian experts—art historian and curator Cosmin Nasui, research fellows Cosmin Popa and Adrian Cioflanca, and senior geopolitical analyst Antonia Colibasanu—at the Democracy Festival Frihamnsdagarna in Gothenburg. Navigating the official theme “Different voices – common future,” the team will deliver a panel at the intersection of culture, memory, and democratic resilience.
The discussion will be moderated by Burak Sayin, a cultural strategist representing Space Time Works and the board of Culture Action Europe.
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.
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Eastern European Perspectives: Propaganda, Memory, and the Nordic Debate
Four Romanian experts bring Eastern European perspectives on propaganda, hybrid warfare and the politics of memory to the Nordic debate. In English.
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