OSA | Visions after the Fall: Program

Visions after the Fall: Museums, Archives and Cinema in Reshaping Popular Perceptions of the Socialist Past

Zuzanna BogumiƂ: Project of The "Socland" Museum of Communism: between the past and the future

Ever since the idea of the project was born there has been a question about what kind of story the Museum of Communism should tell. How to present the recent, difficult and ambivalent past? The narration of the Museum is even more problematic because the Museum is planned in front of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw which is the symbol of Communism. The history of the project of the"Socland" Museum of Communism shows how ways of thinking about the Polish People Republic have changed in Poland since the late 90's. That is why while presenting the history of the project it seems worth describing its political and social context as well as pointing out the most crucial factors which affect the project's development.
In my presentation on the Project of the "Socland" Museum of Communism I will touch on the following aspects:

  • Brief presentation of the history of the project from the Socland Foundation to the creation of the Office of the Coordinator at the Warsaw Board for City Development. Special stress will be laid on the activities of the Office to explain its strategy in developing the project;
  • Explanation of the main dilemmas that the project has to face;
  • Brief presentation of other museums and cultural centers in Poland which tell the story of the communist past;
  • Description of the role of the elites and the ordinary people in the development of the project;
  • Presentation of the concept of the museum.

Zuzanna Bogumil received her MA in Ethnology and Anthropology of Culture from the University of Warsaw and is currently a doctoral student at the Social School of Science at the Polish Academy of Science. As a museologist she is also involved with the Museum of Communism Project at the Warsaw Board for the City Development. Zuzanna has done extensive field work and has been involved in several research projects on the artistic representations of the Holocaust, in particular, on the memorial museums of Majdanek and Auschwitz.

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Date: June 8, Thursday

Time: 3.30-4 pm

 

 





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