Symposium: „Speaking of Us. Jewish Perspectives in Art, Heritage and Cultural Policy Today“

Name: Symposium: „Speaking of Us. Jewish Perspectives in Art, Heritage and Cultural Policy Today“
Start: 2025-10-23T09:00:00+02:00
End: 2025-10-23T16:30:00+02:00
Location: Kulturrathaus Dresden

Schedule

Thu Oct 23 2025 at 09:00 am to 04:30 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

Kulturrathaus Dresden | Dresden, SN

In today’s Europe, Jewish histories, cultures, and identities are often spoken about, reframed, or politicized by others—especially in moments of global crisis. Who tells Jewish stories in Europe – and how can Jewish voices be heard on their own terms? This one-day symposium brings together artists, cultural workers, activists, and scholars from across Europe to explore questions of self-representation, memory, and cultural agency in a rapidly shifting political and cultural landscape.
Through conversations, panels, and working groups, we will examinelook at Jewish perspectives in art, heritage, and cultural policy today: How can Jewish narratives move beyond tokenism or narrow historical frames? What spaces, structures, and alliances are needed so Jewish cultural voices can flourish – visible, diverse, and self-determined? From Amsterdam to Warsaw, from Dresden to Belgrade, Jewish artists and cultural workers face similar challenges—this is where their voices meet.
The day will open with a keynote conversation on Jewish storytelling in Europe, followed by thematic panels on artistic self-representation, reclaiming memory, and building cultural empowerment. Afternoon working groups will focus on practical strategies for reshaping memory culture and reclaiming space for Jewish perspectives. We close by connecting local and transnational initiatives, asking what it will take to fortify our work and networks in the cultural and political fields in the years ahead.
Participants
Stephan Hoffmann (Societaetstheater Dresden), Aleksandra Janus (Warschau; Kulturanthropologin, Kuratorin und Expertin für Erinnerungskulturen und digitales Kulturerbe), Valentina Marcenaro (Jüdische Woche, Dresden), Tamara Moyses (Prag, Bildende Künstlerin und Filmemacherin), Alex Stolze (Berlin, Musiker und Komponist), Sonja Viličić (Belgrad, Kuratorin und Kulturpolitikforscherin) u.a.
Program
can be viewed here: https://juedische-woche-dresden.de/programm-symposium/
Registration is required for participation
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A cooperation between the Jüdische Woche Dresden and FestivALT Krakow
Funded by Kulturstiftung Sachsen and Amt für Kultur und Denkmalschutz der Landeshauptstadt Dresden
The event is realized within the project ‘ReActMem: Rescue Memory – Activism, Art and Public Memory,’ co-funded by the European Union under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV 2021–2027) program”