International Symposium "The Eastern European, Balkan, and Middle Eastern Female Artists: Finding Their Own Voices in Writing, Cinema, and Art"

March 21, 2019 (All day) to March 22, 2019 (All day)

Thursday, March 21
Alumni Hall, 7th floor

  • 5:00-9:00pm A popup art exhibit by Münire Kırmaci in the Cathedral Views Gallery, Alumni Hall
  • 5:30-5:40pm: Opening remarks 
  • 5:40-6:10pm: A conversation with the three female artists and a poetry reading (Asja Bakić, Münire Kırmaci, & Darya Zhuk)
  • 6:10-8:00pm: A film screening, Crystal Swan (Belarus, 2018)

Friday, March 22
Cathedral of Learning G24

  • 10:00-11:25am: A roundtable, “Creative Voices in Writing, Art and Cinema: Challenges and Perspectives for Women from Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Middle East” (a screening of Zhuk’s short, The Real American and a presentation of Bakić’s book, Mars)
  • 11:25-11:30am: Closing remarks

The symposium will introduce the works of culturally diverse female artists from Belarus, Bosnia, and Turkey to Pittsburgh community, and, by including them into an academic discussion, will open up a new perspective on the ways of coping with the ideological breaks with everyday life, the tragic past, and the unpredictability of the present.  A film screening, a poetry reading, and an art exhibit, presentations, and a roundtable discussion will focus on the challenges of analyzing womanhood, intersectionality of gender, religion, ethnic cultures, state regulations, and the realities of everyday life, making the category of woman less monolithic and more diverse in these cultures. The invited guests include Asja Bakić, a Bosnian writer and poet, Darya Zhuk, a Belarusian film director, and Münire Kırmaci, a Turkish artist and industrial designer. 

Sponsors: Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Slavic Department, Film & Media Studies Program, Gender, Sexuality, & Women Studies Program, Cultural Studies Program, The Humanities Center, Department of History of Art & Architecture, Yugoslav Nationality Room, Turkish Nationality Room.