Conferences and summer schools

Summer School Viadrinicum, 16 – 31 August 2025

Viadrinicum is an annual summer school at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), devoted to the countries of the Eastern Partnership and the larger context of Central and Eastern Europe. Building on the discussions around the notion of learning city during the previous editions, in 2025 the school will focus on the ruptures in the urban fabric, both as the effects of (historical) negligence and abandonment, and as the traces of emancipatory disruptions in the established order of things.

It invites students, young researchers, civil society activists, artists and cultural workers to critically interrogate the (institutional) foundations of the city as a contested entity in-the-making, shaped by regimes of urban planning and governance, property relations and dwelling practices. Guided by the spirit of tactical urbanism and participatory pedagogics, the school will look into the ways how alternative futures (re-)emerge through the (invisible) cracks of the city, aided by contingent spatial imaginations and the acts of collective un-/inter-weaving.

Following the idea of experiential learning, a combination of academic and nonacademic formats will allow the participants of the school to actively explore the possibilities for a dialogue between different kinds of knowledge from academia, civil society and the arts.

In a more practical sense, the school offers opportunities for applied experimentation in the setting of a participatory urban intervention engaging local communities in the heart of the German-Polish twin city Frankfurt (Oder)-Słubice. This happens in the frame of three lab.workshops (Doc.Lab, Makers.Lab, Planners.Lab), where the participants will be able to develop their own small (team) projects with the assistance of facilitators from the respective fields.

Besides that, the school‘s programme features round tables with researchers from the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS, Berlin), film screenings, public events, and Open Space sessions, where participants will have a chance to discuss their own academic, civic, artistic or cultural work.

Programme

Location: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Language: English

KIU Summer School, 8 to 19 September 2025

The international summer school is part of the MA certificate programme in Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies and will bring together students and scholars interested in historical, cultural, social, political, economic, law-based and conflict-related questions on and about Ukraine. Students can explore Ukraine and Ukraine's European entanglements in past, present and future, improve their Ukrainian language skills, and learn from great scholars who have been dedicating their research to Ukraine since decades. Students will also have the opportunity to work in interactive formats, learn in sessions on conflict management, enjoy arts and culture and to present and debate their own projects in open discussion rounds.

The summer school focuses on Ukrainian-European relations and Ukrainian European identity which have long been important topics in Ukraine, while from a Western European perspective, Ukraine was in a marginal position for a long time. Today, Ukrainian-European entanglements are being researched more intensively, and the issue of Ukrainian membership in the European Union has gained new momentum. In this summer school, we will explore Ukrainian-European relations, cooperation, conflicts, cultural references and dynamics, both in relation to Europe as a whole and to the European Union.

The application deadline is 20 July 2025. Notifications regarding participation will be sent out on 31 July 2025.

Location: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Language: English

International conference, 15 - 17 October 2025

Henryk Bereska is a still underestimated East German translator and poet, critical thinker and creator of the foundations of the intellectual debate on Polish literature in Germany. Despite his extensive oeuvre, which has been honoured with the Transatlantyk Prize of the Polish Book Institute, among others, his translational and literary work remains little known and has not yet been systematically researched.

The year 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the translator and poet's death, and one year later will be the centenary of his birth: a fitting occasion to examine his wide-ranging oeuvre at an academic conference, to discuss the topicality of his work as a "silent mediator in the dialogue between Eastern and Western Europe", his role in German-Polish knowledge exchange and his significance for current academic research.

The conference will open with a lecture by the German author, dramaturge and radio director Matthias Thalheim, who worked as head of the artistic word at MDR Kultur from 1992 to 2020 in the areas of radio plays, features, readings, cabaret and children's radio.

After the conference, the publication of a conference volume (edited by Prof Anna Małgorzewicz, Dr Małgorzata Szajbel-Keck and Dr Ilona Czechowska) is planned in the series "Studies on Multiculturalism" of the University of Wrocław by Harrassowitz Verlag (in print and OA). The selection of contributions (in Polish or German) will be based on a double-blind peer review process.

Deadline for the submission of conference contributions: 30 April 2025

Location: European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder) and Collegium Polonicum, Słubice

Languages: German, Polish, English (without simultaneous interpreting)

Conference, 13 - 14 November 2025

The doctoral students of the Professorship of Economic Sociology are organising a conference at the European University Viadrina in November.

The conference will deal with the topic "Transformations of Capitalism - Perspectives of Economic Sociology in Times of Polycrisis". It will focus on the challenges and contributions of economic sociology in the current global crisis, including topics such as the fragility of socio-economic systems, sustainable economic models and the dynamics of social inequalities. The conference is particularly aimed at doctoral students in economic sociology in German-speaking countries; English contributions are also welcome.

Keynote speaker Dr Marcin Serafin (IFiS PAN, Warsaw) will open the discussion.

The call for papers is online. Abstracts (max. 500 words) can be submitted until 15 July 2025.

Location: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

32nd Conference of the German-Polish Working Group for Art History and Monument Conservation, 4 to 6 December 2025

The interest in disused, decaying building structures seems to have a long history. This is evidenced by examples of archaeological tourism since ancient times. At certain times, the contemplation of ruins played a formative role in European culture, as evidenced by the pictorial worlds of Panini, Piranesi, C.D. Friedrich, Pompeian salons and artificial ruins in the gardens of European residences.

In late modernism, not least as part of the "spatial turn", the ruin returns as a metaphor for contingency. This time it does not primarily stand for endurance and the timelessness of the imperial or sublime. Rather, it functions - in line with the acceleration of world events - as a symbol for the changing times of modernity, for transformations, shrinking processes and for the destructive violence of wars.

While the preservation of monuments in Western countries is concerned with the legal protection of disused railway stations, industrial complexes, barracks, churches and, most recently, department stores, something else is going on under the radar of institutions. The processes of decay have long since become a source of fascination for the globally networked Urbex scene. The morbid aura of modern ruins is perceived as an expression of the "authentic" and as an antithesis to the all-encompassing economisation of cultural assets. Entering abandoned building complexes is a special kind of physical experience, a savouring of atmospheres. The immersive experience is processed photographically and disseminated to the relevant communities via social media. But beyond our reality, the theme of ruin is also utilised by the virtual games and entertainment industry: AI-generated films and games deliver the coveted, post-apocalyptic scenarios to order. The ruin is therefore a metaphor for the state of the planet in the age of the Anthropocene.

Unfortunately, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were and are currently confronted with war ruins to a particular extent. In this respect, the topic offers numerous approaches as a leitmotif for this year's conference of the German-Polish Working Group for Art History and Monument Conservation.
It is intended to pursue a comparative objective in terms of time and space, illuminating connecting lines and ruptures in the reflection on ruins.

The following aspects could play a role:

• Spatial and temporal varieties of ruin reflection
• War ruins and questions of identity
• Post-transformational landscapes of decay
• Atmospheres and bodily experience of "lost places"
• Mediality and semiotics of ruins
• Imagined / dystopian ruinscapes in the arts and popular culture

In addition to the thematic presentations (speaking time max. 20 min.), the information exchange of the working group offers a forum for the presentation of current individual or institutional research projects (short presentations, max. 10 min.) on issues of common cultural heritage in Eastern Europe.

Conference languages are German and English (possibly also Polish, if funds are available for simultaneous translation).

Please send a synopsis of your (unpublished) contribution (2,400 characters), a short CV and details of your current position by 15 September 2025 to:

Europa-Universitaet Viadrina
Prof. Dr Paul Zalewski
Grosse Scharrnstrasse 57
15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
Email: zalewski@europa-uni.de

Location: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)