“Negotiating storytelling: Heritage constructs as contested narrative devices” Manifesta 14 x Research training group DFG 277 Identity and Heritage 5.9.2022, 19-21h, Kino ARMATA. In which ways do heritage constructs operate as collective practices of storytelling? Which narratives do they behold or erase? How do narrative methodologies mold the collective memory?The Research Training group Identity and heritage from the TU Berlin, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and the Technical Universities of Dessau and Erfurt have been engaging with the critical analysis of heritage constructions since 2016 through the research of specific case studies. During their visit to Pristhina, this panel discussion will bring into dialogue their experience within academic contexts with the on-going work by Manifesta on the resignification of Pristhina’s heritage and the role contemporary art has on contesting hegemonic narratives. If, following the words of Catherine Nichols, the writing of history should no longer be left to the historical sciences, What new role should academia play and which lessons are to be drawn from activism and contemporary art in producing better narratives?The panel will introduce the work of the research group from germany through 5 inputs that will be discussed as framed in the dialogue already started by Manifesta 15. Topics such as counteracting historical sources, acknowledging the biased emplotment of historiography, delegating interpretive authority, the destabilization of knowledge, the preservation of narratives and narrators, the institutional response to social changes, the understanding of heritage as social construction or the relevance of an expanded interdisciplinarity in the actualization of academic work will be addressed. How do we challenge historiography? How to tell stories otherwise?Research training group DFG 277 “Identity and Heritage” with Bekim Ramku, Director of Kosovo Architecture Foundation,Paul Domela, Head of Business, Manifesta Biennale and Alush Gashi, Kino Armata
