semi-public round table conference
tranzitdisplay gallery, Dittrichova 9, Prague 2, 120
27.11 - 29.11.2008
teoreticiants: Victor Misiano, Lionel Bovier, Kaiko Sei, Georg Schoellhammer, Francois Piron, Marta Dziewanska, Marco Scotini, Jiří Ševčík, Tomáš Pospiszyl, Vít Havránek, zbyněk Baladrán
This round table is focussed thematically on the creation of a transformation glossary, one of the main goals of the Monument to Transformation project. The aim is to use such a well-structured glossary to create an instrument for the intellectual comprehension of social and political processes of change in countries which have themselves taken on the adjective 'transformational' or are labelled therewith. We are interested in finding out whether the experiences of different countries and times might be generalised and a common denominator discovered. Our own appreciation of how a person or a society can undergo a transformation was the starting point and initial aspiration for defining such a state. We are well aware of the problems such an enquiry entails. In the first place, there is the problem of assessing time and taking the measure of each individual transformational object. While preparing the glossary, we discovered terms tied to a specific place and time which expand upon more general terms and create their own new meanings. The aim of each participant's talk and the resulting discussion is to find a key to give the glossary (the glossary inside a dictionary) a structure, agree on a basic methodology and, last but not least, bring inspiration and new ideas to a grid that's already been laid down. At present, the glossary (book) consists of about 100 entries. The entries we've prepared are meant to serve as material to initiate a discussion and inspire the creation of new entries.
