Gal Kirn

Vita

Gal Kirn is a former fellow of ICI Berlin. He currently works at the Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Ljubljana (2011-present) and is finishing up dissertation on the topic of contemporary French philosophy (especially on Louis Althusser) with the history of the emergence of revolutionary Yugoslavia and its tragic break-up. He collaborates with the Centre of Cultural Studies (FDV, Ljubljana) on the topic of xenofobia. He was an editor of the journal Agregat (2005-2008) and a researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht (2008-10), where he organized a series of international conferences on Yugoslavia and self-management urbanism, Yugoslavian black wave cinema and on Althusser. In his hometown Ljubljana he participates in the Workers’-Punks’ University, which sets up a platform of events: lectures, film seminars and reading groups. He is a correspondent editor for the international journal Historical Materialism, an editor of the book 'Postfordism and its discontents' (JvE Academie, B-Books and Mirovni Inštitut) and a co-editor of 'New public spaces. Dissensual political and artistic practices in the post-Yugoslav context' (JvE Academie and Moderna Galerija).

ICI Project (2010-12)

Memorial Multistability: The Parallax View on Transformative 'Yugoslav Art' from Post-Yugoslav Context

First year's research confronted a model of Kippbilder to the parallax view (Žižek). Thinking in a parallax way means to grasp the irreducible tension between different fields but also within the research object itself. It will focus on the theoretical procedures in works of Marx (object of capital), Benjamin (temporality) and Ranciere (politics and aestehtics). Then we proceeded to specific analysis of partisan memorial sites and partisan poetry from WWII. Against nostalgic glorification of good old times and against depicting Yugoslavia as totalitarian gloom, the analysis strives to show how different artworks articulated a much more complex political narrative and symbolic imagery of Yugoslav adventure. The second year will focus on the partisan films from WWII (counterarchive) and confront it with films on partisan that became the dominant genre film platform in Yugoslavia. We will address the question how, if at all was it possible to formalize or memorialize the Yugoslav revolution (rupture)?

Edited Publications

• Co-editor of the book Encountering Althusser (Continuum, forthcoming in 2012)
• Co-editor of the book Surfing the Black Wave: Studies in Yugoslav Cinema (Jve Academy, 2012)
• Editor of the book: Post-Fordism and Its Discontents (Jan van Eyck Academy, B-Books and Peace Institute, Maastricht, 2010)
• Editor of the book “Postfordizem: razprave o sodobnem kapitalizmu”, Mirovni Inštitut, 2010, Ljubljana
• Co-editor of the book: Dissensual political and artistic practices in the post-Yugoslav context, Jan van Eyck Academy and Modern Gallery, Maastricht (2009)
• Script-play for the documentary on self-management (directed by Jasna Hribernik in 2012

Selected bibliography

• http://splet02.izum.si/cobiss/BibPersonal.jsp?init=t&lang=eng - simply type in my name, or researcher's code 90481 (most of entries in Slovenian libraries will be provided).

Organisation of conferences

• Co-organizer of the conference “Wreckages: Utopia” (16.6. 2011)
• Co-organizer of the conference “One divides into Two” (with Slavoj Žižek, Mladen Dolar and Alenka Zupančič), ICI, Berlin (28.3.-30.3. 2011)
• Co-organizer (with Ben Dawson) of the Fellow Film Series program (2010-2011), ICI, Berlin
• Co-organizer of the Surfing the Black Wave conference, Jve-Academy, 28.-29.8. 2010), Maastricht (http://surfingtheblack.net/)
• Organizer of international conference: “Urbanism and self-management in Yugoslavia” JvE Academy, 2009 (29.10.), Maastricht
• Co-Organizer (with Sara Farris, Katja Dieffenbach and Peter Thomas) of international conference: Encountering Althusser, Jan van Eyck Academy, 2009 (9.-11.10.), Maastricht
• Organizer of film screenings: German Expressionist and Soviet film, JvE Academy, February-June 2008, Maastricht
• Co-organizer of one-week School on LETS (Local economy trading systems), within Krtača and Worker’s-Punks’ University, October 2005, Ljubljana