Why Remember? Testimonies of Light, Sarajevo, 7-9 July 2025
Event description
PhD and Practitioner Day: Monday 7 July 2025, at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Hezegovina
Main Conference Days: Tuesday 8 July - Wednesday 9 July 2025, at the Hotel Europe, Vladislava Skarića 5, Sarajevo 71000
Registration is free. Please register for either or both days by selecting from the ticket types available.
The 2025 Why Remember? Testimonies of Light conference will mark 30 years since the Srebrenica genocide, and the events of the Bosnian War which resulted in the signing of the Dayton Accords in late 1995. This year’s conference will reflect on how these defining events continue to shape memory, reconciliation, and peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as other post-conflict societies throughout the world. As we commemorate this significant anniversary, we will also pay tribute to Professor Paul Lowe, the conference series’ founder and internationally acclaimed conflict photographer, who passed away in October 2024.
The 2025 conference will critically examine how memory, trauma, and reconciliation intersect in the context of genocide and post-conflict peace processes. It will explore how the legacy of Srebrenica continues to resonate in collective memory and how post-Dayton Bosnia informs contemporary debates more broadly on peace and nation-building.
The conference brings together scholars, practitioners, and artists to reflect on the enduring impacts of these historical events while fostering dialogue on how to build inclusive, pluralist narratives that support peace and coexistence. As Paul Lowe said, ‘Art remembers and pays testimony to the past. [It] pays attention to things that would otherwise go unnoticed and unseen.’
This year’s gathering is particularly mindful of the importance of accessibility and inclusivity, and therefore, and in honour of our friend and colleague Paul, there will be no conference fee this year.
Session details to be advertised shortly.
Registrations are essential and numbers are limited.
Please note that this year’s conference will not be live-streamed.
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME: 7-9 JULY 2025
PhD Practitioner Day: Monday 7 July 2025
Time | Room 1 |
9.00am | Registration: Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 71000, Zmaja od Bosne 5, Sarajevo 71000, Bosnia & Herzegovina |
9.30am | Introduction and Opening by Vera Zurbrügg
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9.40am | Keynote Lecture
Bisan Abu Eisheh – Breathing Archives
Keynote followed by questions and discussion
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11.00am Break | |
11.15am
| Session 1 - Remembering in Institutions
● Dalila Mirović Beyond Archives: How the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina Uses Digital Platforms to Preserve and Mediate Memory
● Patrick Dowson Libraries as "Spaces of Collected Memory" in the Western Balkans
● Marilia Fotopoulou In the Midst of it all: Collecting and Curating Children’s Perspectives in Times of Migration by the War Childhood Museum in Sarajevo
Presentations followed by questions and discussion
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12pm | Session 2 - Generating the Past
Alexey Yurenev in conversation with Vera Zurbrügg about his book Seeing Against Seeing Followed by questions and discussion
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12.30pm |
Lunch (provided)
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1.15pm | Session 3 - Reclaiming the Narrative
● Andreea Elle Vas (Paciu) Remembering the everyday of childhoods under oppression and siege: art and oral history counter-narratives reclaiming the past
● Kyaice Hendricks Melancholia and post-conflict memory: The relationship between time, grief and family photos in Tarik Samarah’s Srebrenica and Jasmila Zbanic’s Quo Vadis, Aida?
● Arta Uka Navigating the Ongoing Marginalisation of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Survivors: Exploring the Nexus of Conflict, Art and Memory
Presentations followed by questions and discussion
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2pm | Session 4 - Documenting the Future
Anders Birger in conversation with David Birkin about his work For Clara
Followed by questions and discussion
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2.30pm | Break |
2.45pm | Session 5 - Reconfiguring, Silencing, Justifying
● Hella Wiedmer-Newman New Memory in Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina: Re-incribing the Protectorate, Re-Centering the Transnational (2020-2025)
● Maxwin Rayen Banned from the Beach: Memory, Repression, and the Silencing of Mullivaikkal Remembrance in Tamil Nadu
● Jessica Bombasaro-Brady Déjà vu in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Comparing police officers’ roles as ethno-political agents in 1992 and 2025
● Samuel Raus Antemurale Europae: Justifications for the War in Gaza Bring Eerie Echoes of Serb Nationalism in the 1990s
Presentations followed by questions and discussion
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3.40 | Navigating the Research Process (from Material to Mental Health)
Jennifer Good in conversation with Vera Zurbrügg
Followed by questions and discussion
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5pm | End of PhD + Practitioner Day |
Please wait at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the Why Remember? Testimonies of Light Conference Opening Event and Drinks, starting at 5:30pm.
Monday 7 July 2025: Opening Event
5.30pm | Why Remember? Testimonies of Light Conference Opening Event and Drinks
Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 71000, Zmaja od Bosne 5, Sarajevo 71000, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Speeches by:
● Elma Hašimbegović ● Brigitte Lardinois ● Max Houghton
● Amra Abadžić Lowe
Jan-Joseph Stok presents #PeaceforPaul images
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7.30pm | End |
Day 1: Tuesday 8 July 2025
Time | Room 1 | |
9:00am | Registration: Hotel Europe, Vladislava Skarića 5, Sarajevo 71000
Coffee and Tea | |
9:30am | Introduction and Opening
Max Houghton, Kit Messham-Muir, Henry Redwood
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9:40am | Session 1: Artist Roundtable Chair: Henry Redwood
● Vladimir Miladinović ● Kumjana Novakova
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10:40am | Session 2: Panel: Art and Reconciliation
Chair: Rachel Kerr
● Tiffany Fairey ● Elma Hašimbegović ● James Gow ● Melina MIchalski ● Vladimir Milandinović ● Denisa Kostovicova
Presentations followed by questions and discussion | |
12:00pm Lunch (Lunch not provided but there are many restaurants local to the venue, we will lead groups to different ones)
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1:00pm
| Session 3: Keynote: Srebrenica keynote - Hasan Nuhanović
Chair: Elma Hašimbegović
Presentations followed by questions and discussion | |
1.45pm | Session 4: Film Screening: Facing Srebrenica – A Living Archive - Erna Rijsdijk and Tim Klaase
This short film (25 min) introduces the participatory photo-archive project Facing Srebrenica and explores how images taken by Dutchbat soldiers in 1994–1995 are being revisited by survivors and veterans today. It documents an unfolding process of dialogue, co-creation, and shared reflection on the ongoing presence of the past.
Questions and discussion in the following session | |
2:15pm | Session 5: Panel: Image, Memory, Conflict
Chair: Max Houghton
● David Birkin How to Do Things with Images: Visuality, Performativity, Resistance ● Edmund Clark The Ordered Universe of War: Knowledge, Meaning and Seeing - American Military Power in the 21st century ● Azra Haracic Memory, Witness, and the Work of Peace ● Alexey Yurenev On Present and Absent Photographs as the Silent Heroes of Synthetic and Social Memories ● Tim Klaase and Erna Rijsdijk (Q&A)
Presentations followed by questions and discussion
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3:45pm | Break | |
| Room 1 | Room 2 |
4:00pm | Session 6A: Panel: Activism and Counter Narratives
Chair: David Birkin
● Esma Kucukalic Ibrahimović "Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo" - VALENCIA: from Bosnian Refugees (1992) to DANA (2024). When institutional trust is broken, counter-narratives of community action become visible. ● Denisa Kostovicova Lanabi La Lova Digital Divides or Global Bridges? Mapping Online Discourse on #Srebrenica ● Andreea Elle Vas (Paciu) Remembering the everyday of childhoods under oppression and siege: art and oral history counter-narratives reclaiming the past
Presentations followed by questions and discussion | Session 6B: Panel: Legacies of Conflict
Chair: Steve Cross
● Jane Drapkin The complexities of Peace: Tuzla and the containment of ethno-nationalism ● Adisa Avdić Küsmüs Symbolic Landscape and Reconciliation in Brčko District: Confronting the Legacy of Conflict ● Jessica Bombasaro-Brady Déjà vu in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Comparing police officers’ roles as ethno-political agents in 1992 and 2025 ● Arta Uka Screaming into the Abyss: Children’s Often Neglected Lived Wartime Experiences
Presentations followed by questions and discussion |
5:30pm | End of Day 1 at Hotel Europe | |
8:00pm |
Kumjana Novakova, Silence of Reason (2023, 63 mins) film screening at Kinoteka Bosnia and Herzegovina Kinoteka Bosne i Hercegovine, Alipašina 19, Sarajevo 71200, Bosnia & Herzegovina
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Day 2: Wednesday 9 July 2025
9:00am | Session 7A: Panel: Museums and Commemorative Practice
Chair: Clare Lawlor
● Martina Ricci Commemorating Srebrenica: Cross-Cultural Representations and the Globalization of Trauma. ● Azra Imamović. Memorials, Social Media and Struggles: Cases of Banja Luka, Brčko, Mostar and Sarajevo ● Ajnura A. Akbaš
Presentations followed by questions and discussion
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10:30am | Break | |
| Room 1 | Room 2 |
10:45am | Session 8A: Panel: Genocide and Art Practice
Chair: Henry Redwood
● Emina Zoletić Linda Paganelli Snežana Stanković "My son, you have a dream Follow it with the night given to you!" Artistic Narration Amidst and in Aftermath of Destruction. Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kosovo. Palestine. ● Nina Rojc The Limits of Reconciliation: Who defines what reconciliation means, and whose voices are legitimized in the process? ● Gabriella Seith Artistic Memorialization in Sarajevo and in Gaza
Presentations followed by questions and discussion
| Session 8B: Panel discussion: Innovative Practices of Memorialization and Living Together After Conflict
Moderated: Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC)
Chair: Brigitte Lardinois
● Velma Šarić and Tatjana Milovanonvić ● Tiffany Fairey Peace is possible: The role of strategic visual narratives in peacebuilding. ● Pratap Rughani Impossible Conversations? ● James Smith
Presentations followed by questions and discussion
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12:15pm |
Lunch: Lunch not provided, but there are many restaurants local to the venue, and we will lead groups to different ones
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1:15pm | Session 9: Keynote: Adela Jušić in conversation with Kit Messham-Muir
Presentation followed by questions and discussion
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2:00pm | Session 10A: Panel: Reimagining Trauma and Community: creative and embodied practices in Ukraine
Chair: Henry Redwood and Kit Messham-Muir
● Halyna Hleba and Veronika Skliarova Art as Collective Griefwork: Participatory Practices and Post-Traumatic Growth in Times of War ● Oksana Potapova Embodied narratives of war-time feminist activism in Ukraine as sites of imagination of feminist peace
Presentations followed by questions and discussion
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3:30pm |
Make way to Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 71000, Zmaja od Bosne 5, Sarajevo 71000, Bosnia & Herzegovina
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4:30pm | Session 11: Closing Sound and Memory Intervention: at Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina
● Thomas Gardner ● Alma Zero
Performance: Cello and field recordings by Thomas Gardner
Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 71000, Zmaja od Bosne 5, Sarajevo 71000, Bosnia & Herzegovina
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6:30pm |
Closing speech by Steve Cross and drinks: Museum Terrace of Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina
71000, Zmaja od Bosne 5, Sarajevo 71000, Bosnia & Herzegovina
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8:00pm |
Speakers’ Conference Dinner: Restoran Careva Ćuprija Kundurdžiluk 10, Sarajevo 71000
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The 2025 Why Remember? Testimonies of Light Conference is organised by Curtin University in Perth, Australia, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, and War Studies at Kings College London, in partnership with The Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with funding from London College of Communication and the Art of Peace Australian Research Council project.
Art of Peace: New perspectives in visual art on peacekeeping from the 1990s is an Australian Research Council Linkage Project funded by the Australian Government through a grant of $435,984 (2023-2025) (LP210300068), led by Curtin University, in partnership with the Art Gallery of Western Australia and National Trust (NSW), in collaboration with University of New South Wales, University of Melbourne, University of the Arts London and California State University.
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