Vienna, 19. – 21. November 2015

Organisation: Stefan Hulfeld, Jana Dolečki, Senad Halilbasic. Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Studies, University of Vienna in cooperation with the Volkstheater Wien

Venue:
THU & FRI: Volx/Margareten (Margaretenstraße 166, 1050 Wien)
SAT: Volkstheater (Neustiftgasse 1, 1070 Wien)

The purpose of the conference is to examine theatre activities during the Yugoslav Wars between 1991 and 1995, focusing on Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The socio- political and historical contexts greatly influenced how the theatre of that time and place functioned and also led to some new specifically theatrical forms and phenomena.

Topics related to war, crisis, the ‘enemy’, and national and post-Yugoslav questions permeated both the official, state-governed theatres as well as the non-official ones. Furthermore, the conditions of theatre production and its reception were highly impacted by the physical proximity of the front lines.

Theatre artists from Belgrade, Zagreb and Sarajevo will talk about their work experiences during the Yugoslav Wars. Scholars from various universities will give lectures and participate in round-table discussions about the current state of research in this area. The main goal of the conference is to examine the scholarly work currently being conducted on the topic of war theatre in this specific region and period and to establish a networking space for artists and scholars in the field.