Pogon is located next to Staro Trnje, a working class neighbourhood with a rich history of failed urban planning. On the other hand, it represents “Zagreb as it used to be” in the eyes of older citizens. Taking you on a walk around Pogon and nearby streets, we will introduce you to this surprising micro-location which surrounds it, its history and its potential. The walk will be guided by architect Antun Sevšek.
This lecture and presentation will take us to the history of founding and development of Pogon – the first institution in Croatia organised on the basis of civil-public partnership between the City of Zagreb and Operation City, a coalition of organizations in the field of independent culture and youth. This marks the beginning of a long story of similar initiatives in Croatia working on development of models of participatory governance in culture, as well as intersectional integration of different social agents such as platform Upgrade and work on the development of Intercultural Social Centre. Mirela Travar, the president of Operation City and Janja Sesar, the director of Pogon will introduce us to these issues.
In this lecture I shall propose a reflection on the materiality of teaching and learning, in and around contemporary globalised academia. I shall interrogate the practice of translation, and its intrinsic ethical impossibility, asking what political capacities and processes of subjectivation students and educators can craft to clog the system of epistemological thinking on which white, Western academia is founded, and that seemingly pre-determine the shape of our own contribution to knowledge and artistic production.