BrainMap

Mrs. Caterina Preda

Dr

Associate Professor - UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Researcher | Teaching staff | Scientific reviewer | PhD supervisor

Caterina Preda, PhD, Habil. is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Bucharest where she teaches undergraduate courses on Latin American politics, Art and politics, and a graduate course on Cultural memory in South America and Eastern Europe. Her research is interdisciplinary and deals with art in dictatorships, artistic memory in post-dictatorships in South America and Eastern Europe (Chile and Romania), cultural memory, post-communism, Latin American studies, and the visual representation of the Roma. She is the author of Art and Politics under Modern Dictatorships (Palgrave, 2017). Her most recent research projects dealt with the case of the Romanian Artists’ Union (UAP), and the art and politics of memory of the dictatorship in South America and Eastern Europe” (2018-2020), www.caterinapreda.ro, caterina.preda@unibuc.ro

Curriculum Vitae (27/06/2023)

Expertise & keywords

Transnational Encounters: Romania’s Cultural and Artistic Relations within the State-Socialist World (1950s-1980s) Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de cercetare pentru stimularea tinerelor echipe independente - TE-2021
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2021-0649 2022 - 2024

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation:

Project website: https://polart.unibuc.ro/transnational-socialist-encounters/?fbclid=IwAR0XXZerN1zSJQ6a1tWvNx6s8Od4jnEX7yftRsBobG3aeVLOLwMpgv1_Boc

Abstract:

This project analyzes the cultural and artistic relations between communist Romania and other state-socialist countries between the 1950s and 1980s from the perspective of “cultural transnationalism” or “cultural internationalism” within the State-Socialist world. This approach is relevant because it allows for a better understanding of the role of culture and art in the context of the Cold War (Cultural Cold War studies), which can further increase the broader importance of studying in more detail culture’s and art’s political role in non-democratic configurations.

This research focuses on the different types of links established by (cultural) institutions and individuals, and on the role played by the cultural and artistic networks in the establishment of transnational – in some cases even transcontinental - connexions during the socialist regimes between the 1950s and 1980s. The analysis will take into account cultural and artistic circulations, exchanges and entanglements between communist Romania, on one hand, and various socialist states from Eastern Europe and beyond, on the other hand.

Towards Inclusive Mnemonic Communities: Re-Visiting Violent Pasts through the Lens of Artistic Memory in Eastern Europe Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de cercetare pentru stimularea tinerelor echipe independente
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-0025 2020 - 2022

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website: https://sites.google.com/view/comunitatimnemonice/home

Abstract:

This interdisciplinary research project fleshes out the “artistic memories” (Preda) of various violent pasts (the Holocaust, the Nazi and communist era atrocities, ethno-nationalistic wars and ethnic cleansing, forced labor, as well as various forms of racism like Romaphobia) from a comparative Eastern European perspective. We argue that the artistic memory projects produced after 1990 - and selected as case studies for this research project - can establish a new direction in the commemorative practices of the violent pasts. Artistic memory cultures can foster diverse, but inclusive mnemonic communities that exceed the polarizing narratives about “them,” and “us” in light of memory activism for universal human rights. From a theoretical point of view, this is an interdisciplinary research at the intersection of Cultural studies, Cultural Memory Studies and Political Science, (including a focus on Transitional Justice, and Human Rights Theory) which has the aim to highlight the artistic memory culture’s ability to deal with violent pasts, various forms of injustice and hegemonic patterns of domination from historical knowledge production about the past.

Transregional remembrance of dictatorships: restoring human dignity through artistic practices in South America and Eastern Europe Call name:
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-0346 2018 - 2020

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website: http://transregional-artistic-memory.caterinapreda.ro

Abstract:

This project analyzes what, and how do artists remember after traumatic experiences of the non-democratic regimes of the 20th century in two opposing ideological contexts in South America (with a focus on the Southern Cone – Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil), and Eastern Europe (including ex-Yugoslavia). We use an innovative approach, that of comparing two dissimilar regions with different experiences of the past, and through a look at cultural remembrance practices, and especially artistic renderings of the past as these show how, or what is missing from the process of dealing with the past, and how through a comparative outlook the two regions could learn from one another. The project uses an interdisciplinary method of the study of artistic practices after dictatorships, and lies at the intersection of several theoretical foci. It uses methodological instruments that belong to the field of Transitional Justice (TJ) studies and more specifically to the study of the role of art in the process of TJ. It proposes a specific approach, that of transnational memory and of transregional studies between the two regions with a focus on a precise form of cultural memory, that of artistic practices. Instead of comparing countries or regions, I propose we use the lens of art and politics to look at the way societies as seen by artists deal with their past experiences. The research will evaluate comparatively the similarities, and differences of artistic remembrances of past hardships in a transregional approach through specific case studies that bring forward the transregional links we can observe, and which artistic practices help create. The main objective is to create a framework of comparative analysis of phenomena connected to the aftermath of dictatorships through very specific examples that help document the transregional similarities and disparities of dealing with the past that artists are able to pinpoint to.

Transregional remembrance of dictatorships: restoring human dignity through artistic practices in South America and Eastern Europe Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de cercetare pentru stimularea tinerelor echipe independente
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-0346 2018 - 2020

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website: http://transregional-artistic-memory.caterinapreda.ro/

Abstract:

This project analyzes what, and how do artists remember after traumatic experiences of the non-democratic regimes of the 20th century in two opposing ideological contexts in South America (with a focus on the Southern Cone - Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil), and Eastern Europe (including ex-Yugoslavia). We use an innovative approach, that of comparing two dissimilar regions with different experiences of the past, and through a look at cultural remembrance practices, and especially artistic renderings of the past as these show how, or what is missing from the process of dealing with the past, and how through a comparative outlook the two regions could learn from one another. The project uses an interdisciplinary method of the study of artistic practices after dictatorships, and lies at the intersection of several theoretical foci. It uses methodological instruments that belong to the field of Transitional Justice (TJ) studies and more specifically to the study of the role of art in the process of TJ. It proposes a specific approach, that of transnational memory and of transregional studies between the two regions with a focus on a precise form of cultural memory, that of artistic practices. Instead of comparing countries or regions, I propose we use the lens of art and politics to look at the way societies as seen by artists deal with their past experiences. The research will evaluate comparatively the similarities, and differences of artistic remembrances of past hardships in a transregional approach through specific case studies that bring forward the transregional links we can observe, and which artistic practices help create. The main objective is to create a framework of comparative analysis of phenomena connected to the aftermath of dictatorships through very specific examples that help document the transregional similarities and disparities of dealing with the past that artists are able to pinpoint to.

Crossing the Borders: Transnational Collaborations and Institutional Critique in Eastern European Art Exhibitions during Late Socialism (1964-1989) Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de cercetare pentru stimularea tinerelor echipe independente
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-1369 2018 - 2020

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA NAŢIONALĂ DE ARTE "GEORGE ENESCU" DIN IAŞI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA NAŢIONALĂ DE ARTE "GEORGE ENESCU" DIN IAŞI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA NAŢIONALĂ DE ARTE "GEORGE ENESCU" DIN IAŞI (RO)

Project website: http://www.arteiasi.ro/transcol

Abstract:

The project aims to investigate the founding, structure, dynamic and early reception of alternative artistic networks, self-managed art institutions and exhibition practices both within and outside the Iron Curtain during late socialism - the period of so-called ”stagnation” associated with the ”Brezhnev era”. Its main goal is to produce a cultural cartography of counter-cultural art practices in the former Eastern Europe (which derive from conceptual art and performance), taking into account their institutional relations at a local, national and transnational level, their forms of organization and cultural exchange and their curatorial and exhibition programs. In this respect, the project aims to: 1) reveal and contextualize significant examples of institutional critique associated with alternative forms of exhibiting in the former Eastern Europe, and to construct a selective cartography of institutional critique in the former Eastern Europe; 2) Map out inter- and trans-national exchanges taking place within the Eastern bloc in and beyond the official networks and channels of cultural production; 3) realize a comparative study between these (informal) art institutions, spaces and exhibition programs and formats in Eastern Europe and similar Western cases; 4) provide a clearer representation of international exchanges taking place outside the Iron Curtain, indicating points of contact not only between the former ”East” and ”West”, but also between Eastern Europe and the non-Western world.

A visual tool for the display of the visual representations of the Roma of Romania in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Europeana collections: between stereotypes and truthfulness Call name:
2018 - 2018

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Project website: http://roma-ovt.ro/en/

Abstract:

This project provides a web platform, which includes the visual representations of the Roma of the Romanian territories as they appear in the Europeana collection in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries’ depictions. This web-platform is meant to be used as a didactic tool in the classroom, in high school and university level courses. The research project on which it is based, has investigated the ways in which the stereotypical, repetitive representations of the Roma help explain the current underprivileged situation of this community in Europe and in Romania in particular.

From the ”state artist” to the artist dependent on the state: The Union of Visual Artists (of Romania) (1950-2010) - the Bucharest branch Call name: Projects for Young Research Teams - RUTE -2014 call
PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-0243 2015 - 2017

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website: https://artistuldestatuap.wordpress.com/

Abstract:

The project proposes to write a monographic study of the Union of Visual Artists of Romania (UAP) in the period 1950-2010 in the absence of a landmark study of one of the most important communist and postcommunist organizations that administers, controls and represents visual artists. The period of analysis includes both the communist regime, as well as the first 20 years of the democratic regime (1950-2010) so as to be able to capture in detail the transformation it suffered as a consequence. The project advances an analysis at several levels of this organization: an institutional sociologic approach, an analysis in terms of members and leading teams (elites), a research of the legal statutes that UAP went through and the definition of the artist, the relation with the communist and democratic state through a case study – that of producer of public monuments in Bucharest. The analysis of the relation with the Romanian state will include several types of interactions between the state and the artists through the investigation of archive documents unexploited until now (UAP, CNSAS, ANR, etc.), of interviews with those that governed the UAP and through the use of the methods specific to the analysis of the interdisciplinary field of art and politics. The project will disseminate its results through an international conference, a database with the UAP members, an index of the monuments realized by the UAP in Bucharest, as well as the publication of a monograph of UAP, of a volum

project title Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de mobilitate pentru cercetatori
PN-III-P1-1.1-MC-2018-1388 2018 -

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website:

Abstract:

project title Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de mobilitate pentru cercetatori
PN-III-P1-1.1-MC-2017-0965 2017 -

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website:

Abstract:

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects