The Plan for the Cultural Consolidation of the Balkan Peninsula
The Plan for the Cultural Consolidation of the Balkan Peninsula is a fake research project. It is comprised of fabricated archival material, containing a variety of impossible, ridiculous or downright dangerous proposals aiming toward the cultural “unification” of all Balkan countries. These are presented as having been composed decades ago by an obscure committee and subsequently forgotten, to resurface only now after an accidental discovery.
The Plan is, essentially, a project about the ridiculousness of nationalism, particularly in the Balkan countries, and the role state cultural policies play in fostering this nationalism. Through a series of outlandish, forever unrealised proposals for public works, this project raises a set of questions: how is national identity shaped through public works of art? Who commissions these works, and whose interests do they serve? And, finally, how is nationalism validated, little by little, through this endless array of monuments?
papademetriou.alexandra@gmail.com
