INTRODUCING NOSTALGIA MOVEMENTS

SF|IUS + CENTER FOR VISUAL STUDIES 

edited by Dario Vuger

SUMMARY:

The edited volume explores the nuances of nostalgia from the perspectives of phenomenological research, popular culture, and contemporary artistic practices through several formats and a variety of contributions from experts, scientists, artists, and practitioners who participated in the first international interdisciplinary conference on Nostalgia Movements held in 2022 at Multimedia Institute in Zagreb, organized by Center for Visual Studies and the NGO Social Fringe: Interesting Untold Stories – SF:ius.

The goal of this publication is primarily to sketch out the outlines of nostalgia as a subject in humanities research while offering two sets of exemplifications, one coming from the local context and modern histories dealing with notions of Yugo-nostalgia, favorable visualization of the past as an augmentation of the impoverished present, etc. and – on the other hand – examples of artistic practices dealing with the nostalgic phenomena in a more-or-less immediate manner. To aid the mediation between the theoretical and practical aspects of the phenomena we have included in this volume three interviews dealing with nostalgia through direct deliberation (with Grafton Tanner), from the perspective of visual studies (Krešimir Purgar) and individual artistic practice (Zlatko Kozina).

This volume should be considered a valuable addition to the growing literature dealing with the phenomena of nostalgia because of its variety of texts and materials aiding the efforts to ‘map out nostalgia’ and thus offer a new environment for research not only locally but in the global context of contemporary phenomenological investigations. Taken as “the defining emotion of our time” (Tanner), nostalgia is considered in this volume as a tool in the analysis, critique, and deconstruction of contemporary culture, especially from the standpoint of the political, economic, and socio-cultural re-evaluation and re-writing of collective pasts to direct and commodify individual presents. This volume aims to demonstrate in a brief but comprehensive manner (through texts, interviews, artwork, statements, and bibliographies) that nostalgia plays an ever-increasing role in shaping contemporary culture and in effect our lives on all levels of daily experience.

CONTENTS:

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

IMPRESSUM

editor: Dario Vuger (Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek, Croatia)

design & layout: Layla Munitić (SF:ius, Rijeka, Croatia)

reviewers:

Mirela Ramljak Purgar, PhD (Academy of Arts and Culture, Osijek, Croatia)

Andrej Božič, PhD (Inštitut Nove Revije, Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Luciano Basauri, PhD (Universidad de las Americas, Santiago, Chile)