by Matthew Rampley, Masaryk University in Brno

In the context of Central Europe, the topic of colonialism is one that is only beginning to attract scholarly debate and reflection. MODERNITAS is therefore delighted to welcome Professor Matthew Rampley, whose current research project focuses on this field, as part of its lecture series.

In the summer of 2024, many representatives of the Czech artistic and cultural establishment, such as the artist Milan Knížák, the architect Josef Pleskot, the musician Milan Cajs and the novelist Jáchym Topol, signed an online petition demanding the resignation of Maria Topolčanská, rector of the Academy of Arts in Prague, and of Alicja Knast, director of the National Gallery.
The causes of complaint were numerous, but their criticisms focused, in particular, on the Czech entry to the Venice Biennale in that year, The Heart of a Giraffe in Captivity Weighs 12 Kilos Lighter, by Eva Koťátková, a seemingly innocuous comment by Knast, that ‘ … we shall have to find new ways of discussing and resolving the colonial past, and do it in the countries of central Europe, too.’ In both cases, the signatories objected to the suggestion that questions of coloniality had anything to do with Czech culture. Or, rather, that the Czech experience of coloniality was merely as a historic subject of colonial oppression.
Exploring a range of examples from art and visual culture since the mid-19th century, this lecture examines the theme of coloniality in the context of Czech culture and society. Questioning whether the contention of the signatories to the petition can be upheld, it also considers what it means for Czechs to talk about ‘resolving the

Matthew Rampley is a leading scholar in art history and visual culture, as well as cultural politics, with a particular focus on Central and Eastern Europe. His research explores the intersections of art, nationalism, and coloniality, examining how visual culture shapes historical memory and cultural identity. Having worked at the Universities of Birmingham and Edinburgh, his home institution is now Masaryk University in Brno, where he developed the prestigious ERC project Continuity/Rupture in Art and Architecture of Central Europe 1918–1939. He has now been awarded a highly regarded EXPRO grant by the Czech Grants Agency to develop his research on Czechs and the Colonial World: Design and Visual Culture since 1848. Among his many publications are The Vienna School of Art History: Empire and the Politics of Scholarship (2013) and The Museum Age in Austria-Hungary: Art and Empire in the Long Nineteenth Century (2021). This year will see the publication of his latest book, Visions of the Future: Modern Architecture, Catholicism, and the State in Central Europe, 1918–1939.

Friday march 14th 2025, from 10 to 12 am

Salle de réception
Bâtiment DE1 - Niveau 3 - Salle R.3.105
Avenue Antoine Depage 1
1050 Ixelles, Bruxelles

Free entrance