Between a 'Rok' and a Dark Place
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| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | n Czechoslovak representations of Africa, motorised road vehicles became a literal and symbolic embodiment of colonial modernity. They offered a means of exploring, controlling and aestheticising various African landscapes, whilst reinforcing the idea of a clear divide between modern, mobile Europeans and “static/backward” African people. Travelling to Africa during the (long/short) 20th century reveals more about Czechoslovak travellers than the people they encountered. The continent served as a projection screen – a performative manifestation for staging Central European modernity, nationalisms and other ideologies/identities, which were articulated through contrast and imagined “conquest.” The motorcar’s aesthetic and technological prowess for rapid (almost limitless) mobility has mediated many of these imaginaries, often into boundless roadscapes. Drawing on examples from book and magazine sketches/photographs, across exhibitions and pop-culture imagery, the “multi-media” presentation outline will, among other things, highlight: 20th-century colonial systems and Czechoslovakia; Adventure, science and propaganda: Historical-political context; Imagined contrasts between modernity and backwardness: Vehicles & visual culture... |
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