The exhibition will be presented on Milan Rastislav Štefánik Square (EUROVEA) in Bratislava from 9 to 21 November.
The presentation of the exhibition in Slovakia is included in the programme of the Festival of Freedom (Festival Slobody) - a multi-genre event organised to analise and commemorate the period of oppression in Slovakia and other countries of the former eastern bloc.
‘Roads to 1989’ will be officially opened in the presence of the Ambassadors of the ENRS member countries, the representatives of the Slovak Ministry of Culture. Slovak Parliament and the organizers of the event – European Network Remembrance and Solidarity and Nation’s Memory Institute.
The exhibition, designed by historians associated with the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, documents the complicated process through which this part of Europe regained its freedom from communist dictatorship. The exhibition is part of ‘Freedom Express’, a social and educational campaign organised by ENRS together with the ministries responsible for culture in Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
The exhibition presented already in Berlin, Brussels, Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna and Bucharest concentrates on the various ways in which civil liberties were limited in the former communist bloc and on attempts made to regain them. It focuses especially on the question of what connects and divides remembrance of the events that preceded the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe.
Prof. Jan Rydel, chairman of the ENRS Steering Committee, explains: ‘The idea for this exhibition stems from the conviction that reflection on the 1989 transition in individual states becomes fuller and deeper when viewed in the pan-European context. Our aim is first and foremost to remind everyone of the processes that eventually led to the fall of communism in this part of Europe.’
The content of the exhibition reveals a story of the different faces of freedom. Individual parts of the exhibition are devoted to freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion and belief, economic freedom and other themes.
Mirosław Nizio, author of the exhibition’s architectural design, emphasises: “The geometrical setup of the pieces will make them fit perfectly with the landscape of city squares and arteries. It will create a zone within the city space designed for meeting the history. Archival photographs and texts are placed on illuminated cubes so the audience can view the exhibition also at night.”
The exhibition will be officially opened on 9 November at 11:00 a.m. and will stay in Bratislava till 21 November.