Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures

Courses

• Introduction to Balkan and South Slavic Culture 
• Postsocialist Art 
• Experiments in Yugoslav Film 
• South Slavic Cinema
• Contemporary Literature Across Southeastern Europe 
• East European Avant-Gardes 
• 1999: Art, Politics, and the Making of the 21st Century 
• Žižek in Context 

Research Interests

Modern and contemporary art and visual culture in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, with special interest in film, performance art, and photography; intellectual and comparative histories of socialism; critical theory  

My research examines interconnections between art, politics, and philosophy. Trained as an art historian with a focus on modern and contemporary art from across Southeastern Europe, I am interested in how art engages with structures, systems, and institutions at moments of political crisis and in an effort to broaden narrowed horizons of possibility. The scope of my research is intermedial and transnational, spanning the Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic to the Black Sea, with a focus on film and multimedia art, performance art and photography. 

Currently, I am working on a book titled Bad Comrades: Art and Answerability after Socialism, which charts a significant shift in contemporary art’s relationship to power and politics. The book positions Southeastern Europe’s postsocialist history of disaster capitalism, resurgent ethno-nationalism, and authoritarianism as a precursor to many of the twenty-first century’s most alarming global trends. It examines how art in the region has responded to and contended with an era of economic precarity, austerity, war, and repression, and asks what lessons and critical strategies these responses might offer to a world in crisis. Analyzing the work of leading artists from Albania, Bulgaria, and across post-Yugoslavia, Bad Comrades tells the story of how decades of sociopolitical upheaval have given rise not to an aesthetic of cynicism or quiet retreat, but to vibrant artistic landscapes marked by renewed commitments to public institutions, civic responsibility, and collective forms of answerability. My research has been supported by fellowships from the ACLS, AISEES (American Institute for Southeast European Studies), Fulbright, and Mellon Foundation.

Teaching

The courses I teach introduce students to the histories of art, literature, film, philosophy, and politics from across Southeastern Europe. In addition to an introductory survey course on Balkan and South Slavic culture, offered annually, I teach undergraduate courses that examine the region’s defining artistic, cinematic, and literary movements, genres, and authors. I also teach graduate seminars on topics related to modern and contemporary art, critical theory, philosophy, politics, and aesthetics. My courses often engage students beyond the classroom and include guest speakers, film screenings, field trips, and events organized in collaboration with campus and community programs and institutes.