What to do with the question “What will the Balkans look like in 2020?”
ERSTE Stiftung has published this speech by the Croatian author Boris Buden in its series ERSTE Stiftung Edition. With this speech, Boris Buden opened the Balkan Case Challenge 2010 held in Vienna from 5 to 10 July 2010. This competition, supported by ERSTE Foundation, aimed at providing opportunities and new perspectives for excellent students from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia by strengthening links between higher education and employment and by the provision of concrete job opportunities. In addition, the Balkan Case Challenge contributed to an increased awareness about the potentials of South Eastern Europe – being an integrative part of a joint Europe.
Boris Buden is a writer and cultural critic based in Berlin. He received his PhD in cultural theory from Humboldt University in Berlin. In the 1990s he was editor of the magazine Arkzin in Zagreb. His essays and articles cover the topics of philosophy, politics, cultural and art criticism. He has participated in various conferences and art projects in Western and Eastern Europe, Asia and USA, including Documenta XI. Buden is the author of Barikade, Zagreb (1996/1997), Kaptolski Kolodvor, Belgrade (2001), Der Schacht von Babel, Berlin (2004), Zone des Übergangs, Frankfurt/Main (2009).
Download the speech (not the full publication) here.
