Prof. Iveta Slavkova brings Global Surrealism Conversations to AUP

This fall AUP hosted one of—if not the biggest—conference ever organized by the University, bringing 500 academics, researchers, and experts from every continent to campus. Thanks to the dedication of Art History Professor Iveta Slavkova, the Annual Conference of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism was a great success.

Over three days, from October 28th to 30th 2024, specialists of Surrealism and the avant-garde, artists, poets and grad students flocked in from prestigious universities across the globe to give talks and present their work. The conference was co-organized by Julia Drost from the Centre allemande d’histoire de l’art, Fabrice Flahutez from the Université Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne, Olivier Penot-Lacassagne from Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, and Slavkova.

In addition to papers given in the traditional academic conference format, during up to eight simultaneous panels, international artists and poets whose work could be considered a continuation of, or resonating with historical Surrealism (as the twentieth century movement is known) were able to read or present their work. The exhibition at the AUP Fine Arts Gallery, curated by professor Stéphane Treilhou, exposed a select number of pieces proposed by artists who were also speakers at the conference, AUP Fine Arts professors and staff. A special feature was a collage by André Breton’s daughter, Aube Elléouët Breton, for sale by the Association Atelier André Breton to help students finance their conference-related expenses. The AUP Library was also involved, exposing books on Surrealism and hosting booksellers from the Librairie Tschann (Paris), who came with 500 different books on Surrealism as well as the books of all the presenters.

Rather than looking at Surrealism and the avant-garde as movements of the past, the conference sought to consider the potential for revolution behind these movements, as the Surrealists presented their movement in the first manifesto of 1924. “Historical Surrealism has many openings; the question of emancipation is central; and there are many types of Surrealisms generated in different contexts,” explains Slavkova. “We wanted to invite artists and hold artist sessions to emphasize the ways that Surrealistic concepts, the political aspects of the movement—the critique of colonial imperialism and the exploration of otherness and the unconscious—continue to nourish artistic practices today.” 

The conference featured contributions on living Surrealists—Georges Sebbag, Penelope Rosemont (Chicago Surrealism) and the active Prague Surrealist Bertrand Schmitt for example—sparking debate over the “death” of Surrealism, and remedying, in part, the lack of attention given to post-World War II Surrealism. “We filled in the gap,” says Slavkova proudly, adding that many papers emphasized “rhizomatic Surrealism,” which diverts focus from Breton and the French Surrealists to consider its presence and development elsewhere. “Surrealism is very much about reality,” she shares. “The preface ‘sur’ in Sur-realism opens the door to otherness; to understanding the differences of  perception of reality and its complexity; Surrealism helps us think of all this in terms of a ‘total reality,’ in an open-minded and inclusive way.”

Some of the best parts of the conference, according to Slavkova, were the extra-academic activities. Participants could attend a movie screening of Czech Surrealist filmmaker Jan Švankmajer’s Les conspirateurs du plaisir (Conspirators of Pleasure) (1999) on the first night; and visit the “Surréalisme” exhibition at the Centre Pompidou outside of the museum’s opening hours on the second day. On the last night, they engaged in a surrealist walk—or “dérive”—through Paris led by the association La Rose Impossible, the guardians of Breton’s house in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. A cocktail, prepared and served by the Amex manager Antonin Wateau with wine selection by AUP professor Elizabeth Kinne, was also held for all participants on the second night.

Conferences such as this are a great opportunity for faculty to involve students in their research, which Slavkova did by inviting students to be part of the organization of the conference, bridging it with the content of her course: Paris, Capital of Modern Art. Slavkova’s students contributed by writing papers on the Surrealist works on display at the Surréalisme exhibition at the Centre Pompidou; a selection of papers were then presented in a brochure in the Monttessuy Center for the Arts Gallery where the Fine Arts students of Prof. Sophie Pigeron’s and Delphine Debord’s classes showed their works. Slavkova’s students also manned information desks at the conference, took care of participant registration, catering and the cocktail, and guided people from one place to another on campus. The Fine Arts students of as Randa Massot, an AUP staff member who runs the Staff Art Club, also had opportunity to hang some pieces for artists and creators featured at Combes. Massot’s work has elements of biomorphism and natural history, which Slavkova connected to Surrealism.

Slavkova herself holds has a PhD in Art History from Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University and focuses her research on the reaction of several avant-garde art movements, including surrealism, to the humanism crisis around the time of World World I. 

“The atmosphere was cheerful between artists and academics, with folks making original works and reading canonical texts in new ways, enlarging the field; globalizing the idea of Surrealism. I am so pleased and very happy that we were able to create this space,” she reiterates. “The whole conference was very collegial and friendly. I am happy AUP was the host of this; it is an incredible community, warm and inviting, where researchers and students are encouraged to go deep, and respectfully confront their ideas.”