The Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as the current diplomatic tensions between the US and China in the Pacific region are often discussed within the frame of a “new Cold War,” exemplifying how the idea of “the Cold War” has informed and shaped our perception of the world order. Yet historian Masuda Hajimu reminds us that the actuality of the Cold War was not only the result of a state-to-state, geopolitical confrontation between the two ideological camps, but that of the struggles within each society. It was “a gigantic social mechanism” that operated to tranquilize a multitude of conflicts in the societies heavily struck by WWII to “restore order and harmony at home“ (Cold War Crucible – The Korean Conflict and the Postwar World, Masuda Hajimu, 2015).

This brings us to the question of how major historical conflicts are remembered differently in various parts of the world and why. We contemplate their meanings today by focusing on a series of performances, installations, talks and films from East, Southeast and South Asia that probe into the complexity and legacy of memories. They revisit old enemy images, tell forgotten stories, see individuals in history. Moreover, they reveal unknown correlations across national and ideological divides that had been covered by inherited narratives of a bipolar world.

Recalibrating our perspective this way, WHEN MEMORIES MEET aims to initiate encounters and exchanges that challenge the idea of a fixed identity and absolute separate histories in order to stimulate, in a time of social divides and changing historical imagination, new understandings of the world we live in.

The programme WHEN MEMORIES MEET is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.