Panel discussion „Culture of Responsibility. The Central European, Caucasian and Balkan perspective“
On 7th of May at 18:00 in the frames of the project „Dilemma Academy“ will be held the Panel discussion „Culture of Responsibility. The Central European, Caucasian and Balkan perspective“.
Speakers:
Viktoras Bachmetjevas (Lithuania) – philosopher and Associate Professor at Vytautas Magnus University, specializing in ethics, Levinas, and contemporary French philosophy.
Monika Herceg (Croatia) – award-winning poet, playwright, essayist and cultural activist.
Medea Metreveli (Georgia) – founder and director of Literature Initiative Georgia, expert in literary promotion and international cultural cooperation.
Armen Ohanyan (Armenia) – writer, essayist, translator and President of PEN Armenia.
Ivanna Skyba-Yakubova (Ukraine) – poet, cultural manager, publicist and Executive Director of Radio Khartiya.
Laurynas Vaičiūnas (Lithuania/Poland) – director of the Jan Nowak-Jezioranski College of Eastern Europe, publisher, and expert in Eastern European affairs and public diplomacy.
Moderator:
Weronika Czyżewska-Poncyliusz (Poland) – educator, cultural animator, Director of International Programs at the Borderland Foundation, and Program Director of Dilemma Academy.
As part of Dilemma Mobile Academy in Georgia, this panel brings together voices from Central Europe, the Caucasus and the Balkans to reflect on responsibility in a time of upheaval, war, social fracture and deep uncertainty. The conversation will focus on perspectives shaped by the histories and present experiences of these regions, where questions of memory, freedom, civic courage, identity and public responsibility are especially urgent.
What should be the stance of writers, thinkers, artists, public intellectuals and people engaged in public life today? Is it enough to remain critical, to oppose, to refuse – and what comes after that? How do we move beyond negation toward responsibility understood as the difficult work of shaping institutions, communities, language and public space? What does it mean not to withdraw from the task of building?
This discussion asks what responsibility means today from the regional perspectives of Central Europe, the Caucasus and the Balkans: societies marked by conflict, transition, democratic struggle and competing visions of the future. It is a conversation not only about dissent, but about what should follow it – about responsibility for building, sustaining and imagining what comes next.
The panel is part of Dilemma Mobile Academy – a unique travelling academy moving between Central Europe, the Balkans and the Caucasus, creating a shared space for reflection, exchange and co-creation across different local contexts. As one of the key formats of the wider Dilemma Academy, it connects debates, lectures, seminars and artistic events with a broader international network of writers, scholars, artists and cultural practitioners.
The project Dilemma Academy is implemented by the Borderland Foundation and supported by Creative Europe program. Co-organizers of the project are Pen Armenia and Institute for Central European Strategy. The public lectures in the frames of the project are organized in cooperation with Ilia State University.
Time: May 7, 6:00 PM
Location: Book House "Ligamus", Ilia State University, 32 I. Chavchavadze Avenue
Attendance is free.
2026