January 2023

Rethinking the West: Promise and Crisis of a Concept is a transatlantic program series with events in the United States and Germany from December 2022 to February 2023. The program seeks to explore changing definitions of common ideas of 'the West' vis-à-vis the rest of the world, taking into consideration the global developments amplified by the war in Ukraine. By focusing on cultural, political and artistic themes, the program invites scholars, artists and intellectuals from different backgrounds and fields, to discuss these changing cultural concepts. More information about the programs in Munich and Muenster following soon.

Asha Bukojemsky is an independent curator and public programmer based in Los Angeles. Her projects foster public engagement and critical dialogue around the construction of identity, decolonization, and the politics of memory in a shifting geopolitical landscape. Since 2017 she has produced Marathon Screenings, a series of salon-style film & video presentations, as well as exhibitions and projects with a range of organizations including: Institute for Contemporary Arts; JOAN; 18th Street Arts Center; Active Cultures; Oregon Contemporary; Syndicate (Vilnius, LT); Vernacular Institute (Mexico City); Creative Migration (Bangkok, TH); amongst others. She is currently producing Kyiv to LA, a collaborative residency project with 6 Ukrainian artists and art historians in Los Angeles.

Phung Huynh is a Los Angeles-based artist and educator with a practice in drawing, painting, public art, and community engagement. Her work explores cultural perception and representation. Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including spaces such as the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Phung Huynh is Professor of Art at Los Angeles Valley College and served as Chair of the Public Art Commission for the city of South Pasadena and Chair of the Prison Arts Collective Advisory Council, which supports arts programming in California state prisons. She is a recipient of the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship, the California Arts Council Individual Established Artist Fellowship, and the California Community Foundation Visual Artist Fellowship. Phung Huynh is represented by Luis De Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles.

Joes Segal is Chief Curator and Director of Programming at the Wende Museum of the Cold War, Los Angeles, where he has organized more than 25 exhibitions. He has published widely on German cultural history, Cold War culture, and art and politics in international perspective. Among his book publications are Divided Dreamworlds? The Cultural Cold War in East and West, co-edited with Peter Romijn and Giles Scott-Smith (Amsterdam University Press, 2012) and Art and Politics: Between Purity and Propaganda (Amsterdam University Press, 2016).

The series Rethinking the West: Promise and Crisis of a Concept is a collaboration between the University of Muenster, the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation Munich, the Wende Museum Culver City and the Thomas Mann House Los Angeles.

Join the Wende Museum and the Thomas Mann House for this new monthly virtual program series on art and politics in times of crises. High school, college and university students invite prominent guest speakers to discuss topics relating to art, culture, politics and society. Every last Wednesday of the month, they will discuss different aspects of the topic with another expert and/or practitioner in the field. The interviews will be conducted online and are open to the public.

Amy Cabrales is a First-Generation third-year undergraduate student at UCLA, studying Sociology, Anthropology, and the Russian Language. She is a Mexican-American, Los Angeles native born in Lynwood, California. Her career interests include museum work, social science research, and teaching English abroad in a Russian-speaking country.

Meghana Halbe is a first-year student at the University of Chicago studying Public Policy. She is from Los Angeles, California and her interests include politics, music, and history. She plans to pursue law school in the future and work in government.

Emma Larson graduated from Williams College in 2021 with degrees in History and Russian, and is currently teaching English in Kazakhstan with the Fulbright Program. Emma hopes to use the future of her professional and academic career to answer important questions about the entirety of the post-Soviet world.

Gianna Machera is currently a junior at Culver City High School. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, however she spends most of her holidays and summer traveling various places. She joined the council in 2022 and has absolutely loved the experience and growth she has had so far. She is very excited to see what the next year entails and feels privileged to be part of the council once again.

Natalie McDonald, a 2019 graduate of Pomona College (Claremont, CA), is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in History at California State University, Northridge. Her academic work focuses on migration, citizenship, empire & memory in twentieth-century Europe. Natalie plans to undertake doctoral studies in International/Global History within the next couple years.

Zora Nelson is a current second year undergraduate student at New York University, where she is studying Harp Performance and plans to also pursue Media, Culture, and Communications and Public Policy. As an east coaster, born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she discovered the Wende Museum in the summer of 2022 and is honored to be a part of the council. With a passion for writing, Zora sees a future in storytelling to promote social justice.

Anya Nyman is a current sophomore at Scripps College (Claremont, CA), currently studying History and Africana Studies. She joined the Wende student council in 2023 and is excited to add to the work the council has already done. Her academic interests include anticolonialism, twentieth-century West and Central African history, and international histories of and from the Global South.

Lexi Tooley is a current freshman at Howard University majoring in Art History and Political Science, and minoring in Chinese Language and Culture. She is originally from Los Angeles, California, and has been working with the Wende museum for the past year. She looks forward to continuing the search for truth through these student panels, as well as through learning about and from the curated art currently on display at the Wende.

The event series is a collaboration with the Wende Museum Culver City and the Thomas Mann House Los Angeles.