Overview
2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Soviet control in Central Europe. In “Room with a View: Fall of the Berlin Wall,” experts active during the events of ’89 reflect on the realities of life after European communism. Journalist Michael R. Meyer, Newsweek’s Eastern Europe correspondent in 1989 and author of the book, The Year that Changed the World; András Bozóki, Professor, Department of Political Science, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, and Visiting Professor, Department of Political Science, Columbia University, New York; and András Szántó, writer, cultural advisor, and Senior Lecturer, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, discuss their perspectives, their memories and their hopes for the future of the region. Followed by a reception with cabaret performances. For this event, The Greene Space partners with the Hungarian Cultural Center as part of Extremely Hungary, a yearlong festival showcasing contemporary Hungarian visual, performing, and literary arts at leading cultural institutions in New York City and Washington, DC, throughout 2009.
Panelists:
Michael Ryder Meyer, author and journalist is currently chief speechwriter for the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon. He has also written a book on the fall of communism for Scribner titled The Year That Changed The World: The Untold Story of The Fall of The Berlin Wall. His previous book, The Alexander Complex was published by Times Books. Before his post at the United Nations, Meyer was at Newsweek Magazine for two decades, most recently (2001-2007) as Europe Editor for Newsweek International, where he also oversaw the magazine’s coverage of the Middle East and Asia.
Andras Bozoki, professor, teaches democratization studies, political change, revolution, modernization and development, political ideologies, comparative East Central European politics, elite theory, the political role of intellectuals and other topics in political sociology at Central European University. He was Chairman of the Hungarian Political Science Association in 2003-5. He has been elected member of the Presidium HPSA. He was a founding editor of Hungarian Political Science Review where he served as co-editor between 1992-9, and since 1999 he belongs to the editorial associates.
Andras Szanto is a writer, researcher and consultant whose work spans the worlds of art, media, policy and cultural affairs. Born in Budapest, he is Senior Lecturer in Art Business at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York and Director of the NEA Arts Journalism Institute at Columbia University’s Graduate Journalism School. The co-author and editor of five books, including a history of Stalinist-era political persecution in Hungary, he as written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe and numerous other publications.