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Speakers): Ellen Rutten, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Craft, amateurism, rawness, imperfection: without these notions, cultural discourse on new technologies is unthinkable. They figure as prime ingredients in an age-old argument: that of linking technological advancement to dehumanization, and of elevating sincerity or authenticity to the role of a tool to repair dehumanizing threats. The printed book, the industrial machine, and later reproduction techniques: all sparked a countertrend of creative imperfections – practices that that foregrounded the homegrown, the rickety, or the imperfect as hallmarks of authentic creative expression. In this talk, Ellen Rutten explores creative imperfections as a global trend, but with special attention to creative Russian subcultures. In (post-)Soviet Russian design, fashion, and other aesthetic domains, where does the craving for the non-polished come from? And how do punk, dissident, and, today, anti-Putin sentiments relate to Russian creative imperfections?

ELLEN RUTTEN is Professor of Literature (with a focus on Slavonic literature and culture) and Chair of the Slavonic Department at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests include post-Soviet culture, literature and art, digital humanities, social media, and memory discourse. She is currently finalizing a HERA research project on what she calls "web wars": discussions of the Soviet past in post-socialist social media. She also studies the trend of embracing imperfection in contemporary (Russian) culture and is finalizing a book on post-Soviet sincerity rhetoric. Her first monograph, Unattainable Bride Russia: Gendering Nation, State, and Intelligentsia in Russian Intellectual Culture, was published by Northwestern University Press in 2010.