Speakers Curated Tour
Ángel Viñas Emeritus Professor of Economics at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and distinguished historian and diplomat. Former Director- General at the European Commission and EU Ambassador to the UN. His research focuses on the Spanish Republic, Civil War, and Franco regime. New book: Franco’ s Black Gold: Oil and Espionage in the Spanish Civil War( Crítica, 2025).
Laure Neumayer Professor of Political Science at Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France. Specializes in sociology of European integration and memory studies, focusing on Central Europe. Main publications include The Criminalisation of Communism in the European Political Space after the Cold War( 2019) and Condamner le passé?( 2019).
Victor Fernández Soriano Professor of Contemporary History at ULB, Belgium. Researches human rights in European and international politics( 20th century). Author of Le fusil et l’ olivier( 2015) and co-author of The 1969‘ Greek Case’ at the Council of Europe.
Fernando Sánchez Castillo Spanish artist( b. 1970, Madrid) working with sculpture, video, and installations on power, memory, and monuments. Exhibited at Tate Modern, MoMA PS1, and São Paulo Biennial.
Cristina Lucas Multidisciplinary Spanish artist( b. 1973, Úbeda) working in performance, video, installation, painting, and drawing. Her works engage with feminism, colonial discourse, and power structures. Held in Centre Pompidou and MUSAC collections.
Ayoko Mensah Franco-Togolese curator, cultural expert, and journalist with 25 + years in African and Afro-descendant art scenes. Curator at the House of European History, Brussels, preparing an exhibition on Europe’ s colonial legacies( 2026).
Rita Rato Director of Museu do Aljube – Resistência e Liberdade, Lisbon. Former Portuguese Parliament member( 2009 – 2019). Curated major exhibitions including 25 April ALWAYS!( 2024) and Before it was Independence, it was a Liberation Struggle( 2025).
Christian Dürr Historian and curator at Mauthausen Memorial, Austria. Research on Nazi concentration camps, memory studies, and Argentine dictatorship. Head of Archives and permanent exhibitions at Mauthausen and Gusen memorials.
Magda Fytili Ramón y Cajal Postdoctoral Researcher( UCM), Associate Professor( HOU), member of ASKI, Greece. Research: transitional justice, memory politics, forced migration, authoritarian legacies.
Simina Bădică Curator at the House of European History, Brussels. Led Fake for Real exhibition( 2020 – 2021). PhD in History( CEU, Budapest). Researches curatorial practices, memory, and representation in museums.
Dora Ivanova Architect and social entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Buzludzha Project Foundation, aimed at preserving and transforming this dissonant heritage site from Bulgaria’ s communist era into a worldclass cultural destination, a platform for education and dialogue.
Marije Hristova PhD researcher in cultural, forensic, and environmental memory( Spain, Eastern Europe). Ramón y Cajal fellow at CSIC, investigates mass graves, uranium mining legacies, and transnational memory frameworks.
Anne Thomas Cultural practitioner specializing in European memory initiatives. Oversees Stolpersteine placement outside Germany and translations. Freelance journalist and translator in Berlin.
Chantal Kesteloot Doctor of Contemporary History, senior staff at CEGESOMA / State Archives, leads Public History department. Researches on Brussels history, WWI / WWII memory. Coordinates belgiumwwii. be.
Moderators
Sigfrido Ramírez Scientific Collaborator, MMC, ULB. Teaches European integration history( University Paris 8). Associated researcher, Max Planck Institute, Frankfurt.
Anna Tilroe Dutch art critic, writer, and curator. Organized Sonsbeek 2008 and 11Fountains. Former professor, Radboud University. Awards: Pierre Bayle Prize, Arnhem Culture Prize, Anna Maria van Schurman Prize.
Paco Ferrándiz Tenured researcher, CSIC. Anthropology of the body, violence, and social memory. PI, Politics of Memory Exhumations in Contemporary Spain. Former Senior Advisor, State Secretariat for Democratic Memory.
Performance
Exilio is a multilingual performance reflecting on historical and contemporary exile in Europe, created by EUROM and Voodoo Productions. Featuring actor Àlex Brendemühl and guitar player Nora Buschmann, directed by Lalo Garcia and produced by Txell Sabartés. Launched in 2020, Exilio has been presented to over 4,000 spectators across Spain, France, and Germany.