Match between Researcher's Profile and Project

The academic profile of Dr. Markin adequately matches the proposed research project. The grounds for this are his longstanding interest in contemporary art and literature, his proven expertise in comparative regional studies, and his theoretical training obtained during his doctoral studies. The proposed research project will both play towards the strengths of Dr. Markin's expertise and let him transform his previous achievements into novel comparative research within a collaborative framework of the project. His unique combination of linguistic capabilities, his high chances of finding a research position in Israel as an associated state of the EU, and his promise to make progress in urban, metropolitan and German studies, make him into an excellent candidate for the work on this research project. Given that the European Union expands its cooperation with neighboring states via association agreements, such as Barcelona Process and Mediterranean Union, the widening scope of relations between the countries of the region will include urban culture into its institutional architecture. The way that each given city will be realizing its network of inter-urban relations in the changing structure of international conditions that the institutional development of the relations between the EU and its surrounding region is creating needs approaches that break with previous focus on linear economic growth as unsustainable, for ecological, social and economic reasons.

This more, rather than less, competitive enviroment of inter-urban relations challenges cities to higlight their uniqueness on the background of their homigenization, variously connected to globalization, capitalism and modernity. The recent focus on East-Central Europe of transition studies seems to be a cogent approach to cities around the world as well, as the processes of de-industrialization, tertialization, and re-orientation question the strategies of urban development of increasing number of cities. The focus on cultural clusters, signature museums, and architectural heritage that cities around the world exhibit brings to the fore of public awareness the tensions that these phenomena either release or fail to alleviate. In this regard, art biennials become instances of spacial territorialization of global culture, as both international and local artists are increasingly more in contact with each other than with their places of permanent residence, that critically interrogate their host cities. Globalization as an entwined process of both homogenization of conditions of action and heterogenization of contexts of its consequences, as cities are differently capable to put policy measures into practice in areas such as environment or finance, makes cities into key players in the game of generation, selection, and application of urban projects of change. Art biennials as component parts of a globally insntitutionalized circuit of international exhibitions, performances and festivals download into widely varied urban conditions the institutional forms of interaction between urban space and gloval culture.

To provide a comparative take on this process, the qualifications of Dr, Markin for this task are more than matching. Furthermore, the academic network of international contacts of Dr. Markin in Canada, Germany, Italy and Israel will stand him in good stead while carrying out the research project as they will connect him to initiatives on alternative global cultural capitals, classical sociology and metropolitan studies, contemporary philosophy and art history, and performance studies and comparative research.