The three-day workshop MEMPOP Ri_loading, held from May 15 to 17, 2025, at various venues across Rijeka—including the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, ExLibris Bookstore, Galerija Filodrammatica, and Klub Palach—provided space for interdisciplinary dialogue on the intersections of history, popular culture, memory-making, digital humanities, and the evolving field of cultural studies. Organized as part of the MEMPOP research project, the event built upon the MEMPOP Loading workshop in Ljubljana, further advancing the initiative of regional academic and student cooperation.

Structured to blend internal research discussions with public-facing events, the workshop emphasized MEMPOP’s commitment to bridging scholarly inquiry with broader cultural and political engagement. The programme unfolded in parallel with the international conference 80 Years Since the Liberation from Nazi-Fascism: Historical Legacy, Political Practices, Cultural Representations, organized by the University of Rijeka’s Departments of History and Cultural Studies. This collaboration enabled participants to situate their discussions in the historical framework of World War II, identity formation, and the role of women and the Catholic Church in the liberation struggle.

The workshop opened with the roundtable From History to Memory and Popular Culture, serving as a bridge between historiographic contributions and contemporary sonic and visual genres. Participants included members of the MEMPOP team as well as researchers from ZRC Koper and the University of Naples Federico II. One presentation focused on Vukovar, offering a dense tapestry of imagery that framed the city as an example of “other places”—or, in Michel Foucault’s terms, heterotopias: “worlds within worlds” that underscore the impossibility of a stable entity, marked by disturbance, contradiction, incompatibility, and transformation.

The RiMEMPOP panel followed, showcasing presentations on themes ranging from rap as a vehicle for solidarity and resistance, to political graffiti both within and beyond Ukraine, the cultural politics of Yugowave, queer film festivals on Europe’s periphery, and Serbian youth attitudes toward Kosovo. The session concluded with an online presentation of the Rebellious Ljubljana map. Taken together, the presentations highlighted how memory is continually reconfigured through visual, sonic, and digital media.

Day one ended with a public discussion of Eric Ušić’s book Zidovi pamte (Walls Remember), which documents the symbolic and textual layering of anti-fascist memory in Istrian residential landscapes. Introduced by Dunja Matić Benčić and discussed by Mitja Velikonja and Mila Orlić, the conversation delved into graffiti’s historical context and anecdotes, the significance of grassroots documentation, and how research directions shifted during data collection and its analysis.

The second day of the workshop turned to methodological challenges posed by Large Language Models (LLMs), addressing topics like benchmark criteria (e.g., Massive Multitask Language Understanding) and the emergent properties of AI. Ironically, the Biedermeier-like interior of Filodrammatica Theatre hosted lively discussions about the value and limitations of LLMs in cultural research. As a hands-on complement, participants were introduced to Orange Data Mining software, with sentiment analysis proposed as a gateway into exploratory work with popular culture datasets.

The final evening event, Cultural Studies Connecting SEE, held at Klub Palach, brought together students, researchers, and professors from Rijeka, Ljubljana, and Belgrade for a presentation of recent publications, student initiatives, and a roundtable discussion on the future of regional cooperation in cultural studies. Although cultural studies have always been marked by interdisciplinarity and theoretical openness, their diverse regional traditions reflect specific local challenges. In Southeast Europe, these include complex legacies of socialism, post-socialist transitions, migration, and peripheral geopolitical positioning. Building on a previous meeting in Ljubljana (June 2024), the discussion focused on formalizing a regional network.

The workshop’s final day was dedicated to recalibrating research priorities, identifying shared data dimensions and transmedial elements, and developing strategies for future fieldwork. Vukovar once again emerged as a complex symbolic reference. Yet, the real concluding ritual of MEMPOP Ri_loading unfolded over lunch, as participants set aside methodological precision in favour of salad and potatoes. The final intellectual showdown? Seven members attempting to conquer two portions of exquisite chocolate soufflé. The winner? That secret remains with the dessert.