The Wirth Institute, in cooperation with the Art Gallery of Alberta, hosted an international conference titled “Trans-Aesthetics: Crossing Central Europe” from 1 through 3 April, 2012. This conference was connected to the gallery’s exhibition “REARVIEW MIRROR: New Art from Central and Eastern Europe”. In addition to academic panels, the conference participants were invited to attend presentations by the artist and designer Jan Edler of realities:united and the Ukrainian-born artist Taras Polataiko. (Some of his works were featured in the exhibition.) Scholars from half a dozen countries in Central Europe and North America participated in panels featuring papers on topics such as “Habsburg Vienna, Sigmund Freud, and the Question of Religion,” “Connections between German and Croatian Impressionism,” and “Negotiating Urban Palimpsests: The Politics of Cultural Mediation in Today’s East Central Europe.” Conference organizers Helga Mitterbauer and Carrie Smith-Prei of the University of Alberta’s Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies plan to edit and publish selected papers from the conference.