With integration in the globalised art world, the ever elusive notion of contemporary East European Art is today becoming increasingly intangible and diverse. The changed circumstances are reflected in the East European art scene which now includes artists that are not necessarily based in their native countries, but may still work with the legacy of shared histories and experiences, artists living in the region, but working internationally without the burden of their own socio-political past, as well as non-native artists, either in collectives or individually, who have settled in the capitals of the former Eastern Bloc, or simply chosen Eastern Europe as the focus of their artistic research. Indicative of the current situation is that fact that artists from Eastern Europe regularly feature in major biennials, are represented as a matter of course by leading international galleries, can be selected for prestigious art prizes, and generally merge with the artistic multitude living precariously in transnational communities around the globe.

The transition undergone by East European art has also been reflected in the preoccupations of contemporary artists. Arguably a distinction can be made between the first post-communist decade, when artists were frequently drawn to explore the grand narratives of memory, trauma and collective identities of the socialist past, and the situation in more recent years, in which artistic involvement with the politics of identity has diversified into new concerns, that are often characterised by a sense of cosmopolitan solidarity. This paper explores the specific trajectory of globalisation in Eastern Europe where some traditions of socialist internationalism are more deeply embedded than the widespread and much discussed ideas of post-colonialist multiculturalism.

From today’s perspective, which can also be characterised as the era of “post-transition” , due to the fact that on the one hand many of the political goals of the transition have been achieved, while on the other, belief in the utopian promise of transition has given way to a more cynical assessment of economic and social reality in a globalised Eastern Europe, has brought a distinct shift in artistic interests.

[full text to be published shortly]