East Art Map

TheartisticmapofEuropecontainsdifferentdegreesofdetailandresolution.Italy,France,andSpainarepresentedinfinegrain,buttheBalkanpeninsulaislittlemorethanavagueoutline.England,Germany,andScandinaviahavemanyfeaturesfilledin,buttotheeastofGermanythingsareblurred.Untilrecently,citieslikeSofia,Odessa,Skopje,andBelgradehadnexttonodefinition.FurthertotheEast,Moscowcomesintofocus,butthisisnocompensationfortheBaltics,sentencedforthelasthalf-centurytoblankspace.IntheWest,virtuallyeverymoveoftheartist,theartmarket,andtheartpublicisdocumented.ButinEasternEurope,nosuchsystemofdocumentationorcommunicationexists.Instead,weencountersystemsthatarenotonlyinaccessibletotheWest,butincongruousfromonecountrytothenext.Besidetheofficialarthistoriesthereisoftenawholeseriesofstoriesandlegendsabout"unofficial,"unapprovedartandartists.EastArtMap:ContemporaryArtandEasternEuropeisanambitiousattempttoreconstructthemissinghistoriesofcontemporaryartinEasternEuropefromanEastEuropeanandartisticperspective.ItisperhapsthewidestrangingartdocumentationprojecteverundertakenbytheEastontheEast,involvingalargenetworkofartists,scholars,curatorsandcriticscoordinatedbytheIRWINgroupoverseveralyears.Theeditorsinvitedeminentartcritics,curators,andartiststopresentuptotencrucialartprojectsproducedintheirrespectivecountriesoverthepast50years.Thechoiceoftheparticularartworks(manyofthemreproducedincolor),artists,andevents,aswellastheirpresentation,wasleftexclusivelytotheindividualselectors.Inaddition,theeditorsaskedexpertsfrombothEastandWesttoprovidelongertextsofferingcross-culturalperspectivesontheartofbothregions.AfterallBooksaredistributedbyTheMITPress.