Please join us for the UKÌýlaunch ofÌýNetworking the Bloc. Experimental Art in Eastern Europe 1965-1981Ìý(Cambridge,ÌýMassachusetts and London, England: MIT Press, 2018).ÌýThe author, DrÌýKlara Kemp-Welch,Ìýwill beÌýjoined in conversation byÌýProfessorÌýSarah Wilson, to exploreÌýhow the publicationÌýreconsiders the art of the late Cold War period from Eastern European perspectives.
Throughout the 1970s, a network of artists emerged to bridge the East-West divide, and the no less rigid divides between the countries of the Eastern bloc. Originating with a series of creative initiatives by artists, art historians, and critics and centered in places like Budapest, PoznaÅ„, and Prague, this experimental dialogue involved Western participation but is today largely forgotten in the West.ÌýKlara Kemp-Welch’s bookÌýNetworking ³Ù³ó±ðÌýBlocÌýdocuments the elaborate web of artistic connectivity that came about through personal encounters, pioneering dialogues, collaborative projects, and cultural exchanges. Countering the conventional Cold War narrative of Eastern bloc isolation, she shows how artistic ideas were relayed among like-minded artists across ideological boundaries and national frontiers.ÌýDrawing on archival documents and interviews with participants,ÌýNetworking the BlocÌýlooks first at the mobilization of the network, from 1964 to 1972, going on toÌýchart waystations for experimental art from the Soviet bloc between 1972 and 1976, and, finally,Ìýconvergences—Ìýshared exhibitions and events in the second half of the 1970s in locations ranging from Prague to Milan to Moscow.
Editorial Reviews
Klara Kemp-Welch’sÌýNetworking the BlocÌýredefines and enriches a modernist condition of isolation and alienation and proves that a hunger for connectivity beyond local milieus fostered the experimental art of the former Soviet satellite countries. The fact that the same networkingÌýmindsetÌýfuelsÌýtoday’s global art world makes thisÌýbook an indispensable manual of how to channel gained information into original and radical art production.
―Margarita Tupitsyn, author ofÌýMoscow Vanguard Art, 1922–92 and editor ofÌýRussian Dada, 1914–1924
Cold War myths are long-lived. One of the most persistent―that the borders ofÌýSovietÌýBloc countries were impermeable barriers―is dashed in this deeply researched and highly readable study of the movements of artists, curators, publications, and artworks inÌýwhat used to be known asÌýEasternÌýEurope. A vital contribution to the necessary project of decentralizing art history, Klara Kemp-Welch’s book provides vivid portraits of intensely experimental artists who, for far too long, could only be glimpsed at the margins.
―David Crowley, Professor of Visual Culture, NCAD, Dublin; curator,ÌýNotes from the Underground: Art and Alternative Music in Eastern Europe after 1968
About the Author
Klara Kemp-Welch is a Lecturer in twentieth-century modernism at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. She is alsoÌýthe author ofÌýAntipolitics in Central European ArtÌý(London and New York: IB Tauris, 2014).
The event will be followed by a drinks reception in the lobby.Ìý