This essay revisits the starting points of the project Communicating Difficult Pasts, which was initiated in 2018 while searching for new ways to artistically and curatorially explore the twentieth-century history of the Baltic region and its ongoing impact.
This essay brings together Baltic artists Anu Põder and Virgilijus Šonta, considering their mutual interest in human corporeality and non-heteronormative visuality to explore how their artwork reflects a disregard of official concerns of the late Soviet era, and sheds light on the blind spots of the homogenizing use of Western theoretical frameworks.
Hinged on the transversal as a means to engage with and envision new networks and ways of thinking about modern and contemporary art, the 2021 C-MAP seminar series offered an exploration and interrogation of the intertwining of multiple coeval life-worlds through concepts of “extending across.” Included here are abstracts and recordings of the four panels held on Zoom on June 2, 3, 9, and 10.
In an effort to consider the varied impacts of COVID-19—a virus with a global reach—post has interviewed curators and directors from vital museums and galleries around the world about how the pandemic has affected their ideas regarding programming, civic engagement, and the role of the institution. This interview is with Katerina Chuchalina.
Estonian artist Sirje Runge’s (born 1950) visionary 1975 thesis project conceptualizes the dynamics between the needs of the individual and the overall logic and construction of the city space in late Soviet Estonia.
This essay looks at The Illusionist (1977), a print by Estonian artist Jüri Arrak in MoMA’s Drawings and Prints collection, and explores the larger context of the artist’s practice.
In the 1960s, Zenta Dzividzinska was one of the few women photographers in Riga whose work was highly regarded in the local and international photo club culture. Her collection of images capturing the daily life of three generations of women living in a small house in the country, have remained largely unknown until recently.
In this interview, Belarusian curators Aleksei Borisionok and Anna Chistoserdova discuss the recent political upheavals in Belarus and their impact on the local art scene.
In an effort to consider the varied impacts of COVID-19 — a virus with a global reach — post has interviewed curators and directors from vital museums and galleries around the world about how the pandemic has affected their ideas regarding programming, civic engagement, and the role of the institution.
Da Hyung Jeong proposes a reading of Soviet-built structures in the region. He attempts to reveal the intentions behind their construction through an analysis of Soviet-era cultural criticism, socioeconomic studies, and encyclopedia entries.
Artists reflect on the environmental damage caused by socialist modernization and capitalist industrialization.
Artists reflect on the intersections between historic Soviet architecture and newly built infrastructures.
