Eastern European and Russian Art
Required Readings

Undergraduates and Graduates:

Read Eva Hauser's "The Velvet Revolution and Iron Necessity," from Carol Becker's The Subversive Imagination:  Artists, Society, and Social Responsibility (New York:  Routledge, 1994, pp. 75-94) on reserve.

What was the Velvet Revolution of 1989?  What were some of the challenges faced by artists living in Czechoslovakia during the Communist years?  What were the advantages artists enjoyed under the Communist regime?  What was the Fund for the Arts?  What controls were exerted over artist exhibitions under Communism?  What services were provided to artists who exhibited under the Union of Artists?

What sort of work was produced by the official underground of artists in Czechoslovakia?  The unofficial underground?  In what ways does Alexandra Berkova feel that the Velvet Revolution and the fall of communism has contributed to a weakening of the value of art to Czechoslovakians?

Would Komar and Melamid have been considered the equivalent of Czechoslovakia's official or unofficial undergound?  Why?  What do Komar and Melamid mean by calling their work Nostalgic Socialist Realism?  How did Ilya Kabakov fit into the official art scene of Russia?

Graduates:

Read Charles Green's "Doppelgangers and the Force:  The Artistic Collaborations of Gilbert and George and Marina Abramovic/Ulay" from the Summer 2000 Art Journal, pp. 36-45 on reserve (this is also available through EBSCO).

What do Abramovic/Ulay mean by the "third force"?  How does the work of Gilbert and George and Abramovic/Ulay go beyond traditional artistic collaboration?  What questions about artist identity does their work raise?  What is sacrificed to create this third artistic identity?  What advantages do you see?