Gordana Andjelić-Galić, Apsolutno, Azorro, Yael Bartana, Pavel Braila, Egon Bunne, Chto Delat, Kaspars Goba, Gusztáv Hámos, Ana Hušman, Kai Kaljo, Šejla Kamerić, Szabolcs KissPál, Damir Nikšić, Adrian Paci, Radek Community + Dmitry Gutov, Józef Robakowski, Anri Sala, András Sólyom, Milica Tomić, Artur Żmijewski

Curators: Rita Kálmán, Tijana Stepanović

The exhibition examines the effects of the changes taking place in the region of the former “Soviet Bloc” on the individual and on various groups of society from the aspect of socio-psychology. It focuses on the human dimensions of the transition starting from the end of the eighties, and on micro-processes involved.

The period since the fall of the Berlin Wall is characterised by radical political, social and economic changes throughout the region. However, the timing, rate, extent and script of this transition varies from country to country. Consequently, the challenges of transition are addressed in a multiplicity of ways by individuals, groups and by society as a whole. The exhibition takes as its point of departure the relations between the various groups of society and their dynamics.

Video proved to be a perfect tool for the documentation and analysis of these processes, and it began to develop and become widespread in the region during the same period of change. The exhibition takes advantage of this coincidence, in using this medium to introduce the phenomena defining the recent past of the region.

As opposed to the conventions of film production, which required complex technical apparatus, video art appearing during the 60s represented a novel alternative. With the mass appearance of easy-to-handle, so-called portable video cameras and VHS, from the 80s increasingly wider groups of amateurs and professionals were able to record motion pictures. After photography and film, the genre of video art also offered novel possibilities of extending – and manipulating – private and historic memory. The methods of forming public opinion and influencing the public have changed irreversibly, and the establishment of an information society was not simply an accompanying event of the political changes taking place in the region, but the promoter of such changes.

The exhibited artworks addressing society with severe criticism document, analyse and contextualise this complex region and period. But rather than offering definite answers, they probe issues that were typically avoided or swept under the carpet in the public common discourse of the countries of the region.

What is our attitude to our historical past? What are the consequences of the changes in national identity and national stereotypes? How can individual lives be carried on amidst all these realignments in society? What intergroup relations and conflicts have played a defining role in the last twenty years?

The artists convey numerous individual viewpoints, which provide a personal tone to the aesthetic and critical discourse concerning the political changes and the period of transition.

Transitland – Video Art from Central and Eastern Europe 1989–2009

The exhibition entitled …on the eastern front is a thematic selection from the material of the digital reader Transitland. Video Art from Central and Eastern Europe 1989–2009, which includes a total of one hundred video artworks by artists from thirty-one countries, produced in the period 1989–2009. Some fifty outstanding curators from the region took part in the selection of the works included in this unique archive. The Transitland archive is not only the widest-spanning presentation of video art from Central and Eastern Europe, but also a unique attempt to address and reflect upon an extensive period of transformation and changes. The entire corpus of Transitland is freely accessible at the Ludwig Museum, in the Józsefvárosi Gallery and at the Studio of Young Artists Association.

The Transitland archive is a collaborative project initiated by InterSpace (Sofia, Bulgaria), Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art Budapest, and transmediale (Berlin, Germany). www.transitland.eu