35 years into the post-socialist transition in Europe, images of the “former East” are often still rendered in shades of gray. Only recently, Cold War scholarship is beginning to move away from a view of two monolithic opposing blocs, instead exploring the concept of alternate or parallel modernities rather than the idea of lack and lag in the former Eastern bloc. To add color to these images, explore the ruptures and permeability of the “Iron Curtain” and blast apart pre-conceptions, the group exhibition EastUnBloc presents subversive and experimental media art works and practices by more than two dozen artists and collectives from socialist and transition-era Central and Eastern Europe as well as the production contexts in which they were created. Beyond presentation, the exhibition seeks to reclaim these works, as “artistic intelligence”: inspiration and toolkits to respond to current challenges. 

In Central and Eastern Europe, the late 1980s and early 1990s were marked by intertwined paradigm shifts: the dissolution of state socialism and the dawn of the digital and internet age. This simultaneity brought about a diverse body of media works. Borrowing a term from computer programming, EastUnBloc ‘reverse engineers’ the underlying principles of these works and their production processes by thinking of them as “scripts”.

These “scripts” invite visitors to connect with the exhibited works and reflect their past, present and future through the exhibits’ lenses: “Reality bending” features pranks, hoaxes and other hacks. “Expose the Seams” reveals media’s underlying processes. “Make Your Own Media” shows empowerment through autonomous or counterpublic media production and interactivity. “Turn Shit Into Chocolate” refers to making use of limited resources for maximal effect. “Bring a Friend” assembles works which created communities or documented communal activities. “Space in Time” forges connections across spatial and temporal boundaries.

The works, which encompass experimental film, video art, TV broadcast experiments, net.art, computer games and installations, are not ordered hierarchically, neither chronologically nor geographically. Rather the „scripts“ the works exemplify guide visitors to encounter works in an optional order. Vintage reproduction technology and (often obsolete) storage media are used. An onsite media lab enables visitors to contribute own media interventions to the exhibition by applying the scripts.    

A cooperation with Wiki-based arts online library Monoskop provides background information, which is interconnected with the exhibits, such as more detailed texts about works, the creators, explored topics, cities and countries of origin, and a historical timeline. The exhibition is accompanied by discussions, screenings, workshops and performances. EastUnBloc also ties into past nGbK projects such as hybrid video tracks (2001) and Left Performance Histories (2018). 

With contributions by: Andreas Broeckmann, CUKT, D’epog, Aleksandra Domanović, Davide Grassi (Janez Janša), Marina Gržinić & Aina Šmid, Gusztáv Hámos, Tereza Havliková, Benjamin Heidersberger, Mike Hentz, Dalibor Martinis, Pneuma Szöv./TV Free Europe, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Sakrowski, Igor Štromajer, Vakuum TV, Van Gogh TV/Piazza Virtuale and many others

nGbK work group: Dušan Barok, Zsuzsa Berecz, Friedemann Bochow, Natalie Gravenor, Sarah Günther