Architecture, design and visual culture in Eastern Europe in 20th and 21st Century

19_Rajk_Interruption_1977-scaled-aspect-ratio-1920-1080
László Rajk. Interruption. (Monument to ÁÉV no 43 and FŐBER). 5 Projects, 1977. Ink on tracing paper, 58×40 cm. Sárospatak Art Gallery 

This research area focuses on architecture, design and visual culture in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union on the background of region’s political, institutional and technological developments. Previous projects include studies on leisure and free time spaces in the 1960s and 1970s in the context of changed automation and work culture; the impact of discourses of cybernetics and future studies on architecture and art practices; or the political meaning of Eastern European paper architecture in 1970s and 1980s. We are interested in less studied or recently discovered archives of Eastern European art and in juxtaposing this material with the dominant narratives of (Western) art history. In addition to traditional academic work, the output of our projects include research exhibitions and popular publications.

Research projects connected to the field:

Forecast and fantasy in late Soviet architecture(PSG, 2020-2024)
Editing and publishing “The History of Estonian Urban Planning vol. 2 (1918–2020)” (2021-2024)
Readdressing practices and theories of experimentation in the 20th- and 21st century Estonian visual and spatial culture. (IUT, 2015-2020)
Visualising the nation: institutional critique of the twentieth-century art and architecture in Estonia. (SF, 2009-2014)
Spatial environment in Estonia as an object of art historical research. (SF, 2004-2008)

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Posted by Kris Haamer
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