New Publication: Performance Art in the Public Sphere

The anthology “Performance Art in the Second Public Sphere. Event-based Art in Late Socialist Europe,” edited by Katalin Cseh-Varga and Adam Czirak, deals with the artistic network of several states in Eastern Europe during the Socialist era. For the first time, it interdisciplinarily examines the forms of performative art as well as the various artistic forms and discourses that could develop under censorship. The book was already preceded by the May 2014 “Performing Art in the Second Public Sphere” conference.

Katalin Cseh-Varga was a PhD student at the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies from 2014 to 2017.

The Content

Performance Art in the Second Public Sphere is the first interdisciplinary analysis of performance art in East, Central, and Southeast Europe under socialist rule. By investigating the specifics of event-based art forms in these regions, each chapter explores the particular critical roles that this work assumes under censorial circumstances.

The artistic networks of Yugoslavia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia are discussed with a particular focus on the discourses that shaped artistic practice at the time, drawing on methods of performance studies and media studies, as well as more familiar reference points from art history and area studies.

Katalin Cseh-Varga, Adam Czirak (ed.): Performance Art in the Second Public Sphere. Event-based Art in Late Socialist Europe, London / New York: Routledge 2018 (Routledge Advances in Theater & Performance Studies).

1st edition 2018

308 p .: 28 b / w photos. Hardcover

ISBN 978-1-138-72327-6

Cover: © 2017 - Routledge