Antipolitics in Central European Art: Reticence As Dissidence Under Post-totalitarian Rule 1956-1989

In this bold book Klara Kemp-Welch offers a compelling account of the waythat artists in Central Europe embraced alternative forms of action-basedpractice, just as their dissident counterparts were formulating alternativemodels of politics - in particular an `antipolitics' of self organization.Spanning a period punctuated by landmark events - the crushing of the 1956Hungarian Revolution, the invasion of Czechoslavakia in 1968 and the birthof the Polish Solidarity movement - while presenting powerful new readingsof six key artists, Antipolitics in Central European Art anchors art historicalanalysis to a robust historical framework. Its rich illustrations reveal howthose artists struggled to enjoy freedom of expression and reclaim publicspace inside a political system where both seemed impossible.