The Cold War is Over and It Made Us Even Colder: Art and Artists Between Eastern and Western Europe, from 1945 to 2025

The starting point for this paper is a significant absence of East European art and artists from major international art venues and narratives, highlighting their persistent marginalization. It also reveals a systemic neglect of this region in a post-Cold War context, arguing for the reposition of the East European art as a critical element in understanding diverse European art practices, which traditionally suffer from a binary perspective that contrasts a neoliberal capitalist West with a post-socialist East. In my paper I also discuss the historical context of artistic exchanges, asserting that Western art has long been perceived as universal while Eastern art has been relegated to the periphery, aspiring for recognition yet facing continual exclusion. In the aftermath of the Cold War, interest in East European art gradually diminished, further alienating it from significant platforms like international biennials and exhibitions. Despite a small number of artists, who gained noteworthy prominence, the broader narrative around East European art remains limited, often only featuring few artists transiently in Western art histories. The paper calls for a reassessment of East European art, particularly in light of the political and cultural upheavals that occurred in the post-1989 Europe, which have continued to inform artistic practices and critical discourse into the 21st century. A notable reference is made to several books that were published in the meantime, which attempted to articulate the complexities of East European art amidst significant geopolitical changes, aiming to bridge the gap in global art histories and recognition, not always succeeding in it.