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 way
that artists in Central Europe embraced alternative forms of action-based
practice, just as their dissident counterparts were formulating alternative
models of politics - in particular an `antipolitics' of self organization.
Spanning a period punctuated by landmark events - the crushing of the 1956
Hungarian Revolution, the invasion of Czechoslavakia in 1968 and the birth
of the Polish Solidarity movement - while presenting powerful new readings
of six key artists, Antipolitics in Central European Art anchors art historical
analysis to a robust historical framework. Its rich illustrations reveal how
those artists struggled to enjoy freedom of expression and reclaim public
space inside a political system where both seemed impossible.