Art and politics in (Post)communism: the transformation of institutions and artistic practices in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Art and politics designates an eclectic subfield of political science. The article starts by providing a theoretical framework for this heterogenous field (both institutionally and as several disciplines converge). The relationship of politics and the arts has been dealt with in various ways inside the institutional umbrellas of international political science (APSA and ECPR). The approach of the study of the art from a political perspective has been privileged by Marxist and post-Marxist studies, as well as by the sociological school in Francophone studies. Secondly, an overview of the analysis included in this special issue is provided. Several foci are preferred and multiple case-studies are imagined. The subjects are classified according to several categories: an institutional focus of the postcommunist transformation (film and visual artists), the artistic discourses that discuss the past and the continuous present, memory and its artistic questionings. Imagined as an introduction to the study of art and politics in (post)communism, this article attempts to stimulate a thorough debate on ways to study this complicated relationship, as well as advances a theoretical outline.