Artists & Agents: Secret Police Surveillance of Performance Art in Eastern Europe Examined in New Volume
The 2019 publication 'Artists & Agents. Performance Art and the Secret Services,' edited by Kata Krasznahorkai and Sylvia Sasse, investigates surveillance of unofficial art by state security agencies across former socialist Eastern Europe. This 686-page volume from Spector Books analyzes secret police files from 1950-1990, revealing how agencies like the KGB, Stasi, and Hungarian secret police documented, theorized about, and attempted to control performance art and happenings. Case studies examine artists including Ion Grigorescu, Józef Robakowski, Cornelia Schleime, Milan Knížák, and groups like Orange Alternative and Clara Mosch. The book explores how surveillance files, often containing photographs, observation reports, and informant accounts, function as distorted narratives—what scholar Christina Vatulescu calls 'a kind of perverse novel.' Research extends to Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary, documenting specific incidents like the 1966 Fluxus festival in Prague involving French artist Serge Oldenbourg. The volume also addresses contemporary artistic engagements with these archives by figures like Nedko Solakov and Voluspa Jarpa. An accompanying exhibition was presented at Hartware media art association in Dortmund from March 16 to June 1, 2020.
Key facts
- Publication 'Artists & Agents. Performance Art and the Secret Services' released in 2019 by Spector Books
- Edited by Kata Krasznahorkai and Sylvia Sasse
- 686 pages examining secret police surveillance of performance art 1950-1990
- Case studies from Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, GDR
- Analyzes files from KGB, Stasi, Hungarian secret police, and other agencies
- Includes artistic responses to archives by Cornelia Schleime, Nedko Solakov, Voluspa Jarpa
- Accompanying exhibition at Hartware media art association in Dortmund March-June 2020
- References 1966 happening 'The Lunch – In Memoriam Batu Khan' by Tamás Szentjóby and Gábor Altorjay
Entities
Artists
- Kata Krasznahorkai
- Sylvia Sasse
- Andrea Bátorová
- Balázs Apor
- Péter Apor
- Sándor Horváth
- Františk Stárek Čuňas
- Martin Valenta
- Jerome Bazin
- Pascal Duborg Glatigny
- Piotr Piotrowski
- Ilko-Sascha Kowalcsuk
- Ivo Bock
- Inke Arns
- Anna Krakus
- Ion Grigorescu
- Józef Robakowski
- Cornelia Schleime
- Nedko Solakov
- Csilla Könczei
- Jens Klein
- Arwed Messmer
- Simon Menner
- Tina Bara
- Alba D'Urbano
- Christina Vatulescu
- Tamás Szentjóby
- Gábor Altorjay
- Carl Friedrich Claus
- Thomas Ranft
- Dagmar Ranft-Schinke
- Michael Morgner
- Gregor Thorsten Schade
- Ralf-Rainer Wasse
- Tomáš Pospiszyl
- Petr Štembera
- Karel Miler
- Jan Mlčoch
- Jiří Kovanda
- Serge Oldenbourg
- Milan Knížák
- Ilijana Kamenova
- Hristo Hristov
- Georgi Markov
- Mǎdǎlina Braşoveanu
- Łukasz Ronduda
- Jarosław Kozłowski
- Andrzej Kostołowski
- Marek Konieczny
- Przemysław Kwiek
- Janusz Haka
- Zofia Kulik
- W. Frydrych
- Max Frisch
- Liliana Gómez
- Paz Encina
- Voluspa Jarpa
- Sven Spieker
Institutions
- Spector Books
- ARTMargins Online
- Research Center for the Humanities
- ÚSTR
- Central European University Press
- C.H. Beck
- LIT
- Hartware media art association
- Institute for National Memory
- Stanford University Press
- Studio Gallery B5
- Plastic Arts Workshops (Pracownie Sztuk Plastycznykh)
- Ministry of Culture
- Center for Documentation and Archive for the Defense of Human Rights
- Palace of Justice
Locations
- Leipzig
- Germany
- Budapest
- Hungary
- Prague
- Czech Republic
- Czechoslovakia
- Munich
- Berlin
- Dortmund
- Warsaw
- Poland
- Romania
- GDR
- Eastern Europe
- Central Europe
- Soviet Union
- Bulgaria
- London
- United Kingdom
- Tȃrgu Mureş
- Oradea
- Sfȃntu Gheorghe
- Wrocław
- Switzerland
- Latin America
- Paraguay
- Asunción
- Chile
- USA
- Western Europe