New Museum Presents Dual Exhibitions of Central and Eastern European Art in 2014

The New Museum in New York hosted two major exhibitions focused on Central and Eastern European art in early 2014. 'Report on the Construction of a Spaceship Module' ran from January 22 to April 13 as part of the Museum as Hub series, guest-curated by the tranzit.org network directors Vít Havránek, Dóra Hegyi, and Georg Schöllhammer. This exhibition transformed the fifth floor into a spaceship with four rooms displaying 117 artworks created since 1950, drawing inspiration from Cold War science fiction aesthetics. A companion newspaper with texts and bibliography was published. Concurrently, 'Paweł Althamer: The Neighbors'—the Polish artist's largest survey and first U.S. solo show—occupied the third and fourth floors from February 12 to April 13, organized by Massimiliano Gioni and Gary Carrion-Murayari with an illustrated catalogue. The spaceship exhibition featured digitized archives like the Parallel Chronologies website and Soviet Modernism slideshow, alongside films in the Main Communication Room and a collection of 82 artworks in the Multi-Purpose Logistic Module. Althamer's exhibition included collaborative works like the Draftsmen's Congress from Berlin Biennale 7, sculptures such as Self-Portrait (1993) and Slywia (2010), and the Venetians series from the 55th Venice Biennale. Both shows reflected the museum's ongoing engagement with the region, following its 2011 Ostalgia exhibition.