SocialEast Seminars Launch to Rethink Eastern European Art History

In the fall of 2006, the SocialEast Forum, organized by MYRIAD at Manchester Metropolitan University, began a series of seminars in both Manchester and Budapest that examined Eastern European art practices from World War II to 1989-1991. The discussions included contributions from artists, curators, and scholars who explored the notion of 'Eastern Europe' within the context of art history. Reuben Fowkes raised questions about how to document its art history, while Piotr Piotrowski emphasized the importance of local narratives over Western frameworks. Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius proposed the idea of fragmented storytelling. Presentations featured topics such as GDR modernism by Ulrike Goeschen, Romanian Socialist Realism by Alina Serban, and Tamas St.Auby's Portable Intelligence Increase Museum. The Budapest event included Lynda Morris discussing Picasso, Anton Lederer on image manipulation, Éva Forgács on Ilya Kabakov, and Angela Harutyunyan on Belarusian monuments, alongside the exhibition titled 'The Revolution is not a Garden Party.'