Works by dozens of artist from the large area from Latvia and Russia to Croatia and Vojvodina, meet for the very first time in the exhibititon "Poetry & Performance. An East European Perspective". The exhibition includes artists that are represented in the most prestigious museums and national galleries (Ewa Partum, Mladen Stilinovič, Katalin Ladik and Ladislav Novák); celebrities of cultural history such as Václav Havel; internationally successful contemporary artists, like Babi Badalov; and many others whose work is seen in the Czech Republic for the first time. A special focus of the exhibition is the reconstruction of the experimental programme of the Liberec Radio Studio from the late 1960s.
A wide range of performance poetry is presented through manuscripts, photographs, audio and video recordings, sculpture and installations.
The exhibition introduces artists from the subcultures of socialist states in juxtaposition with the current situation. Then, as now, Poetry & Performance gained particularly explosive strength at times of crisis. In these ephemeral and multifaceted forms of artistic expression, connections that are otherwise inexpressible may emerge.
