Revolutionary Voices: Performing Arts in Central & Eastern Europe in the 1980s

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in the countries of the Czech Republic, the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has joined with creative artists and scholars from cultural organizations and academic institutions citywide to create this major exhibition and a related performing arts festival, Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe. As the revolution in most countries of the Soviet bloc did not take place through a violent overthrowing of power, art was one of the main arenas where “the revolutionary” started to happen. The exhibition focuses on theater performances and other art events that, through their form and/or content, contested the prevailing totalitarian regime and anticipated the forthcoming political/social changes by breaking the boundaries set by the Communist state’s politicians, aesthetes, and censors.