To the Left of Power? Radical Culture in Eastern Europe in the 1960s and 1970s

New research has put attention on the different faces of the Counterculture that emerged and spread in Eastern Europe under communist rule in the late 1960s and 1970s. Communes, psychedelics and other aspects of the hippie lifestyle were embraced as alternatives both to conservative ‘bourgeois’ life and the hollow revolutionary rhetoric of Soviet power. Some took a more ideological approach by aligning themselves to the Civil Rights and the Anti-Vietnam War movements in the West, or by drawing inspiration from the liberation movements in Cuba and Africa or even the Cultural Revolution in Mao’s China. Sexuality and gender also formed new fronts of political action and thinking.

In this workshop, contributors will explore the ways in which Counter-Cultural affinities and New Left politics – defined broadly – were channelled by artists, theatre, film-makers, writers, musicians and others in Eastern Europe in the 1960s and 1970s.

The workshop will be hosted on Zoom and Live streamed on Facebook.

Monday 27 September 2021, 2pm-5.30pm (CEST), Zoom password 208522

Monday 4th October 2021, 12pm-5pm (CEST), Zoom password 044489

 Please cick here to view the workshop programme and abstracts.

>> The workshop is organized by <<

Ieva Astahovska, David Crowley and Mari Laanements with the support of the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art and the Nep4Dissent Research Network, an EU COST Action Association as well as Culture Capital foundation.

>> Participants <<

Keynote – Keti Chukhrov, participants – Gabriela Świtek, Marko Zubak, Dorota Jarecka, Paulina Olszewska, Magdalena Radomska, Wiktoria Szczupacka, David Crowley, Alessandra Franetovich, Christian Nae, Ana Peraica, Samo Oleami, Agata Jakubowska.

This event is free and open to everyone.