The Hungarian Avant-Garde and Socialism

The Art of the Second Public Sphere

Katalin Cseh-Varga (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria)

$59.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Bloomsbury Visual Arts
30 May 2024

Art Treatments & Subjects; Political activism

The emergence and the activities of a second public sphere in the areas of Soviet influence were intricately linked to the performative and intermedial production and usage of alternative spaces. Applying a multitude of perspectives and networked topography, The Hungarian Avant-Garde and Socialism investigates artistic strategies of spaces – namely those of the artist’s studio, exhibitions, installations, clubs, apartments, cellars, event halls, and chapels – all of which existed parallel to or were interwoven with the regulated public sphere in Hungary from the beginning of the 1960s to the era immediately following the Kádár regime.

This book captures and discusses the exclusionary and inclusionary mechanisms inscribed into public spheres behind the Iron Curtain in all their paradoxes through the looking glass of an artist generation that was controversially labelled “neo-”, and later, “post-avant-garde”. Cross-referencing the international tendencies in the marginal art worlds that existed between and beyond the Cold War reality of Blocs, The Hungarian Avant-Garde demonstrates how mostly non-conformist artists in Hungary, and by extension the spaces they created, reacted to the conflicting, contradictory nature of public spheres in the post-totalitarian condition.

By: Katalin Cseh-Varga (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Austria)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781350211629
ISBN 10: 1350211621
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 30 May 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

1. Acknowledgements 2. Introduction 3. Public Spheres and Spatiality 4. The Happening and the Consolidation of the Art of the Second Public Sphere 5. Places of Resonance – Artist Studios 6. Official Venues, Semi-Official Art: Party-Run Locations 7. Turning Private into Public – Apartment Culture 8. Avant-Garde above the Ground 9. Conclusion 10. Bibliography

Katalin Cseh-Varga is a Hertha Firnberg Fellow at the Institute of Art Theory and Cultural Studies, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria.

Reviews for The Hungarian Avant-Garde and Socialism: The Art of the Second Public Sphere

This astute monograph offers a survey of Hungarian avant-garde art of the 1960s-80s that is at once accessible and methodologically rigorous. Its elucidation of the entanglements between the first (official) public sphere and its counterpart, the second (unofficial) public sphere, is thoroughly invigorating. * Klara Kemp-Welch, The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, UK * ‘This timely and expertly researched study of unofficial Kádár-era art explores the resourcefulness and ingenuity of Hungarian artists keen to push the limits of artistic freedom. The book is indispensable for anyone interested in the question what it meant to be radical for an artist in post-1956 Hungary, and beyond.’ * Sven Spieker, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA * Drawing on a wealth of research, Cseh-Varga provides a new and accessible interpretation of radical art phenomena in Hungary under socialism. The book points to the importance of the public sphere for the democratic ambitions and battles with authority of the East European neo-avant-garde. * Edit Sasvári, Art historian and Director of the Kassák Múzeum, Budapest, Hungary *