MYTHICAL DISCOVERIES, UTOPIAN SPACES, AND POST-SOCIALIST CULTURE

Abstract

The authors compare the recent uncritical view of the West often encountered in the former European socialist countries with a similar view that Europeans held concerning America. This view was shared also by the artists of the former socialist countries who find themselves in this post-socialist situation in a rather difficult position. It is not only that the former government support has disappeared but that they must review the whole concept of their work. The APT ART INTERNATIONAL project carried out in 1992 jointly by Moscow and Ljubljana artists is given as an example of a unique and successful artistic treatment of the transitional period. This project also witnesses an awareness of some of these artists and people in general to view themselves not from a fictitious »Western« position but from their own, albeit critically reconsidered perspective.