Creating for the State During Socialism: The Role of Artists' Unions

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

During the communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the role of artists’ unions in organizing creative endeavors following the official style of Socialist Realism was paramount. Nonetheless, they have been understudied in the last 30 years and we don’t yet have a refined image of the national differences, or of the unitary model at work in the communist regimes in Eastern Europe. How did these unions function? What was their relation to the other cultural institutions of the communist regimes? How did they change through time, and which are the national temporalities concerning the fine arts? How did the ‘state artists’ adapt during the decades of communism?

Sub Unit

• Arts: Art History, Architecture, Dance, Museum, Music, Photography, Theatre

Chair

• Raino Isto, U of Maryland, College Park

Papers

• The Role of the Romanian Plastic Artists Union (UAP) in Producing Art for the Socialist State - Caterina Preda, U of Bucharest (Romania)

• 'Criticism Will Open Up New Horizons': The Union of Writers and Artists and the Development of Art Critical Discourse in Socialist Albania - Raino Isto, U of Maryland, College Park

• Institutionalized Hegemonies: The Socialist Origins of the Right-Wing Dominance in the Hungarian Artists’ Unions - Kristóf Nagy, Central European U (Hungary)

Discussant

• Juliana Maxim, U of San Diego