Invisible Histories, the Grieving Work of Communism, and the Body as Disruption: A Talk about Art and Politics

Abstract

This text is based on a conversation between myself and à…sa Sonjasdotter, visual artist and professor at TromsภAcademy of Fine Arts. In this text we will discuss my artistic research into the history of the revolutions of 1989 and of state-socialism in general – which is driven by my biographical investment in these histories – in relation to broader questions regarding the relationship between art and politics, and will consider what the notion of political struggle might mean in a post-communist world. Finally, we will analyze the role of the body, of physical experience, in remembering past political events and in opening them to the present day – through different artistic strategies.