Marina Grzinic – Situated Contemporary Art Practices, Art, Theory and Activism from (the East of) Europe

Marina Grzinic

book – ZRC Publishing/Revolver – ISBN 3937577408
Marina Grzinic, an artist and media theoretician is one of the foremost experts of media art in the former ‘East Europe’ countries. This collection of essays is an important compendium of the practices that spanned these territories in the last fifteen years. A ‘localization’, however, with fluid boundaries that grafts immaterial traits on equally fluid territories, for their unique recent history. One of the consequences of the flow of media into these countries has been the radical redefinition of time (the eastern bloc collapse, and the different ways of life before and after) and the collapse of space (through the creation and diffusion of cyberspace, as intelligently noted by the author). The media and artistic movements have played a key role during some historical events, such as the national serbian televisions during the Jugoslavian civil war, the land where the extraordinary Darko Maver fake by 0100101110101101.ORG was set, or the critical cultural role of NSK in Slovenia, or the background the uncertain identity of Netochka Nezvanova emerged from. So, the passage from the former cultural isolation to a very lively curiosity and a great ability in critically elaborating their own past, together with the reappropriation of technologies, was a key point. The artistic practices, here, never abstracted from a specific critical conscience, while the analysis of their intentions and effects outlines a precious scenery, showing that an important piece of the future of media art was born and flourished in Eastern Europe.