Re-Thinking (Post) Communism after The Aesthetic Turn: Art and Politics in The Romanian Context
| Author | Anca Pusca |
| Published date | 01 January 2017 |
| Date | 01 January 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0305829816684258 |
| Subject Matter | Forum: The Aesthetic Turn at 15 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829816684258
Millennium: Journal of
International Studies
2017, Vol. 45(2) 233 –240
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0305829816684258
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Re-Thinking (Post)
Communism after The
Aesthetic Turn: Art and
Politics in The Romanian
Context
Anca Pusca
City University of New York Graduate Center, USA
Keywords
(post)communism, Eastern Europe, political art
The relationship between art and politics was in many ways uniquely important in com-
munist spaces, where the totalising experience of the communist state and ideology
needed to be built quickly and emerge in a way that would completely control the visibil-
ity of ‘change’. Not unlike the post-communist transition experience, the communist
experience was also dominated by an ethos of aggressive social change and progress.
Measuring both change and progress was instrumental to the communist state, and art –
especially propaganda art – played an essential role in instigating, legitimising and ren-
dering change visible. From posters, to public statues, to rising industrial platforms and
communist blocs, to new avenues and massive public infrastructure projects, the ‘artist’
– whether an architect, painter, plastic artist, performer or poet – was an essential ‘tool’
in the ideological arsenal of the communist state. It is thus not surprising that any serious
study of politics in the post-communist context needs to take the question of ‘art’ and
‘aesthetics’ seriously.
Contemporary political theorists like Susan Buck-Morss, Svetlana Boym and Boris
Groys were quick to recognise this, and offered elaborate analyses of the ideological,
psychological and aesthetic implications of change, particularly in the post-communist
context. They all recognised the continued instrumentality of art in how change was
conceived by the masses and were particularly intrigued by the role that art would
Corresponding author:
Anca Pusca.
Email: ancapusca@gmail.com
684258MIL0010.1177/0305829816684258Millennium: Journal of International StudiesPusca
research-article2016
Forum: The Aesthetic Turn at 15
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