EastUnBloc

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  • EastUnBloc header.jpg
Reclaiming Experimental and Subversive Media art Practices from Central and Eastern Europe, 1958 to the Present
nGbK am Alex

Group exhibition
nGbK, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 11/13, 10178 Berlin 
29 November 2025 – 15 February 2026
Opening hours: Tue–Sun 12:00–18:00, Fri 12:00–20:00
Admission: free

35 years into the post-socialist transition in Europe, images of the “former East” are often still rendered in shades of gray. Only recently, Cold War scholarship is beginning to move away from a view of two monolithic opposing blocs, instead exploring the concept of alternate or parallel modernities rather than the idea of lack and lag in the former Eastern bloc. To add color to these images, explore the ruptures and permeability of the “Iron Curtain” and blast apart pre-conceptions, the group exhibition EastUnBloc presents subversive and experimental media art works and practices by more than two dozen artists and collectives from socialist and transition-era Central and Eastern Europe as well as the production contexts in which they were created. Beyond presentation, the exhibition seeks to reclaim these works, as “artistic intelligence”: inspiration and toolkits to respond to current challenges.

  • Aleksandra Domanović, From yu to me, 2013/14.
  • Aleksandra Domanović, From yu to me, 2013/14.
  • Vákuum Tv, 1996.
With contributions by

nGbK work group: Natalie Gravenor, Sarah Günther, Zsuzsa Berecz, Friedemann Bochow, Dušan Barok.

Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion in Berlin. Supported by the German-Czech Fund for the Future.

Curatorial text[edit]

The five curators of the exhibition grew up in different countries along both sides of the former Iron Curtain. They experienced – firsthand or with the critical distance passed time allows – the social situation which shaped the exhibited works.

In Central and Eastern Europe, the late 1980s and early 1990s were marked by two intertwined paradigm shifts: the dissolution of state socialism and the dawn of the digital and internet age. This simultaneity brought about a diverse body of media works. EastUnBloc “reverse engineers” the underlying principles of these works and their production processes. Borrowing a term from computer programming, these principles and strategies are referred to as “scripts”.

They invite visitors to connect with the exhibited works and reflect their own past, future and present through the exhibits’ lenses.

Instead of insisting on a spatial, chronological or geographical dramaturgy, the scripts guide visitors to encounter works in an optional order, revealing themselves through color-coding and other clues in the exhibition design.

A cooperation with Wiki-based arts online library Monoskop provides background information throughout the exhibition.

Turn shit into chocolate[edit]

 
using limited resources for maximal effect

Resources are generally scarcer for independent artists and activists, and that was certainly the case in socialist and transition-era Central and Eastern Europe. Combining available materials with ingenuity and imagination, the works applying this script are provocative, humorous and even trailblazing. They use lo-res formats like 16 mm, Super 8 or VHS, U-matic low band and Hi8 video, basic video signals, minimal computer code, such as the four kilobyte size digital animations of the Demoscene, ASCII characters, and GIFs. Found footage becomes raw material. Editing takes place in camera or with rudimentary cuts, or films are shot in one take. Props and sets are handmade; trash becomes costumes; minimalism becomes virtuosity. The “turn shit into chocolate” script echoes in for example the Dogme 95 manifesto’s creative restraints and permacomputing (see the accompanying program), a concept and community of practice oriented around issues of resilience and regenerativity in computer and network technology inspired by permaculture.

Reality bending[edit]

 
hacking the system with pranks and hoaxes

Analogous to the musical practice of circuit-bending – creative manipulation of circuits in electronic devices to get an output that was not intended by the manufacturer – the exhibition uses the term “reality bending” to highlight works that hijack power structures. Through parody, overaffirmation, or unexpected disruption, these works reveal hidden truths, empower the powerless (if only for a brief moment), and show that a different situation is possible.

While reality bending is a practice adopted for progressive and emancipatory aims, some works also deal with ethical questions and possible unintended adverse effects.

Media artists and activists in Central and Eastern Europe frequently used reality bending as an underlying “script.” Some works ruptured rigid and oppressive state media, in particular television, through illegal and high-risk actions or, as in the Slovenian art group Laibach, by parody or détournage of official symbols and messages. Others, like Krzysztof Wodiczko with his Lenin Monument, used media as interventions in public space.

Make your own media[edit]

 
self-empowerment through media production

Bertolt Brecht famously said in the early 1930s, with the advent of radio as a mass medium, that radio not only allows one sender to reach a broad audience in a top down fashion, its technology also has the potential for each receiver to broadcast their own programming.

Then 16 mm and Super 8 film emerged which could be developed at home – crucial particularly in Central and Eastern Europe to avoid state control through film labs. Later video formats such as VHS, Video / Hi8 and (Mini)DV became accessible, empowering more people to create their own media. Non-conformist self-expression, aesthetic exploration, and sharing suppressed information were some of the aims of this practice.

In the strongly controlled media system of the socialist era, alternative niches emerged. In state supported or tolerated experimental film and video art practices in Poland, Hungary, Yugo­slavia, and Romania, abstract visual art works flew under the radar of censors who were watching out for explicit, often verbal artistic expression. Amateur films, which occasionally tested limits of form and content, were produced in clubs associated with worker leisure time and worker creativity encouragement or, as in Yugoslavia, as part of aesthetic education.

Autonomous production occurred with Super 8 film cameras and video equipment, sometimes smuggled from the West.

This allowed the creation of a wide range of “audiovisual samizdat,” underground self-publishing practices ranging from experimental works which challenged aesthetic norms to documentations of suppressed political movements such as Charta 77 in Czechoslovakia and Solidarność in Poland.

This script also encompasses interactivity. While the audience is not completely autonomous, it is a co-creator or at least has a decision-making option within the works, foreshadowing today’s media landscape of individual prosumers. The exhibition presents Kinoautomat, the first large-scale interactive narrative film from Czechoslovakia which premiered at Expo Montreal in 1967, and DemoKino, a 21st century response exploring interactivity and political decision-making.

Furthermore, net art works follow this script, using the interactive features of the internet browser and hypertext, as well as 1980s independent computer games from Czechoslovakia, some of which had explicit political themes.

Bring a friend[edit]

 
creating communities by throwing a political party

As authorities in Central and Eastern Europe often sowed suspicion to better control their subjects, friendship became particularly precious. It also was a means of resistance. Long nights in pubs engendered not only hangovers but also plans for artistic and political activity. Private social gatherings became informal art exhibitions, fashion shows, concerts, poetry readings, film screenings, and happenings. Circles of friends co-created and had each other’s backs, worked and lived together. Making art became a way of life. And despite mistrust of potential secret police informers, encounters with the unfamiliar – people with different backgrounds and life situations as well as new experien­ces – were welcome.

Works using this script document avant-garde fashion which irreverently used socialist symbols. Intermedia club culture, where music, media art, design, dancing and performance merged, became labs for social change or a safe space for expressing queer identities.

Expose the seams[edit]

 
revealing media’s underlying processes

The persuasive effect of media often relies upon the audience’s ignorance of how it works. Official media in socialist countries also strived to remain untransparent. Particularly in the postmodern era, questioning the power of media by exposing its inner workings became a key issue for scholars and artists on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

Works using this script are highly experimental and self-referential, deviating the most from conventional viewing habits. The presence of the camera is highlighted by breaking the fourth wall or showing the recording apparatus. Editing, usually invisible in classical narrative cinema, is foregrounded. Some structuralist works explore the materiality of film and video: film grain, electromagnetic signals, video dropouts, pixels, and other digital glitches. Some works walk viewers through the process of creation.

Space in time[edit]

 
forging connections across spatial and temporal boundaries

Geography and history, intertwined manifestations of space and time, particularly shaped everyday life and states of mind in Central and Eastern Europe. Centuries of armed conflicts, domination by foreign colonial powers, and the redrawing of national borders impacted identities. The establishment of the capitalist and socialist blocs in post-war Europe resulted in the Iron Curtain as a seemingly invincible barrier with a far-reaching shadow.

As a consequence, much artistic practice engaged with ghosts of the past and utopian or dystopian futures as they blur or battle each other in the present.

The projects in the exhibition, through networks of likeminded artists all over Europe, forged connections via the distribution of analogue videotapes through semi-official channels like Infermental. Others used TV broadcast and early internet technologies, as did Van Gogh TV with Piazza Virtuale, or created a dialogue between past and future selves. And Transcentrala by Marina Gržinić & Aina Šmid explores how artist collective NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst) developed a theory of history and concept of a postnational world transcending borders. In 1992, the collective founded NSK State in Time, which inspired this script’s name.

Works[edit]

  • EastUnBloc 2025 floor plan.png
 
2
 

Marina Gržinić & Aina Šmid

Transcentrala 
(Neue Slowenische Kunst State in Time)
SI 1993

Video, Beta SP, 20 min 
Color, sound 
Production: TV Slovenia / Artistic Programme 
Slovenian with English subtitles

 

The Blind Spot

Installation by Damir Radović 
for the exhibition Spaceship Yugoslavia, nGbK 2011 
Photo: Nihad Nino Pušija

 
3
 

Dalibor Martinis

DM 1978 Talks to DM 2010
YU (HR) 1978/2010

Video, 13 min 
Color and b/w, sound 
Croatian with English subtitles

DM 2024 Talks to DM 1978 – HRT
HR 2024

Video, 19 min 
Color and b/w, sound 
English

 
4
 

Infermental
1980–1991

International video art magazine with contributions by various artists

Documents, posters, graphics  
Source: ZKM Collection 
© ZKM – Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, 1980–91

Infermental Berlin, Mediascreen Display Ku’damm Eck  
Source: ZKM Collection 
Photo: Zoltán Jancsó, 1982; © Vera Baksa-Soós

 
5
 

Aleksandra Domanović

Grobari
2009

Inkjet prints on A4 paper, 3,500 pages

From yu to me
2013/14

HD video, 35 min 
Color, sound

 
6
 

Igor Štromajer

101.72 MB
SI 1996–2007, 2024

Seven framed electric machines, one robot

 
7
 

Art Servers Unlimited
GB 1998

Video, 30 min 
Color, sound 
English

 

/ETC Eclectic Tech Carnival 2011 Belgrad
GR/SR 2011

By: βιντεοκολλεκτίβα Κινηματόγραφος & GenderChangers
Video, 6 min 
Color, sound 
English

 

MetaForum 1–3 (1994–1996) Revisited
HU 2024

By: Flóra Barkóczi & students of the Intermedia Department at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts 
Video, 11 min 
Color, sound 
English

 
8
 

Slovak Computer Games
1987–1994

Playable English localizations of Slovak digital games for Fuse emulator 
Translation project created by Slovak Game Developers Association in cooperation with Slovak Design Museum 
Translation: Stanislav Hrda, Slavomír Labský, Marián Kabát, Darren Chastney, Jakub Celušák,
Maroš Brojo

Sinclair ZX Spectrum Computer  
Exhibit (not functional) 
Loaned by: Computerspielemuseum Berlin

 
9
 

Monoskop

Shadow libraries
2015/2025

Digital print (website), 41 x 570 cm

 
10
 

Satori

Different Engine
SK/FI 2000

By: Zden Hlinka / Satori (code, graphics) & Esa Ruoho (music)  
Video (PC demo), 2 min 
Black/white, sound

Metamorf
SK/PL 2000

By: Zden Hlinka / Satori (code, graphics) & Raiden / Aural Planet (music) 
Video (PC demo), 3 min 
Color, sound

B10
SK 2001

By: Zden Hlinka / Satori (code, graphics) & David Bennar (music) 
Video (PC demo), 4 min 
Color, sound

 

Szilárd Matusik

Stamps Back – A Moleman Story (excerpts)
HU 2022

Documentary about the origins of the Hungarian demoscene and home computer subculture 
Video, 10 min 
Color, sound

 
11
 

Pneuma Szöv. / Pneuma Vizuál

Studio TV Free Europe
2025

Spacetime travel device with props

 

TV Free Europe
Budapest, Szombathely, Leipzig, Tårnby Torv/Kopenhagen, Nova Gorica, Oberwart, Online 
2019–2021

Artistic coordination: Pneuma Szöv. 
With various video works from Studio Budapest

TV Free Europe Program Announcements Mon–Sun 
Budapest 2020/21 
Online channel by Szilveszter Jenei 
7 x ca. 1 min 
English

Working Party – The Telepathy Machine #1  
Online live show during the COVID-19 pandemic by Pneuma Szöv. + Pneuma Vizuál, Budapest, 1.5.2021 
115 min 
English 
With: Róbert Békefi, Zsuzsa Berecz, Csilla File, Sarah de Günther, Csilla Hódi, Szilveszter Jenei, Bernadett Jobbágy, David Karla, Boglárka Lutz, Zoltán Lehoczky, Lilla Magyari, Viktor Markos, Gergely Pápai, Dorottya Poór, Júlia Salamon, Luca Szabados, Dániel Szapu

Teletext about TV Free Europe  
Budapest, 2020 
3 min 
Text: Klára Nagy, szinhaz.net 
Teletext video: de Günther / Pneuma Szöv.

 
12
 

Krzysztof Wodiczko

Lenin Monument. Leninplatz, Berlin, 1990
D/PL 1990

Commissioned work for the exhibition
The Finiteness of Freedom, Berlin, 1990 
Large format photo by: Werner Zellien 
Loaned by: Profile Fundacja

 

Sabine B. Vogel & Mike Steiner

Every Monument Is A Person
D 1990

Video, 23 min 
Color, sound 
German, English 
Courtesy of: Raik Müller

 
13
 

Lenin Projection Workshop
2025

3D print (model: Bormuh), Polylux

 
14
 

C.U.K.T. (Piotr Wyrzykowski)

Wiktoria Cukt 2.0 Rebirth
PL 2025

Video installation

Wall Print Collage  
2025 

Composite visual documentation: fragments of original Wiktoria Cukt campaign poster (2000) and Wiktoria Cukt 2.0 Wiktoriomat poster (2025) 
Digital print, 300 x 200 cm

Presidential Campaign of Wiktoria Cukt  
2001 

Video documentary by Piotr Wyrzykowski 
Documentation of C.U.K.T. (Central Office of  
Technical Culture) campaign intervention, 2000 
Officials: Rafał Ewertowski, Mikołaj Jurkowski, Artur Kozdrowski, Jacek Niegoda, Maciej Sienkiewicz, Piotr Wyrzykowski 
Video, 27 min 
Color, sound

Extended Interview with Wiktoria Cukt 2.0: Years 2024–2025  
2025

Video documentary by Piotr Wyrzykowski 
Documentation of Wiktoria Cukt 2.0 rebirth by C.U.K.T. 
Officials: Mikołaj Robert Jurkowski, Piotr Wyrzykowski 
Video, 49 min 
Color, sound

Official Campaign Poster  
2000

Wiktoria Cukt presidential campaign poster 
C.U.K.T. (Central Office of Technical Culture) 
Digital print, framed, 40 x 50 cm

Official Presidential Poster  
2025 

Wiktoria Cukt 2.0 Wiktoriomat poster 
C.U.K.T. (Central Office of Technical Culture) 
Official: Piotr Wyrzykowski 
Digital print, framed, 40 x 50 cm

Official Exposé of Wiktoria Cukt  
2000 

C.U.K.T. (Central Office of Technical Culture) 
Digital print, framed, 21 x 29,7 cm

Aarhus Declaration  
2025 

Wiktoria Cukt 2.0 & C.U.K.T. 
Official: Piotr Wyrzykowski 
Digital print, framed, 21 x 29,7 cm

 
15
 

Vákuum TV  

Monoszkóp
1995

Hand-painted opening title screen for the broadcasts of Vákuum TV 
Acrylic, canvas 
268 x 216 cm

 

Vákuum TV

Vákuum TV
1994

Stage set built for the shows of Vákuum TV in the Budapest nightclub Tilos az Á 
Wood, tulle 
264,5 x 369 cm

Vákuum TV introduction  
HU 2025 

Produced by Vákuum TV for EastUnBloc, using original video footage  
of the Vákuum TV archive 
Video, 4:28 min

Vákuum TV  
HU 1995 

Compilation from the Vákuum TV archive about the group. Pre-graduation work of Vákuum TV member Kristóf Forgács, produced at Medienzentrum of UdK Berlin 
Video, 46:04 min 
Hungarian, dubbed into German 
Performers: Members of Vákuum TV 
Other performers: 
Studio speaker: Rolf Gänger 
Art policists: Martin Willis, Marc Stephan 
Christo Vladimirov Javacheff: Tilman Wendland 
Camera: Iván Artner, János Szirtes, Virág Csejdy, Martin Willis 
Voice actors: Marc Stephan, Silke Gänger 
Translation: Bak Gara

Vákuum TV at Next 5 Minutes  
HU/NL 1996 

Excerpts from the video documentation of Vákuum TV's performance at the Next 5 Minutes 2 International Festival of Tactical Media,  
Amsterdam, 18.–21.1.1996 
Produced by Tactical Media Files 
Online video, 10:17 min

 
16
 

Van Gogh TV

Piazza Virtuale
1992

Piazza virtuale – The Documentation  
D 1993 

By: Utta C. Hoffmann & Van Gogh TV 
Video, 33 min 
Color, sound 
English

Piazza virtuale – Dokumentation 
D 2021 

By: Tilman Baumgärtel & Julian Weinert 
Produced by: Institut für Mediengestaltung 
Video, 40 min 
Color, sound 
German with English subtitles

Configuration Piazza Virtuale  
1992 

Benjamin Heidersberger / Van Gogh TV 
Wall plan, Billboard-Print, 2 x 3 m

Logo Van Gogh TV  

Inkjet print on A3 paper

Broadcast Studio Kassel  
Ole Lütjens, Salvatore Vanasco, Katrin Brinkmann 
Black and white photography 
Photo: Ali Altschaffel

Screenshots of some Piazzetta (Broadcast Studios)
by Van Gogh TV and various artists and collectives 
8 inkjet prints, 58 x 43 cm 
Photo printouts produced for the exhibition Van Gogh TV: Piazza virtuale, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin 2021

Piazzetta Praha  
Organizers: First Piazzetta Prague: Michael Bielický (Akademie der Bildenden Künste), Second Piazzetta Prague: Ika Kröger  
Participants: Tomáš Mašín, David Saudek, David Christoff, Keiko Sei, Prof. Milan Knížák, Richard Gaynor and others

Piazzetta Riga 
Participants: Baiba Ripa, Valdis Martinsons, Liena & Edgars Muceniers, Ojārs Pētersons, Aigars Sparāns, Hardijs Lediņš, Artis Dzērve, Kristina Dregene and others

Piazzetta Bremen 
Organizers: students of Bremer Hochschule für Künste
Initiators: Axel Roselius & Ronald Gonko, Jörg H. Wolff, Prof. Gerd Dahlmann 
Participants: Stefan Doepner, André Szigethy, Ole Wulfers, Tobias Küch, Rachid Ali Khan, Beate Skiba, Hank Normann, Katrin Orth, Veronika My, Daniela Aligeri, Martina Schall, Joschi Jung and others

Piazzetta Hamburg  
Organizers: Frauen und Technik (Ellen Nonnenmacher, Bettina Schoeller, Lore Piatkowski, Ania Corcilius, Cornelia Sollfrank, Korinna Knoll, Annette Kisling, Silke Mauritius, Janine Sack, Christine Bader)

Piazzetta Paris  
Organizers: Christian Vanderborght 
Participants: Christian Vanderborght, Frank Barte, Jacques Bigot, Karim Baupin, Arnaud Mayet, David Dronet, Stefano Zanini, Eric Madeleine and others

Piazzetta Ljubljana  
Organizers and participants: 
Production unit in Ljubljana: Radio Student, KUD France Preseren, Kanal A 
Produced by: Marko Košnik / Egon March Institute 
Performers: Ema Kugler, Mojca Dimec, Mojca Kumerdej, Lidija Bernik, Franc Purg, Sebastjan Starič, Bojan Štokelj, Mare Kovačič, Silvo Zupančič, Marko Košnik 
Contact studio: Snežana Levstik, Jure Longyka 
Local transmission: Peter Levart, Miran Divjak, Miran Kajin, Borut Savski 
Intellectuals: Jelena Lovrić, Silva Mežnarić, Rade Šerbedžija, Slavoj Žižek, Damjan Bojadžiev, Gorazd Suhadolnik, Radko Polič, Goran Janković, Haris Burina, Rastko Močnik, Petar Luković

Piazzetta Nagoya  
Organizers: Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK – Japan Broadcasting Corporation)
Participants: Eiichi Kubota (program director NHK), Atsushi Ogata (translator in Kassel)

Piazzetta Genève  
Philippe Coeytaux, Alessandra Mueller and others

 
17
 

Davide Grassi

DemoKino – Virtual Biopolitical Agora
SI 2005

Interactive DVD 
Color, sound 
English, Slovenian, Italian versions

 
18
 

Radúz Činčera / Alena Činčerová

Kinoautomat
ČSSR/CZ 1967/2009

DVD version of the first interactive movie 
Color and b/w, sound 
Czech-English version

 
19
 

TV Tower Lounge

TV program installation, films and videos 1958–2010

For details see the program guide

Loaned by: Collection Video-Forum, 
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Filmoteka Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie and the works’ authors

Events[edit]

Opening[edit]

EastUnBloc 2025 opening.jpg
nGbK. Fri, 28 Nov 25, 18:00 h

With an intervention by the art network Pneuma Szöv. (Budapest/Berlin) and special guest Kristóf Forgács (Vákuum TV).

Vakuum Tv.jpg  Vakuum TV.jpg


“Bring a Friend” – Early Night Show[edit]

EastUnBloc 2025 Bring a friend.jpg
nGbK. Sat, 29 Nov 25, 19:00–20:30 h

TV Free Europe presents:
A performance and time travel talk show by Pneuma Szöv. (Budapest/Berlin) and guests: Gusztáv Hámos, Mike Hentz and Benjamin Heidersberger. – Live at and from nGbK!

Entropy Coding – Experiments with Video and Permacomputing[edit]

EastUnBloc 2025 Permacomputing cinema.jpg
nGbK. Tue, 2 Dec 25, 14:00–18:00 h

Workshop with Brendan Howell (artist and reluctant engineer, wintermute.org, permacomputing.net):
Experimenting with outmoded and low-fi digital cameras as tools for new aesthetics and narratives.

Net Art Gallery Surfing Session[edit]

nGbK. Sun, 11 Dec 25, 19:00 h

with Sakrowski (curator, netzkunst.berlin) and Igor Štromajer (artist)

More about the event on the panke.gallery website.

Networks of Net Art – Syndicate and Deep Europe[edit]

nGbK. Tue, 13 Jan 26, 19:00 h

with Tereza Havlíková (curator, netzkunst.berlin) and Andreas Broeckmann (curator and researcher)

Bye Bye My Eye: Confirmed. Understood. Over and out.[edit]

nGbK. Wed, 28 Jan 26, 19:00 h

Live cinema. Live performance. Half dead reality of those who sailed into the known. © D'epog.

Archival Outreach Symposium[edit]

nGbK. Thu, 29 Jan 26, time tbc

with Jennifer Helia DeFelice (Vašulka Kitchen Brno), Lucia Repašská (D'epog), and others.

Finissage[edit]

nGbK. Sun, 14 Feb 26, 18:00 h

Downloads[edit]

Links[edit]

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