Coexistence of Art (1993), or transnationalism as tested by the fall of the Berlin Wall

Abstract

The 45th Venice Biennale (1993), curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, focussed on a transnational methodology. However, hardly any pavilion joined the project and with the Balkan war not far from Venice, the dream of a European brotherhood faded. Within this context was conceived The Coexistence of Art, curated by Lóránd Hegyi, which underlined the complex dynamics that emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet bloc. Compared with Trigon biennials (Graz, 1963-1990), the text emphasises the epistemic change in the representation of Eastern Europe that occurred in the Eighties. The paper intends to highlight how European transnationalism has its roots in a changed notion of 'near east'. On the one hand, this shift allowed the maintenance of a conceptual unity of Europe; on the other, it camouflaged a deep orientalist attitude.