Revising Postsocialism

This article reflects on the current explanatory value of concepts such aspostsocialism and Eastern Europe by exploring how they are represented incontemporary art projects in Estonia. Through an overview of recent exhibitionsin which I collaborated with local artists and curators, the research considersgenerational differences in relation to cultural discourses of the postsocialistexperience. Methodologically, artists and curators were not simply my informantsin the field, but makers of analytical knowledge themselves in their practice.Exhibitions were also approached as contact zones, whereby new cultural formsare simultaneously reflected and constructed. Critically, this inquiry gathers newways of representing and conceptualising cultural changes in Estonia and novelperspectives of interpreting the relations to the Soviet past. The focus is put onart practice because of its capacity of bringing together global and local frames ofreference simultaneously. The research also draws attention to the inbetweennessof the first post-Soviet generation (those born near the time of the breakup ofthe USSR); they are revising established cultural forms as well as historicalrepresentations through mixing practices, and therefore updating traditionalideas of identity and attachment to places.