In the Sphere of The Soviets

This book is distinctive in exploring Eastern European art since World War Two. It focuses on the period after Stalin, covering the response by and legacy of Soviet domination of the region, especially looking at the Soviet Union, Ukraine, Georgia, Central Asia and influence of Russia/Soviet Union in Asia.    

It explores the theoretical models developed for understanding contemporary art across Eastern Europe and pays attention to the new generation of Georgian artists who emerged in the immediate years before and after the country’s independence from the Soviet Union; the Ukrainian artists after the events of Maidan in 2014 and legacy and debates around monuments across Eastern Europe.

Dr. Charles Merewether is an art historian, the author and the curator who has worked in Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas. Merewether has worked and lived in Tbilisi, Georgia, over the past 4 years. He is the author of books and many articles about contemporary art, including his books State of Play (2017), After Memory: The Art of Milenko Prvacki and Under Construction: Ai Weiwei (2008). He was the co-editor of After the Event (2010) and the editor of both Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art: Experimentations in the Public Sphere in Postwar Japan 1950-1970, (2007) and The Archive (2006).