Eastern Bloc Songs: Unmaking History

Darryl Georgiou (Speaker), Wayne Burrows (Speaker), David Crowley (Speaker)

School of Art and Design

Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk

Description

As part of Eastern Bloc Songs: Party, Pop and Politics 7 Sep 2018 – 20 Oct 2018: The history and development of popular music from former Eastern Bloc Communist states during 1963 - 1988.

Period	22 Sep 2018
Event title	Eastern Bloc Songs: Unmaking History
Event type	Exhibition
Location	Birmingham, United Kingdom
Degree of Recognition	International

Documents & Links

About Centrala is delighted to present Wayne Burrows’ Eastern Bloc Songs: Party, Pop and Politics, the history and development of popular music from former Eastern Bloc Communist states during 1963 - 1988. Archive materials such as state approved photographs, posters, LP and EP sleeve art, TV footage and promotional films brought together by Wayne Burrows, create a peculiar, audio-visual archive of Central and Eastern European music, closely tied up with complicated political context. The full compilation of audio-visual materials is discussing the history of European pop culture by including the impact of music artists of Central and Eastern European origin, such as Czerwone Gitary, Marta Kubišová, Atlantis, Hana and Petr Ulrychovi, or Synkopy 61. The specificity of those artists lies in their singular stylistic identity - they appear as unique blend of various influences such as local musical tradition and Anglo - American patterns, both under restrictions of oppressive regime. What is important for Wayne Burrows’ approach to those issues is the implicit parallel between state restricted artistic freedom of 1963-1988 period in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and other Eastern Bloc countries and the contemporary shape of artists’ working conditions, which depend on Western neoliberal ideology. The exhibition is conjoined with accompanying events at Centrala such as the seminar, exhibition tour and series of film screenings discussing the problematic relation between cultural and political situation in Central and Eastern Europe during Soviet occupation and today’s market - driven reality in the West. Confirmed Associated Events: 7th of September 2018, 6pm, Exhibition Opening 7th of September 2018, 5pm, Exhibition Tour with Wayne Burrows 8th of September 2018, 2pm, Discussion with Darryl Georgiou and David Crowley, chaired by WayneBurrows 22nd of September 2018, 5pm, Resistance ’68: A Beginners Guide to the Art of Resistanceby Darryl Georgiou and Rebekah Tolley-Georgiou Supported by: Art Council England Film Hub Midlands BFI Film Audience Network UP RISING: The Spirit of '68