Exhibition opening: Thursday, June 30th at 7 pm.

30. 6. – 29. 7. 2022

According to history, the Iron Curtain elapsed with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The works captured by the photographers in this exhibition begs to differ. The Iron Curtain never ceased to exist; it just changed its nature. It is no longer made of bricks and wire nor ideology and politics – today, it is made of culture and identity. The culture born out of a utopian vision for the region, sometimes taking dramatic and unexpected directions, connects the artists born in the period in which we are supposed to believe that the producing this culture has fallen. Like them, we should allow ourselves to experience nostalgia for the time that most of us didn’t experience. The disappeared world still lives in stories of families, architecture, and – above all – photography. We Eastern Europeans are all sons and daughters of this world.

Going East is a photographic story about evolution and national identity shifts. From Mitteleuropa to the most remote Siberian towns, to lands and regions largely untouched by modernity. All the exhibited artworks are first-hand documents showing uncompromised visions and aesthetics from countries that dealt, over the past 30 years, with social issues coming from the rapid transition from socialism to capitalism.

With this project, we seek to bring insights into places, people, and creative projects from these countries. All artists involved will leave something peculiar in you. Every work exhibited has a profound and personal voyage in the life of its creators. You will be able to experience different stories from the former Eastern Bloc, all depicting something in the most important and immediately recognized language – photography.

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Participating Artists:

Aija Bley (LV) • Albina Abdullina (RU) • Alexandra Ermolaeva (RU) • Alexey Vasilyev (RU) • Anna Lapchanskaya (UA) • Anna Priakhina • Anton Polyakov (PMR) • Artëm PMR (RU) • David Keinne (SI) • Dima Komarov (RU) • Elena Chernyshova (RU) • Emilia Martin (RU – NL) • Emilija Stanišić (RS) • Eugenia Karuzina (RU) • Ivan Filiushin (RU) • Juli Nazarova (BY) • Julia Buruleva (RU) • Karol Palka (PL) • Katalin Száraz (HU) • Khatia Nikabadze (GA) • Laszlo Gabor Belicza (HU) • Lia Bekyan (AM) • Lilika Strezoska (MK) • Lucia Sekerkova (SK) • Marek Wurfl (SK) • Marietta Varga (HU) • Marijana Gligic (RS) • Marin Mešter (SI – CR) • Mariusz Roguski (PL) • Mateusz Zurowski (PL) • Matjaž Tančič (SI) • Miloš Nejezchleb (CZ) • Monika Plusa (PL) • Natalia Poniatowska (PL) • Natalya Zhukova (RU) • Oliver Takáč (SK) • Pavlo Borshchenko (UA) • Polina Bannova (RU) • Robert Marin (SI) • Roman Muraviov (UA) • Simona Ciocarlan (RO) • Slavica Veselinović (SI) • Sofiya Chotyrbok (UA – IT) • Titus Poplawski (PL) • Elena Fort (BY) • Vlad Tretiak (RU) • Xenia Petrovska (UA)

Curators of the exhibition:

Slavica Veselinovic and Martin Vegas

The exhibition was curated before the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian forces.

Photos from the exhibition
Exhibition Going East on RTV SLO (Slovene)