Suchergebnisse

This article presents the relation of East European artists with the Secret Police
institutions. While focused on the Romanian case, several examples from
Poland, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria help place the topic in a regional context.
The analysis includes both the viewpoint of the Secret Police on the artistic
world as such, as well as the gazes of artists on the reality of their time. The
conceptualization of artistic surveillance includes three types of examples: the
deconstruction of the officially fabricated reality, the focus on the details of the
everyday life forbidden by official propaganda, and the reflection of artists on the
secret police apparatus. The conclusions of this study show that the investigation
of artistic artifacts together with the secret police archives can help bring a new
perspective on the limits of domination exerted by the communist regime.