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Stonehill College

Publication Date

Spring 2017

Program Name

Czech Republic: Arts and Social Change

Abstract

This research endeavors to explore the ways in which activist art functions within the context of the Czech Republic’s political culture. In a society where art had such a significant influence during the transition to democracy, the activist role of art is emphasized minimally in terms of contemporary culture. The main objective of exploring this function results in a threetiered methodology, utilizing secondary sources, direct observation, and interviews with activist artists themselves. The relevant scholarly literature discusses activist art both in the general sense, as well as within the context of post-communist countries. However, individual interviews with local activist artists work were necessary to narrow the scope, focusing specifically on the Czech Republic. Several themes emerge from this data; the results explore the significance of terminology, the quantification of success, the influence of the media, the resulting discussions, the public portrayal of activist artists, and the uniqueness of the Czech context. Through the analysis of these particular examples, activist art formulates a uniquely influential aspect of Czech culture. Ultimately, the research finds that these activist artists, though they differ slightly, are linked through a fundamentally unified essence of Czech activist art.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Community-Based Research | Family, Life Course, and Society | Near and Middle Eastern Studies | Politics and Social Change | Sociology of Culture | Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies

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