The title of curated by_vienna 2011 describes a geographical conundrum — to be solved using the compass of contemporary art. This geographical aspect reflects Vienna’s status, at different moments in European history, as an advocate for culture and contemporary art from an expanded Eastern European space. The project hones on regional geography at a time, and in a world, largely governed by global mechanisms and ways of thinking.

The project’s intention is to investigate a wider understanding of Europe and its transformations since the countries formerly behind the Iron Curtain have returned to the heart of continental cultural and political life and since Turkey has been engaged in multilateral discourse.

21 internationally renowned curators, who have a track record of working with artists from Eastern and Southeastern Europe, have been invited to develop special exhibitions for 21 leading galleries in Vienna. The project highlights the many points of cultural contact that Vienna has with the cities and states that the participating curators hail from and are making exhibitions about, including: Bucharest and Cluj/Romania, Istanbul/Turkey, Krakow and Warsaw/Poland, Ljubljana/Slovenia, Moscow/Russia, Prague/Czech Republic, Riga/Latvia, Sofia/Bulgaria, Tallinn/Estonia, Vilnius/Lithuania, Zagreb/Croatia.

The participating curators span three generations and present a range of exhibitions that delve into the historical formations of art made in the territories being examined; consider the work of some of the most influential artists of the periods of radical experimentation and protest associated with the various anticommunist undergrounds; as well as assay new artists, new trends, and new conceptual and critical developments impacting upon the international contemporary art scene.

Experienced as a whole curated by_vienna 2011: EAST by SOUTH WEST will enable audiences to chart intersections, connections, and diversions across the expanse of the exhibitions and the sociopolitical geography they encompass — presented in Vienna.