On Art, Politics and Engagement: A Timeline

For the St. Petersburg based collective Chto Delat?, timelines are artistic tools for re-staging political history: they mark a shift from the traditional understanding of the artistic or historical archives of the Cold War which merely present on historical events, to providing a space for reflection and activism around the social and political relevance of aesthetic representation of those moments and actors.

This timeline, presented here as an installation, first appeared in the book Making Another World Possible as a starting point for inquiry, from activism to aesthetics, from the historical events to happenings, and from the local to the global. Our selection for the installation at the Tallinn Art Hall includes landmark events that shaped and guided the practice of socially engaged art in the Baltic region. 

Created by Chto Delat? in close collaboration with the curator, this work presents socially engaged art histories in compelling ways, based on a selection of key projects, actions, initiatives, thinkers, and artists working in the rapidly-changing socio-political environments of their localities. Their engagements, aspirations, and propositions to a volatile and confusing era provide much-needed inspiration for the challenges ahead.