Klara Kemp-Welch works on modern and contemporary art from Eastern Europe. She was educated at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies and University College London, where her doctorate (2008) was supervised by Professor Briony Fer. She is the author of Antipolitics in Central European Art. Reticence as Dissidence under Post-Totalitarian Rule听1956-1989 (London: IB Tauris, 2014), Networking the Bloc. Experimental Art in Eastern Europe听1965-1989听(Cambridge Massachusetts and London, England: MIT Press, 2019) and co-editor of A Reader in East-Central European Modernism听1918-1956 with Beata Hock and Jonathan Owen (London: 91制片厂 Books Online, 2019). She is now writing a monograph on video art as a lens for understanding migration and mobility in the European Union.
Current PhD Supervision
Katia Denysova, Fragmented Identities: Between Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism in Ukrainian Avant-Garde Art听(2020–)
Anya Smirnova, Net Art East: Postsocialist Artists鈥 Networks and New Media after 1989 (2018–)
Alice David, Countercultural Print Tactics: Printing Progress and Anti-Progress in Latin America between the 1970s and 1980s听(2019–)
Hannah Healey, Artists for Democracy 1974-1977: International Solidarity in Britain (2022–)
Smaranda Ciubotaru,听Threads of Subversion in Romanian Textile Art of the Ceau葯escu Era 1965-1989 (2023–)
Rada Georgieva, ‘Parallel Cultures’: Mail Art Magazines and Samizdat Editions from Eastern Europe and Latin America 1970-95 (2023–)
Past PhD Supervision
Ana-Gabriela Rodriguez, Tracing Puerto Rican Graphic Arts: Bridging Workshops and Crossing Borders, 1940s-1970s (2024)
Wiktor Komorowski, The Reversed Power of the Image: Exhibitions of Graphic Art in Eastern Europe during the Cold War (2023)
Chelsea Pierce, The Gorgona Paradigm: Private Art Practice in Socialist Yugoslavia (2022)
Sofia Gurevich,听The Form and Content of the early Soviet Book: A study through the country鈥檚 publishing industry institutions of the 1920s and 1930s听(2020)
Svitlana Biedarieva,听Challenging the Urban Legacies of the Olympics: Mexico City听1968-1994听and Moscow听1980-1991 (2019)
Claudia Zini,听Bosnia and Herzegovina: Contemporary Art from a Post-Conflict Society听(2019)
Malgorzata Misniakiewicz,听(Art) Solidarity 鈥 An International Project: Polish Mail Art Exchanges with Eastern Europe听(2018)
Julia Maria Secklehner,听鈥淐zechs鈥 vs. 鈥淎ustrians鈥 National Identity in Caricature听1918-193听(2018)
Marko Ilic,听For a 鈥楽elf-Managing鈥 Art: The 鈥楴ew Art鈥 Seen through Yugoslavia鈥檚 Student Cultural Centres听(2016)
Research interests
International relations and the Cold War
Central and Eastern European art and politics
Post-Socialism and moving-image culture
EU mobility and migration
Representations of war in contemporary art
Publications
Books
Networking the Bloc. Experimental Art in Eastern Europe听1968-1981听(Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: MIT Press, 2019)
Antipolitics in Central European Art听1956-1989.听Reticence as Dissidence under Post-Totalitarian Rule听(London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2014; 2016)
Edited Books and Special Issues
Beata Hock, Klara Kemp-Welch, Jonathan Owen (eds),听A Reader in East-Central European Modernism听(London: 91制片厂 Books Online, 2019)
Klara Kemp-Welch and Cristina Freire (eds), 鈥楢rtists鈥 Networks in Eastern Europe and Latin America鈥, ARTMargins听鈾2 (June-October 2012)
Essays and Articles
‘Maria Pini艅ska-Bere艣鈥檚 Portable Places’ in Jaros艂aw Suchan (ed.), Maria Pini艅ska-Bere艣 (exh. cat. Muzeum Narodowe we Wroc艂awiu, 2024, forthcoming).
‘Just Softly: G谩bor Kir谩ly鈥檚 Creaturely Commonality’ in G谩bor Kir谩ly (exh. cat. London: David Kovats Gallery, 2024, forthcoming)
鈥楲ive Information鈥: Letters to Attalai’ in David Feher (ed), G谩bor Attalai (exh. cat. Budapest, 2024, forthcoming).
碍补迟颈补听Denysova, Klara听Kemp-Welch听et Maria听Mileeva, 芦听In the Eye of the Storm听禄,听Critique d鈥檃rt, 60听|听2023, 115-127.
‘Communication at a Distance: Eastern European Art and the “Section des envois” at the 1971 Paris Biennial’ in Elitza Dulguerova (ed.),听听La Biennale internationale des jeunes artistes. Paris (1959-1985),听 (Paris; editions de l’INHA / Dijon: Les Presses du reel, 2023).
‘Countercultural Misunderstandings: Alternative Art and Cold War Politics’,听Art History听45, Issue听5, Special Issue: Red Networks: Postwar Art Exchange (November 2022), 1126-1147.
‘Presence, Radiance, Pulsation: Ilona Keser眉鈥檚 Restless Objects’ in Ilona Keser眉 (London: Stephen Friedman Gallery, 2022).
‘Alina Szapocznikow, Lamp-Sculpture, c. 1970′ in Honey Luard and Elaine Tam (eds), White Cube Companion 2 (London: White Cube, 2022).
‘The Art of Heading East on a “Continent Moving West”‘ in Jakub Gakowski (ed.), Die Sonne nie swieci tak jak slonce, exh. cat. (Szczecin: Trafostacja Sztuki, 2022).
鈥楶ainting Blindly: Gili Mocanu and the Circus of Appearance鈥 in Dan Popescu (ed.), GM (Bucharest: H鈥檃rt; Editura Velant, 2021).
鈥楴ot Quite at Home: Eastern European Artists at Documentas 1-10鈥 in Alexia Pooth (ed.),听Documenta: Politics and Art, exh. cat. (Berlin: Deutsche Historische Museum, 2021).
鈥楴ight Cleaning at the Bank: Sanja Ivekovic虂鈥檚 Screen Tests for Invisible Women鈥 in Peter Osborne (ed.),听Thinking Art. Materialisms, Labors, Forms, no. 2 (London: CRMEP, 2020).
鈥楾he Romanians are Coming鈥. Labour Migration and the Politics of the Observational Documentary鈥,听Third Text听vol. 34 (July 2020).
鈥楨sprit de Corps: Dora Maurer鈥檚 Collaborative Activities 1971-1978鈥 in Juliet Bingham (ed.) Dora Maurer, exh. cat., (London: Tate, 2019).
鈥楴et: An Open Proposition鈥,听e-flux journal听#98 March 2019.
鈥楻eckoning with History鈥 in Roxana Marcoci (ed.),听Writings on Art and Theory of Post-1989 Central and Eastern Europe: A Critical Anthology, New York: MoMA, 2018.
鈥楽oft-Spoken Encounters: International Exchanges and the Hungarian 鈥淯nderground鈥欌欌 in Edit Sasvari (ed.) Art in Hungary听1956-1980.听Doublespeak and Beyond (London: Thames and Hudson; Vince Books, 2018), 273-291.
鈥楢rtist Networker / Artist Clerk: Endre Tot鈥檚 Zeros and Gladnesses鈥,听Arta. Revista. Arte Visuale. Anul VI, 20-21, 2016, pp. 119-120.
鈥業nternational Relations at the Foksal Gallery鈥 in Justyna Wesolowska (ed.),听Galeria Foksal听1966-2016,听Warsaw: Galeria Foksal, 2016.
, MoMA online, December 2015.
鈥楯ordan McKenzie and the Rhetoric of Power鈥 in听Jordan McKenzie, exh. cat., London: Arts Council of England; York: Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2014.
鈥業mpossible Interviews with Ceausescu: Ion Grigorescu and the Dialogic Imagination鈥, in Alina Serban (ed.),听Ion Grigorescu. The Man with a Single Camera, Berlin and New York: Sternberg Press, 2013, pp. 158-184. (republished in shortened form in听Revista Arta听14-15, 2016, pp. 52-58).
鈥楢utonomy, Solidarity and the Antipolitics of NET鈥, in Bozena Czubak (ed.),听NET. The Art of Dialogue / NET. Sztuka Dialogu, Warsaw: Fundacja Profil, 2013, pp. 34-56.
鈥楢rt Documentation and Bureaucratic Life: The 鈥楥ase鈥 of the Studio of Documentation, Activities and Propagation鈥 in Lukasz Ronduda and Georg Schollhammer (eds),听KwieKulik, Vienna: JPR Ringier, 2013, pp. 515-517.
鈥楰wieKulik鈥檚 Monument without a Passport (1978)鈥 in听Critique and Crisis. European Cultural Discourses since 1945. XXX Council of Europe Exhibition,听electronic catalogue, Berlin: Deutsches Historisches Museum, 2012.
鈥榃ho鈥檚 Afraid of Neo-Socialist-Realism?鈥, in听Stefan Constantinescu. An Infinite Blue, exh. cat., London: GALERIE8, 2011, pp. 43-56.
鈥楢rticulating the Between: Henryk Sta偶ewski鈥檚 Critical Spaces鈥, in Gabriela Switek (ed.),听Avant-garde in the Bloc, Warsaw: Fundacja Galerii Foksal; Vienna, JPR Ringier, 2010, pp. 294-317.
鈥楯i艡铆 Kovanda鈥檚 Collisions鈥, in Margaret Iversen, (ed.),听Chance. Documents of Contemporary Art Series, London: Whitechapel Gallery; Cambridge Mass. and London: MIT Press, 2010, 147-149.
鈥楢ttacking Objectification: Jerzy Bere艣 in Dialogue with Marcel Duchamp鈥 in Mel Jordon and Malcolm Miles (eds),听Art Theory and Post-Socialism, Bristol UK and Portland USA: Intellect Books, 2008, pp. 21-31.
