"This crucial study presents an epic narrative of how postmodernism gave the artists of Eastern and Central Europe the expressive means to work their way out from the ruins of state socialism into the global art world in which their compatriots in the West are themselves struggling to find their identity. The authors bring to consciousness the art history of the present from important and unsuspected perspectives. This is not just a book for specialists-it is for everyone who lives the life of art in unprecedented times."--Arthur C. Danto, author of "After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and the Pale of History

"A fascinating document in the understanding of one of the decisive cultural moments in the postmodern world. The book's diversity of approaches illuminates both postmodern art and politics from a distinctive angle. Postmodernism and the Postsocialist Condition is likely to become a significant primary source for future cultural historians."--Paul Crowther, author of "The Transhistorical Image: Philosophizing Art and Its History

"This fine volume deals with the postmodernist approaches that helped artists and intellectuals cope with political reality after socialism and provided the means to face the cultural vacuum without regressing to premodern attitudes. The book suggests that dissenting voices have a better chance to be heard in smaller countries like Hungary, Cuba, Slovenia, and other republics of the former Yugoslavia. It should indeed make us pay more attention to what has happened and is happening in these countries as well as in larger countries like Russia and China."--Wolfgang Welsch, author of "Undoing Aesthetics

"This collection genuinely crackles withvitality. Tracking postmodernism far away from the canonical centers of the modern, it presents an exhilarating patchwork of mythic repetitions, sociopolitical reflections, and sheer creative exuberance."--Stephen Bann, University of Bristol

Are walls remnants of ancient and medieval societies, destined to become anachronistic in modern and post-modern times? Or will they persist, shaping as well as adjusting to new conditions? Do walls necessarily constrain and even isolate those who live within them, or can they act as a medium of support and communication for people on both sides? This volume addresses these questions. Authors from seven disciplines--history, art, law, art, medicine, communication, and film--provide multiple perspectives on various kinds of walls: material ones around and within states, cities, and towns, as well as virtual ones regulating the administration of justice, the flow of pathogens, and the transmission of information.

Are walls remnants of ancient and medieval societies, destined to become anachronistic in modern and post-modern times? Or will they persist, shaping as well as adjusting to new conditions? Do walls necessarily constrain and even isolate those who live within them, or can they act as a medium of support and communication for people on both sides? This volume addresses these questions. Authors from seven disciplines--history, art, law, art, medicine, communication, and film--provide multiple perspectives on various kinds of walls: material ones around and within states, cities, and towns, as well as virtual ones regulating the administration of justice, the flow of pathogens, and the transmission of information.