In the endlessly war-torn and conflicted Yugoslav cultures of the twentieth century, the avant-garde was not just a museum luxury; it was always relentlessly political, activist, and truly transformative. this fascinating and meticulously assembled collection of essays by leading artists and scholars traces the daring and imaginative cultural production of Yugoslavia from the fall of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in cultural production of Yugoslavia itself in 1991. As such, this major publication opens our eyes to a whole new dimension of avant-garde practice. Impossible Histories will be read and discussed for years to come.
Marjorie Perloff, Sadie D. Patek Professor Emerita of Humanities, Standard University, author of The Futurist Moment and Radical Artifice
Impossible Histories is not only the most penetrating history of modern culture in the former Yugoslavia yet to appear; it is a model study of the creativity and complexity of modernism generally. By offering critical perspectives not only on painting and sculpture, but also on music, dance, film, theater, architecture, literature, and photography, Impossible Histories reveals the complicity of all the creative and performing arts in first begetting, then exploiting, and finally overcoming avant-garde culture.
Steven Mansbach, Professor of the History of Modern Art, University of Maryland, author of Modern Art in Eastern europe: From the Baltic to the Balkans, ca. 1890-1939
To participate in the international avant-garde movements was for many intellectuals and artists of Eastern Europe the only way to keep independence and critical distance from the violent ethnic, religious and ideological conflicts that dominated this region during the twentieth century. By documenting the political relevance and tragic fate of the artistic avant-gardes on the territories of former Yugoslavia, Impossible Histories reveals the inner dynamics and true spirit of the avant-garde—as distinct from its later commodification by the Western culture industry.
Boris Groys, Professor of Philosophy and Media Theory, Center for Arts and Media Technology Karlsruhe and author of The Total Art of Stalinism: Russian Avant-Garde Aesthetic Dictatorship and Beyond
Impossible Histories is a nearly encyclopedic work and a revelation to the outside world of the fruitful impact of experimental modernism on artists and poets in what we now think of as 'the former Yugoslavia.' In this assemblage of essays and photographs by many hands, Dubravka Djurić and Miško Šuvaković bring to light a hidden center of the avant-garde and by so doing help complete the picture of the great experimental project of the just concluded century.
Jerome Rothenberg, Poet, University of California, San Diego
