Dare to imagine - an exercise in recapturing the Past of the East

Abstract

In the 1980s, author Milan Kundera challenged the notion that ‘Central Europe’ equates to ‘Eastern Europe’, arguing that such labels stem from political constructs. Larry Wolff’s Inventing Eastern Europe supports this, describing how Western Europeans viewed the East as backward. In this visual essay, I argue that the idea of ‘backward Eastern Europe’ persists still. The notion of an ‘inferior East’ distorts our view of historical periods such as those associated with the Polish People’s Republic. My research on Wrocław’s post‑war architecture brought unexpected revelations. For example, the modernist ZETO building revealed having advanced technology and high female employment, contradicting stereotypes of the ‘inferior East’. Inspired by the speculative fiction work of Amitav Ghosh and Ursula Le Guin, in this visual essay I employ imagination to re‑envision the past. This is achieved through an artistic exercise in which I merge photographs from my archival research on ZETO building with scenes from the popular TV series ‘Sex and the City’ to challenge ingrained perceptions and reveal hidden histories.