ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the manner in which several artists from the former socialist countries of central and eastern Europe employ movement and travel, border crossings and military maneuvers, and the circulation and flow of global capital and goods in performance, to demonstrate how their individual and cultural identity, along with location and place is in continuous flux—a constant negotiation and renegotiation—rather than being fixed. Whether they themselves travel (or attempt to travel) or create artworks that are deliberately fashioned as commodities, being shipped around the globe, all of these artists cross and defy borders in their work. The artists presented in the chapter highlight the various directional movements that their artwork takes, representing a continuous cycle of exchange. A demonstration of the complexities of cultural identity can be seen in Estonian artist Flo Kasearu's Estonian Sculpture, a 2005 performance at the Living Sculptures exhibition.
