ABSTRACT
This chapter offers insight into the background of the conceptualisation of Soviet artistic dissent, the different positioning of Baltic art, and the complicated conditions for reassessing the art history in Estonia in the transitional 1990s. It addresses the processes of adopting the discourse of ‘dissent’ into Estonian art history writings. The symbolic end of the cultural ‘thaw’ has been associated with the scandal at the exhibition 30 Years of the Moscow Union of Artists in December 1962 in Moscow’s Manege exhibition hall. The Estonian Soros Centre belonged to a system of foundations comprising countries of Central and Eastern Europe as well as the former Soviet Union. Financed by Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros, the purpose of the organisation was to encourage the development of contemporary art of these ex-socialist countries and develop international connections.
