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Amy Bryzgel

Northeastern University, Art+Design, Faculty Member

University of Aberdeen, Film and Visual Culture, Chair in Film and Visual Culture

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I am a Professor at Northeastern University, where I teach courses on contemporary art. My research focuses on performance art in Eastern Europe
Address: Art+Design
College of Arts, Media and Design
Ryder Hall
Leon Strees
Northeastern University
Boston, MA 02115

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Aalborg University Copenhagen

City, University of London

Royal Holloway, University of London

Sozita Goudouna

City University of New York

Dublin City University

Brigitte Le Juez

Dublin City University

Rebekah Smith McGloin

Nottingham Trent University

University of Exeter

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Books by Amy Bryzgel

Fully-funded PhD Announcement: Valuing Young Audiences: how children experience live theatre and dance, and why it matters

Applications are invited from prospective candidates for an AHRC-funded PhD on the value for chil... more Applications are invited from prospective candidates for an AHRC-funded PhD on the value for children of experiencing live theatre and dance as audience members. This is a new collaboration between the University of Aberdeen and Imaginate, Scotland’s national organisation which promotes, develops and celebrates theatre and dance for children and young people.

Performance Art in Eastern Europe since 1960

This volume presents the first comprehensive academic study of the history and development of per... more This volume presents the first comprehensive academic study of the history and development of performance art in the former communist countries of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe since the 1960s. Covering 21 countries and more than 250 artists, this text demonstrates the manner in which performance art in the region developed concurrently with the genre in the West, highlighting the unique contributions of Eastern European artists to the genre. It offers a comparative study of the genre of performance art in countries and cities across the region, examining the manner in which artists addressed issues such as the body, gender, politics and identity, and institutional critique. As the first comprehensive history of the subject, this text is essential for those in the field of performance studies, or those researching contemporary Eastern European art. It will also be of interest to those in Slavic studies, art history and visual culture.

Miervaldis Polis

A monograph on Latvian painter, performance artist and theorist Miervaldis Polis. This is the fir... more

Performing the East: Performance Art in Russia, Latvia and Poland since 1980

"Performance art in Western Europe and North America developed in part as a response to the comme... more "Performance art in Western Europe and North America developed in part as a response to the commercialisation of the art object, as artists endeavoured to create works of art that could not be bought or sold. But what are the roots of performance art in Eastern Europe and Russia, where there was no real art market to speak of? While many artworks created in the East may resemble Western performance art practices, their origins, as well as their meaning and significance, is decidedly different. By placing specific performances from Russia, Latvia and Poland from the late- and post-communist periods within a local and international context, this book pinpoints the nuances between performance art East and West.

Performance art in Eastern Europe is examined for the first time as agent and chronicle of the transition from Soviet and satellite states to free-market democracies. Drawing upon previously unpublished sources and exclusive interviews with the artists themselves, Amy Bryzgel explores the actions of the period, from Miervaldis Polis's Bronze Man to Oleg Kulik's Russian Dog performances. Bryzgel demonstrates that in the late-1980s and early 1990s, performance art in Eastern Europe went beyond the modernist critique to express ideas outside the official discourse, shocking and empowering the citizenry, both effecting and mirroring the social changes taking place at the time. Performing the East opens the way to an urgent reassessment of the history, function and meaning of performance art practices in East-Central Europe."

Papers by Amy Bryzgel

Performance Art in Eastern Europe: 1960s to the post-communist era

Performance Art Journal, 2020

Freedom to Engage: Participatory Art in Central and Eastern Europe

Contemporary Theatre Review, 2019

Life in Post-Totalitarian East-Central Europe and the Problems of Participation

Contemporary Theatre Review - Interventions, 2019

Against Ephemerality: Performing for the Camera in Central and Eastern Europe

Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 2019

Why today’s art world owes a great debt to a certain networking genius

My article for The Conversation UK on Richard Demarco, Joseph Beuys, and their special relationship

First foreign band to play North Korea is famed for its ‘fascism’

This article examines the significance of Laibach's concert in Pyongyang - the first concert of a... more

Walking on water: the power and politics of installation art

My article for The Conversation UK on Christo's Floating Piers and other public art installations

Games Played by Different Rules: Performance Art in Poland, 1970-2000

Centropa: a Journal of Central European Architecture and Related Arts, Jan 2014

Continuity and Change: Performance Art in Eastern Europe since the 1960s

IDEA Arts+Society #45, Nov 2014

An examination of the history and significance of performance art in the former communist and soc... more

Transition in Post-Soviet Art: The Collective Actions Group before and after 1989 . By Octavian Eşanu . Budapest : Central European University Press , 2013 . xvii , 357 pp. Appendix. Bibliography. Index. Illustrations . $60.00 , hard bound

Slavic Review, 2014

Performing Gender in Eastern Europe

Sofia Queer Forum: Manifestations of the Personal, 2014

Gendered performance art in Eastern Europe

Truth and Trompe L’œil

Afrika and Monroe: Post-Soviet Appropriation, East and West

Russia’s New Fin de Siècle: Contemporary Culture Between Past and Present, 2013

The Bronze Man and the Homeless Man: Performance Art in Latvia Then and Now

Europe-Asia Studies, 2010

This is the story of two Latvian men who appeared on the streets of Riga nearly two decades apart... more This is the story of two Latvian men who appeared on the streets of Riga nearly two decades apart. The temporal disjuncture between them is not nearly as dramatic as the cultural and social one, because while one walked the streets as a living statue, the other was a homeless man who eventually became a TV star. The Bronze Man perambulated the streets of Riga, Bremen, and even Helsinki in the late 1980s and early 1990s, echoing the ubiquitous bronze statues that graced the skylines of Soviet cities at that time; the homeless man, however, was a product of the Post-Soviet era, when fame and fortune could come at an easy price, owing to the influx of advertising and mass media. A close scrutiny of both men reveals that surfaces can be deceiving, and it is only through careful examination than one can get to the truth behind the façade. The Bronze Man's appearance came at a time when Latvian citizens were beginning to do just that by demanding the facts behind their country's incorporation into the Soviet Union, and arguing for independence on the basis that it was illicit and unlawful, yet the homeless man rose to fame within the context of a fully independent Latvia. His presence served as a reminder of the danger of false idols, and the ease with which deceptions can take place, even in fully-fledged democracies. Both men were part of artistic performances: The Bronze Man by Miervaldis Polis (1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991), and How to Get on TV by Gints Gabrans (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004).

Kozyra and Controversy/Cultural Norms and the Catholic Church/Kozyra y controversia/normas culturales y la católica Polonia

Atlántica: Revista de arte y pensamiento, 2009

Truth and Trompe l'Oeil: Miervaldis Polis' Paintings in the Context of Late-Soviet Latvia

Makslas Vesture un Teorija (Art History and Theory) 11, Jan 1, 2008

Miervaldis Polis is perhaps best known in Latvia for his Bronze Man performances of the late 1980... more Miervaldis Polis is perhaps best known in Latvia for his Bronze Man performances of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Less discussed are the paintings he created in the 1970s, during his student days as well as those from the 1980s, all of which may be seen as a precursor to his performances in terms of the artist's approach and the effects of the images. By using the technique of trompe l'oeil and the genre of photorealism, Polis compelled his viewers to become actively involved in looking at the image, and in the creation of meaning, much in the same way that performance art does. In the context of Soviet Latvia, this empowerment of the viewer took on a certain significance, in that Polis's paintings provided an alternative space, outside of the official political one, for viewers to look critically, distrust and dispute the trompe l'oeil appearances, and seek the truth behind them. Throughout his career Polis has used his art to engage in a dialogue not only with his viewers, but also with artists and art history itself. From his early paintings, which are pastiches of travel diaries, to his later appropriations of photographs and prints of paintings from Western art history, the artist employs his images to compel viewers to carefully consider the forms that they are presented with, and fully engage with them. His paintings are a puzzle that the viewer must unravel himself, through active looking and careful consideration of the image.

Fully-funded PhD Announcement: Valuing Young Audiences: how children experience live theatre and dance, and why it matters

Applications are invited from prospective candidates for an AHRC-funded PhD on the value for chil... more Applications are invited from prospective candidates for an AHRC-funded PhD on the value for children of experiencing live theatre and dance as audience members. This is a new collaboration between the University of Aberdeen and Imaginate, Scotland’s national organisation which promotes, develops and celebrates theatre and dance for children and young people.

Performance Art in Eastern Europe since 1960

This volume presents the first comprehensive academic study of the history and development of per... more This volume presents the first comprehensive academic study of the history and development of performance art in the former communist countries of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe since the 1960s. Covering 21 countries and more than 250 artists, this text demonstrates the manner in which performance art in the region developed concurrently with the genre in the West, highlighting the unique contributions of Eastern European artists to the genre. It offers a comparative study of the genre of performance art in countries and cities across the region, examining the manner in which artists addressed issues such as the body, gender, politics and identity, and institutional critique. As the first comprehensive history of the subject, this text is essential for those in the field of performance studies, or those researching contemporary Eastern European art. It will also be of interest to those in Slavic studies, art history and visual culture.

Miervaldis Polis

A monograph on Latvian painter, performance artist and theorist Miervaldis Polis. This is the fir... more

Performing the East: Performance Art in Russia, Latvia and Poland since 1980

"Performance art in Western Europe and North America developed in part as a response to the comme... more "Performance art in Western Europe and North America developed in part as a response to the commercialisation of the art object, as artists endeavoured to create works of art that could not be bought or sold. But what are the roots of performance art in Eastern Europe and Russia, where there was no real art market to speak of? While many artworks created in the East may resemble Western performance art practices, their origins, as well as their meaning and significance, is decidedly different. By placing specific performances from Russia, Latvia and Poland from the late- and post-communist periods within a local and international context, this book pinpoints the nuances between performance art East and West.

Performance art in Eastern Europe is examined for the first time as agent and chronicle of the transition from Soviet and satellite states to free-market democracies. Drawing upon previously unpublished sources and exclusive interviews with the artists themselves, Amy Bryzgel explores the actions of the period, from Miervaldis Polis's Bronze Man to Oleg Kulik's Russian Dog performances. Bryzgel demonstrates that in the late-1980s and early 1990s, performance art in Eastern Europe went beyond the modernist critique to express ideas outside the official discourse, shocking and empowering the citizenry, both effecting and mirroring the social changes taking place at the time. Performing the East opens the way to an urgent reassessment of the history, function and meaning of performance art practices in East-Central Europe."

Performance Art in Eastern Europe: 1960s to the post-communist era

Performance Art Journal, 2020

Freedom to Engage: Participatory Art in Central and Eastern Europe

Contemporary Theatre Review, 2019

Life in Post-Totalitarian East-Central Europe and the Problems of Participation

Contemporary Theatre Review - Interventions, 2019

Against Ephemerality: Performing for the Camera in Central and Eastern Europe

Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 2019

Why today’s art world owes a great debt to a certain networking genius

My article for The Conversation UK on Richard Demarco, Joseph Beuys, and their special relationship

First foreign band to play North Korea is famed for its ‘fascism’

This article examines the significance of Laibach's concert in Pyongyang - the first concert of a... more

Walking on water: the power and politics of installation art

My article for The Conversation UK on Christo's Floating Piers and other public art installations

Games Played by Different Rules: Performance Art in Poland, 1970-2000

Centropa: a Journal of Central European Architecture and Related Arts, Jan 2014

Continuity and Change: Performance Art in Eastern Europe since the 1960s

IDEA Arts+Society #45, Nov 2014

An examination of the history and significance of performance art in the former communist and soc... more

Transition in Post-Soviet Art: The Collective Actions Group before and after 1989 . By Octavian Eşanu . Budapest : Central European University Press , 2013 . xvii , 357 pp. Appendix. Bibliography. Index. Illustrations . $60.00 , hard bound

Slavic Review, 2014

Performing Gender in Eastern Europe

Sofia Queer Forum: Manifestations of the Personal, 2014

Gendered performance art in Eastern Europe

Truth and Trompe L’œil

Afrika and Monroe: Post-Soviet Appropriation, East and West

Russia’s New Fin de Siècle: Contemporary Culture Between Past and Present, 2013

The Bronze Man and the Homeless Man: Performance Art in Latvia Then and Now

Europe-Asia Studies, 2010

This is the story of two Latvian men who appeared on the streets of Riga nearly two decades apart... more This is the story of two Latvian men who appeared on the streets of Riga nearly two decades apart. The temporal disjuncture between them is not nearly as dramatic as the cultural and social one, because while one walked the streets as a living statue, the other was a homeless man who eventually became a TV star. The Bronze Man perambulated the streets of Riga, Bremen, and even Helsinki in the late 1980s and early 1990s, echoing the ubiquitous bronze statues that graced the skylines of Soviet cities at that time; the homeless man, however, was a product of the Post-Soviet era, when fame and fortune could come at an easy price, owing to the influx of advertising and mass media. A close scrutiny of both men reveals that surfaces can be deceiving, and it is only through careful examination than one can get to the truth behind the façade. The Bronze Man's appearance came at a time when Latvian citizens were beginning to do just that by demanding the facts behind their country's incorporation into the Soviet Union, and arguing for independence on the basis that it was illicit and unlawful, yet the homeless man rose to fame within the context of a fully independent Latvia. His presence served as a reminder of the danger of false idols, and the ease with which deceptions can take place, even in fully-fledged democracies. Both men were part of artistic performances: The Bronze Man by Miervaldis Polis (1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991), and How to Get on TV by Gints Gabrans (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004).

Kozyra and Controversy/Cultural Norms and the Catholic Church/Kozyra y controversia/normas culturales y la católica Polonia

Atlántica: Revista de arte y pensamiento, 2009

Truth and Trompe l'Oeil: Miervaldis Polis' Paintings in the Context of Late-Soviet Latvia

Makslas Vesture un Teorija (Art History and Theory) 11, Jan 1, 2008

Miervaldis Polis is perhaps best known in Latvia for his Bronze Man performances of the late 1980... more Miervaldis Polis is perhaps best known in Latvia for his Bronze Man performances of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Less discussed are the paintings he created in the 1970s, during his student days as well as those from the 1980s, all of which may be seen as a precursor to his performances in terms of the artist's approach and the effects of the images. By using the technique of trompe l'oeil and the genre of photorealism, Polis compelled his viewers to become actively involved in looking at the image, and in the creation of meaning, much in the same way that performance art does. In the context of Soviet Latvia, this empowerment of the viewer took on a certain significance, in that Polis's paintings provided an alternative space, outside of the official political one, for viewers to look critically, distrust and dispute the trompe l'oeil appearances, and seek the truth behind them. Throughout his career Polis has used his art to engage in a dialogue not only with his viewers, but also with artists and art history itself. From his early paintings, which are pastiches of travel diaries, to his later appropriations of photographs and prints of paintings from Western art history, the artist employs his images to compel viewers to carefully consider the forms that they are presented with, and fully engage with them. His paintings are a puzzle that the viewer must unravel himself, through active looking and careful consideration of the image.

Reading Duchamp /

Typescript. Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Carolina, 1997. Includes bibliographical reference... more

Using Skype to facilitate student interviews of a Russia-based artist

As part of my course on Modern Russian Art, I arranged for my students to interview a St. Petersb... more As part of my course on Modern Russian Art, I arranged for my students to interview a St. Petersburg-based artist via Skype. As my research is primarily focused on living artists whom I also interview, I wanted to give my students the opportunity to experience that research method for themselves. Furthermore, as art history traditionally involves studying artists who are no longer living, through books and articles, I wanted my students to experience what it is like to be able to speak with and ask questions of an artist who is still alive.

Assessing students using posters and exhibition design

Teaching Performance

My pedagogic website about my approach to teaching performance and conceptual art at a liberal ar... more

Performing the East

I am working on a book on performance art in Eastern Europe. This site is a developing archive th... more

East Art Map is My Phone Book

Sirp

Interview with Amy Bryzgel by Liisa Kaljula