The aim of this exhibition is to introduce contemporary art from Central and Eastern Europe, an area that is undergoing a tumultuous period of change ange as it moves from the twentieth into the twenty-first century. This region’s contemporary art has been exhibited before, but this is the first attempt to have an exhibition in Japan focused on work from the 1990s to the present day. It is particularly special on this occasion because works from artists in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland are being chosen.

The old socialist order fell in the East European countries in 1989 and in May 2004 the four countries named above, together with six other nations, joined the European Union. However, what came after the old system was reversed was not necessarily a utopia. It was said that gaps in wealth opened up and that provision for the poor was not adequate. In this new capitalistic jungle, various strategies were necessary for survival, and artists were not exempted from this reality.

Vigor, the flexibility to take the proper steps to meet the situation, and a sense of humor are techniques for surviving. We can see works that, even though they are seemingly surrealistic, are the results of careful and elaborate observation and profound insight. The year 2005 is designated as the “Japan- EU Year of People-to-People Exchanges.”As Far East Asia and Central and Eastern Europe have a mutual affect not only upon one another but also upon the future, it is expected that this exhibition will offer an excellent opportunity to move toward a world in which they can live together in harmony.