The Great War turned the geopolitical order of the world upside-down, and the new vision of Europe drawn up at the Treaty of Versailles included the creation of brand-new nation states in Central and Eastern Europe. Even before the outbreak of the First World War artists foresaw the inevitable end of the belle époque and searched for new forms of expression reflecting the collapse of civilisation as they knew it and the dawn of a new world order. The armed conflict brought the ongoing upheaval in European art to an abrupt end. The exhibition Years of Disarray. Art of the Avant-garde in Central Europe 1908-1928 at the International Cultural Centre presents the process of artistic change and its diverse rhythm and chronology in the context of historical and political experiences of artists from the region. The period covered in the exhibition starts from the summit of Foreign Ministers of Austro-Hungary and Russia, who met at Buchlovice Castle in Moravia on 16 September 1908 for unsuccessful negotiations on the First Balkan Crisis, ending around the global economic crash of the 1930s.

The Gallery of the International Cultural Centre presents works by artists from countries created after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian empire: Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. We will see paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints presented alongside avant-garde art journals, experimental posters, folders and screenplays. (Dorota Dziunikowska, “Karnet” magazine)