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EASTinternational

The curation of the international open-submission exhibition ‘EASTinternational 2009’ reflected a diverging range of capitalist and anti-capitalist ideological influences on artists East and West two decades after the end of the Cold War, identified and developed by Morris with exhibition selectors Łukasza Gorczycę and Michała Kaczyńskiego of Raster Gallery Warsaw and Art & Language. Artists selected included Whipps, who focused on British Leyland (derelict in Birmingham yet prospering in China); Barbara Walker, who drew her son on blown-up police search records; and Laure Prouvost, whose surreal signage echoed David Jacques’s anarchist banners, Olaf Brzeski’s World War II horror film and Corin Sworn’s teenage hell.

‘EASTinternational 2009’ has been held at Norwich University of the Arts since 1991, providing between 25 to 35 artists, based internationally, in London and the British regions, with a one-person show in Norwich for each exhibition. Several artists who exhibited in ‘EASTinternational 2009’ have since made notable achievements, indicating the influence of the exhibition in introducing new talent to the international art scene. Prouvost was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2013, Prouvost and Corin Sworn were shortlisted for the Jarman Award for UK artist-filmmakers in 2011 and 2012, and Agnieszka Kurant represented Poland at the 2010 ‘Venice International Architecture Exhibition’.

The East of England Development Agency, Polish Government and Arts Council England supported the selectors, with a budget approaching £200,000. The exhibition was presented through the Contemporary Art Norwich initiative, which Morris encouraged to adopt a Polish theme, develop cross-national dialogues and produce the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts ‘Tadeus Kantor’ exhibition. ‘EASTinternational 2009’ films toured ten UK artist co-operatives and international groups hosted by previous ‘EASTinternational’ artists. A €103,000 EU Culture and Arts Council England project was developed to build on ‘EASTinternational 2009’, supporting a network of artists’ exhibitions in Norwich, Krakow and Budapest.