Dźwięki elektrycznego ciała. Eksperymenty w sztuce i muzyce w Europie Wschodniej 1957-1984

Crowley’s research explored the ways in which experimental art and music conjoined in Eastern Europe after the death of Stalin. It examined the relations between new 'intermedia' art practices and power in the region, and resulted in an exhibition shown at two venues, the Museum of Art in Łódź, Poland (2012) and Calvert 22, London (2013), and a book organised around a 13,000-word essay by Crowley (2012). The exhibition, curated by Crowley and Daniel Muzyczuk, featured works by artists and composers from Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. Crowley initiated this project in 2008 with a series of interviews with artists active in the 1960s and 1970s: Milan Grygar (Prague), Katalin Ladik and Dóra Maurer (Budapest), Alex Mlynarcik (Zilina), Krzysztof Wodiczko (New York) and Krzysztof Szlifirski (Warsaw). Many of the works in the exhibition had not been seen or heard since they were first created. Recreation was itself a form of research. Two works – a performance entitled Just Transistor Radios (1970) and an interactive environment, the Spatial-Musical Composition (1968) – were recreated with their original authors. The practical and philosophical questions that followed from the reconstruction of happenings and installations were addressed in conversation between the curators, Crowley and Muzyczuk, and a musicologist, published at artmargins.com (2012). The exhibition was widely reviewed: The Wire described it as being ‘lushly arranged and superbly researched’ (2012). Crowley was invited to speak about his research at CUNY and MoMA, New York (2012 and 2013), Café Oto, London (2013), Raster Gallery, Warsaw (2012) and BLAF Festival, Bratislava (2013). MoMA commissioned Crowley to write an essay on the theme for its C-MAP website promoting new research extending the geographies of modern art. The Łódź show was awarded the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage’s Sybilla Prize for ‘best art exhibition of 2012’ in Poland