Objects and Subjects of Nostalgia

The encyclopedia of n/osztalgia is an open-ended, hyper-textual assembly of texts, pictures, sounds in various genres. Its goal is to discover nostalgia within and beyond remembering - to spot when, where and in what forms nostalgia for the communist era takes place. The encyclopedia aims to explore the recent history of our countries from below and from the sideways, through the lenses of nostalgia (or anti-nostalgia).

The encyclopedia focuses on Eastern and Central Europe and the former USSR, and embraces the era from '45 on to the fall of the Iron Curtain, which is where nostalgia is rooted. Nostalgia, however, stretches beyond those boundaries, involves generations that never experienced that period, and affects our present days. The scope of the encyclopedia is wide-ranging and comprehensive, but is at the same time expected to be provocative, subjective, and express a multiplicity of voices. It can be pop, it can be art, it can be academia.

Nostalgia is in cult-objects and devices, it is in the pop-culture, on the shelves in the store, on the Flohmarkt, in urban spaces and landscapes, in the discourses, in our minds.  While performing it, one may easily become a subject of nostalgia. This would be hard to avoid, but we can, at least, be critical, suspicious and (self-)reflexive. 

You are welcome to contribute. Choose a letter, create there a new item and write a new entry. State your name and hometown or a nick if you prefer at the end of your contribution. If you need help or don't want to upload your stuff, just send it to us, we will do it. Our address: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it