Airi Triisberg is currently interviewing political organisers and cultural workers in the post-Soviet and post-socialist region. By focusing on political biographies, the narratives emerging from the interviews connect personal stories with larger political histories. This talk reflects on the questions that have emerged from the research process: Who is the politically active subject in post-Soviet and post-socialist societies? What are the collective forms of dissent?  What constitutes a social movement? Which visual images are produced in the context of grass-roots politics?  How do contemporary art and movement politics intersect?‍

Airi Triisberg is an independent curator, writer and educator based in Tallinn. One core strand in their practice has been focused on struggles against precarious labour, and art workers’ organising. Another ongoing interest is focused on historical and contemporary moments when the experiences of living with illness or disability have been politicized in order to express social critique. Currently they research the entanglements of art and movement politics with the support of Kone Foundation.