Music vis-à-vis Other Arts in Eastern and Central Europe: Performance, Literature, Theatre, Art/Architecture and Visuality

This Special Issue revisits Joyce Michel’s influential 1959 essay on music's relationship to other arts, extending its transdisciplinary spirit into new historical and cultural contexts. It explores how music interacts with literature, visual art, theater, cinema, dance, and philosophy—not simply as aesthetic parallels but as deeply entangled modes of expression. The volume pays special attention to Eastern European and Soviet contexts, highlighting how music—particularly Russian rock and avant-garde composition—served as a site of resistance and innovation under ideological constraints. It examines unofficial or semi-sanctioned musical production, such as musica clandestina, alongside the work of dissident composers and hybrid artists who blurred genre boundaries. Also featured are underground journalists and zine culture, which helped shape alternative musical publics. Together, the contributions emphasize music’s role as a dynamic cultural force, especially when articulated through and against political regimes. Drawing from multiple disciplines, this volume affirms music’s enduring capacity to generate meaning in dialogue with other art forms, offering new insights into its multifaceted role in 20th-century and post-Soviet artistic landscapes.