The curators in the exhibition noted how performances during this period stressed the distance towards one's personal identity, a reflection of the dramatic political changes in the East. New forms of social behavior were embraced. For the young generation, a punk aesthetic became popular particularly the movement's claim to anarchy. Artists also worked collaboratively with musicians, new media artists, visual artists, and individuals involved in theater. Younger artists were also iconoclasts among Eastern avant-garde as much new work satirized the endurance body artwork from the previous generation.
Artists also respond to the growing nationalism, particularly in Serbia and Croatia.
Many artists have left those countries and their work explores their absence. In Body and the East, Tanja Ostojic speaks poetically of exile in a work in which the she first occupies then abandons the space, leaving a trace of white dust where her body once stood. The war in the Balkans is reflected in the works of Bozidar Jurjevic and Slaven Tolj from Dubrovnik and Nebojsa Seric-Soba from Sarajevo, exploring situations where there is no food and no language to communicate.