In my dissertation I write about the presence of contemporary art in the Eastern European institutional system, especially in the post-Yugoslavian region. Among many questions, I am searching for answers to understand the artistic work of the seventies and eighties in the region and its impact to our today’s creative activity. Before the change of regime, Yugoslavia played a decisive role in meeting Eastern European and Western European art trends. The country operated with a considerably looser socialist system than the rest of the Soviet bloc, but the basic ideas came from the same root. Within a certain boundary artists and museum exhibitions could freely express their views on sociological, social, or political issues. However, behind the apparent freedom, the rules set by the state were firmly enforced. There were also movements that, bypassing the frames of the socialist system, were still seeking another alternative. This is paralleled by the current cultural policy situation, reflecting to the operation of the three most important contemporary institutions in Serbia.