20/05/2026
After the 1989 collapse of communism, Générale Sucrière and Tate & Lyle formed EASTERN SUGAR to buy up Central European sugar factories. By the mid-2000s, the consortium used an EU compensation mechanism to sell off and permanently close them
Ilona Németh’s international art project unpacks this rapid decline—through research, exhibitions, interviews, and interventions. “Eastern Sugar” becomes a microcosm of post-communist transformation: financial opportunism, privatization distortions, and a hard question—was neoliberalism the only way out?
From her archive: a photo mural of the Kaba monument + video interviews with key players including Christian Laur (Eastern Sugar board, 1993–2000), Dušan Janiček (Agrana Group), and Steffi Klugmann (former Chief Executive Secretary).
𝙉𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙙𝙚𝙢 𝙕𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙧 is on view through 28 June at the Zuckerfabrik Siegendorf
Photos by Lorenz Kunath