Works from the Arteast 2000+ collection were first put on display when the MSUM was inaugurated in November 2011. At the time, 80 works were exhibited, to be followed by another eight shows in the past five years.

All exhibitions were held under the Present and Presence slogan, which refers to the collection's main concept of understanding the contemporary period as a multitude of time concepts rather than a single timeline, says MSUM director Zdenka Badovinac.

The Arteast 2000+ collection is very dynamic, enabling frequent reconfigurations in order to showcase different relations between the works, resulting in diverse visual experiences for the viewers.

The upcoming exhibition deals with how the refugee crisis, growing intolerance, border closures and controls, and austerity measures are affecting Europe's future.

This is why it will showcase works portraying a more utopian ideology, an important aspect of Eastern European art, which is believed to have disappeared with the fall of communism and the idea of the end of history, according to MSUM.

The exhibition will focus on the possibility of utopia at the end of it and will analyse it as an inherent characteristic of art. It will also attempt to portray the importance of imagining a different future, especially during the ongoing crisis.

As part of the exhibition, MSUM is planning to organise an international conference to highlight the position of Eastern European art 25 years after the fall of socialism.

The exhibition will be on display on the first and second floors of the museum until August, then it will be partly modified.

The first floor will still hold the Arteast 2000+ selection, while the second floor will be dedicated to other artists, such as David Maljković and Srečo Dragan.

Badovinec says, however, that all this depends on funding from the Ministry of Culture. In the case of insufficient funds, a part of the exhibition will have to be cancelled.

After its first opening, many artists contributed their works to the Arteast 2000+ collection, such as Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi, Bulgarian artists Luchezar Boyadjiev, Kalin Serapionov, Krassimir Terziev, Alla Georgieva, Kiril Prashkov, and Ivan Moudov. A work by artist György Galantai was also donated by the Budapest-based Artpool Art Research Centre.

The collection has also been showcased abroad several times. Badovinec for instance highlighted a show held at the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art MACBA in 2011, as well as the one at the Moscow-based Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Individual works have been displayed all over the globe.

The Arteast 2000+ collection is, according to Badovinec, a pioneer project. It is the first collection of Eastern European art and the first of its kind to have been created in the post-socialist region, which gives it a great deal of legitimacy and self-definition.