Art Exhibitions as intersections in Post War Europe

This international conference seeks to address the art exhibition as a site of international relations and a mirror of society across East and West Europe during the post war period.

Scholars of art history and exhibition studies are increasingly investigating the role of art institutions in the circulation of art, in post war Europe. The movement of art between East and West Europe, and the heterogenic nature of contemporary art and exhibitions during the cold war period, have come into focus.

We seek researchers interested in the myriad of exhibitions revealed from institutional archives, avoiding stereotypical focus on landmark exhibitions. The aim is to present a heterogenic history of art, movement of artists, and collaborations facilitating exhibitions during the post war period.

Amongst the questions we seek to address are:
- The role of the national authorities for the formation of art exhibitions.
- Art exhibitions and diplomacy.
- Commercial interests, art galleries, and art exhibitions as “trade fairs”
- Curating solidarity, NGO and exhibition making.
- Artists associations and networks as exhibition facilitators.
- Art exhibitions as educational strategies for democracy.
- Art exhibitions mirroring cold war politics.

Confirmed keynotes:
Professor Anthony Gardner, The Ruskin School of art, Oxford
Doc. Mária Orišková, Trnava University

For contributors, please email a 300 word abstract and short CV to exhibitionsconference@sh.se by 31st
January 2021. For other enquiries, contact: exhibitionsconference@sh.se


This conference is funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, and organised within the research project: Exhibiting Art in a European Periphery? International Art in Sweden during the Cold War, funded by the Swedish Research Council