Exhibiting across the Iron Curtain: Interdisciplinary approach in researching Cold War Exhibition Histories

The seminar will discuss the role of art and design exhibitions during the Cold War. How did exhibitions act as zones of contact – and conflict – between different art worlds? How can we follow the traces of Danish artists in the state socialist countries and the exhibitions of artists from the socialist countries in Denmark? And which questions should we ask ourselves researching exhibitions “across the Iron Curtain” and what kind of interdisciplinary approaches can be developed?

The seminar marks the beginning of the research project Exhibiting across the Iron Curtain, which for the next 4 years will research Danish artists on the other side of the Iron Curtain and exhibitions as zones of contact in the divided Europe. Housed at Dep. of Art and Cultural Studies, The University of Copenhagen and financed by the Novo Nordisk Foundation Investigator Grant (PI: Kristian Handberg).

Programme

13.00-13.10: Welcome (Kristian Handberg and Yulia Karpova)
Helle Munkholm Davidsen (Head of Department, Dep. of Art and Cultural Studies, The University of Copenhagen)
13.10-13.20: Kristian Handberg (Assistant Professor, Dep. of Art and Cultural Studies, The University of Copenhagen) Exhibiting Soviet art in Denmark, 1962
13.20-13.30: Yulia Karpova (Postdoc, Dep. of Art and Cultural Studies, The University of Copenhagen): Exhibiting Danish Design in the Soviet Union, 1969
13.30-14.00: Roundtable: How to research Cold War exhibitions?
Rasmus Mariager (Associate Professor, SAXO Institute, The University of Copenhagen)
Angelina Lucento (Assistant Professor, National Research University Higher School of Economics  Moscow)
Katarina Macleod (Professor, Art History Södertörn University Stockholm)
Anders W. Munch (Professor, SDU Design)
14.00-14.10 Break
14.10-14.40: Roundtable (continued)
14.40-15.00: Informal conversation – virtual “drink reception”