Politics, State Power and the Making of Art History in Europe after 1945 (Madrid, 18-19 June 2015)

The Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía are pleased to invite submissions for an International Conference to be held at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía on 18-19th June 2015.

With a special focus on European countries, this international conference will take into account the relationship between art history and politics in well known cases, such as Nazi Germany and Communist Europe after 1945, as well as in less documented regions in Southern, Northern and Eastern Europe. It will provide a forum where, for the first time, international specialists in the development of art history in Europe will be able to discuss and compare the impact of politics on art history, art criticism and museums from 1945 up to the present. It will consider the influence of state power on art history in a variety of kinds of government, from dictatorship to liberal democracy.

The following lines of research underlie all sessions:

  • The strategies of professionals in art history, art criticism and museums to shape, take advantage of, comply with or resist state policies.
  • The differences and similarities in the way art history is written and exhibited, and in the dynamics of the field of art history under dictatorships, authoritarian regimes, democratic regimes or transitional governments.
  • The way processes such as transformation and change are presented and staged in art history. For example, in which way a "democratic art history" or an "art history in democracy" is constructed and what role the idea of "transition" plays in it.
  • The role played by art history, museums and art criticism, in the construction of collective identities. For example, in what way they contribute to the definition of local, national and trans-national identities; in which way art-historical discourses participate in decolonization, colonization or auto-colonization processes, or in which way the tensions between competing identities shape art historical accounts.
  • The ways in which the politics of art historical discourse are conveyed to society by education and research policies, publications aimed at a broad audience, museum displays, mass media, etc.
  • Transnational comparisons, looking at salient differences and commonalities between different case studies.

The papers will be divided up among two sessions:

Session 1: Institutions and people

Session 2: Models, narratives and silences

Terms and conditions

  • Please send abstracts (400-500 words) for a 20-minute talk and a brief CV (up to two pages) to [email protected] no later than 31st January 2015.
  • Contact details (address, e-mail, and telephone) and academic affiliation should be provided.
  • Papers will be accepted in Spanish and English.
  • Proposals for panels (consisting of 4 papers) are welcome.
  • The selection of papers will be communicated by 1st March 2015.
  • A book will be published containing a selection of the papers. Editorial guidelines and deadlines will be provided in due time.

Convenors:
Jesús Carrillo Castillo, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Noemi de Haro García, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Patricia Mayayo Bost, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid