Curating Socialism. A Handbook of International Art Exhibitions 1947-1989 (ed. Sven Spieker, with Polly Savage, Bojana Videkanic, and Christene d’Anca)
Curating Socialism. A Handbook of International Art Exhibitions 1947-1989, published by Toronto University Press, consists of 40+ individual chapters introducing pivotal international art exhibitions in the socialist world between 1947 and 1989. The Handbook is the first of its kind to examine international and transnational art exhibitions organized by socialist states as well as well as alternative networks and groups. While in recent years, exhibition history has established itself as a crucial sub-field of 20th-century art studies, exhibitions in the socialist world—including Cuba, The People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, as well as the Soviet Union and its allies in Eastern Europe—have received limited attention, with most studies viewing them as part of isolated national histories. By contrast, Curating Socialism, apart from viewing such exhibitions as instances of Cold War diplomacy and as gestures of international solidarity, also treats them in a perspective that exposes linkages and connections between and transcends national boundaries. Examining the mechanisms, relationships, and international agreements that enabled their organization, the Handbook views these exhibitions as expressions of a dense and active network that thrived beyond the opposition between the “West” and its other.