Cultural Diplomacy and Informal Artistic Relations in East Central Europe in the 20th Century

This Special Issue brings together a diverse group of scholars to engage in critical dialogue on the history and socio-political foundations of international traveling art exhibitions and cultural exchange. Challenging the perception of exhibitions as neutral platforms, it demonstrates how they are deeply embedded within political, economic, and ideological frameworks. In recent decades, curatorial practices have garnered significant academic attention, revealing the mechanisms behind the staging, circulation, and reception of art. However, despite these developments, the exhibition policies and cultural diplomacy strategies in East Central Europe-spanning from the interwar period to the political transformations of 1989-1991-remain underexplored. This Special Issue seeks to address that gap by investigating the region's role in shaping international cultural exchange. Covering a wide geographical and historical range-from bilateral agreements between governmental agencies in the 1930s to Cold War-era cultural diplomacy and unofficial transregional artistic networks-the featured case studies examine East Central European connections with the United States, the USSR, Argentina, and China. Collectively, they expand the scope of exhibition history and provide deeper insight into how exhibitions mediate national identities, memory politics, and global cultural narratives.