Exhibitions Beyond Boundaries
Transnational Exchanges through Art, Architecture, and Design 1945-1985
Published on 2. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-350-56831-0 (ISBN)
Description
After World War II, museum and gallery exhibitions, industrial and trade fairs, biennials, triennials, festivals and world's fairs increasingly came to be used as locations for the exercise of "soft power," for displays of cultural diplomacy between nations and as spaces for addressing areas of social and political contestation. Exhibitions Beyond Boundaries opens with a substantial introduction to the key debates, followed by case studies that advance the field of exhibition histories both geographically and methodologically, focusing on postwar transnational exchange and the wider networks engendered through exhibitions.
Chapters trace relations across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific, and the United States of America, drawing on a range of approaches and perspectives, principally from art and design history but also from social, economic and political history, and museum studies. Featured case studies include the presentation of African-American Art at FESMAN '66 and FESTAC '77, the US's 1961 Small Industries Exhibition in Colombo, Israel's early appearances at the Venice Biennale, the Vatican Pavilion at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair, and Hong Kong's Pavilion at Expo 70 in Tokyo.
Chapters trace relations across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific, and the United States of America, drawing on a range of approaches and perspectives, principally from art and design history but also from social, economic and political history, and museum studies. Featured case studies include the presentation of African-American Art at FESMAN '66 and FESTAC '77, the US's 1961 Small Industries Exhibition in Colombo, Israel's early appearances at the Venice Biennale, the Vatican Pavilion at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair, and Hong Kong's Pavilion at Expo 70 in Tokyo.
Reviews / Votes
As recent studies have shown, the history of exhibitions expands far beyond a disciplinary perspective of architectural, design, or cultural history. While scholarship on the history of international exhibitions between the 1850s and 1980s in the West is flourishing, the network of agents and institutions that has generated the consolidation of the global communication system still needs to be examined. This edited volume, entitled Exhibitions Beyond Boundaries: Transnational Exchanges through Art, Architecture, and Design 1945-1985, edited by Harriet Atkinson, Verity Clarkson, and Sarah A. Lichtman, is a major contribution to a research field that has remained on the margins of mainstream scholarship... It will undoubtedly become a source of reference for future scholars, exploring the new, in-between disciplinary narratives of a globalized world. * Journal of Design History, March 2024 *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
35 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
730 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-56831-0 (9781350568310)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Harriet Atkinson | Verity Clarkson | Sarah A. Lichtman
Exhibitions Beyond Boundaries
Transnational Exchanges Through Art, Architecture, and Design 1945-1985
E-Book
12/2022
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
€27.49
Available for download
Harriet Atkinson | Verity Clarkson | Sarah A. Lichtman
Exhibitions Beyond Boundaries
Transnational Exchanges Through Art, Architecture, and Design 1945-1985
E-Book
12/2022
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
€27.49
Available for download
Persons
Harriet Atkinson is a historian of design and culture and Researcher at the Centre for Design History at the University of Brighton, UK. She is currently Principal Investigator on the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project, '"The Materialization of Persuasion": Modernist Exhibitions in Britain for Propaganda and Resistance, 1933 to 1953' and has written extensively on the history and theory of exhibitions. She is the author of Festival of Britain (Bloomsbury, 2012) and co-editor, with Jeremy Aynsley, of The Banham Lectures (Bloomsbury, 2009).
Verity Clarkson is a design historian and Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton, UK. Her research explores post-war visual and material culture, investigating transnational connections between arts organizations, government bodies and audiences with a particular focus on the organization and reception of exhibitions. She has published on post-1945 exhibitions, trade fairs and art historiography in the context of British Cold War cultural diplomacy.
Sarah A. Lichtman is Assistant Professor of Design History at Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA, where she directs the Master of Arts program in the History of Design and Curatorial Studies, offered in affiliation with Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, USA. She is co-editor, with Pat Kirkham, of Screen Interiors (Bloomsbury, 2021) and has published widely on design and gender. Lichtman is currently Managing Editor of the Journal of Design History.
Verity Clarkson is a design historian and Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton, UK. Her research explores post-war visual and material culture, investigating transnational connections between arts organizations, government bodies and audiences with a particular focus on the organization and reception of exhibitions. She has published on post-1945 exhibitions, trade fairs and art historiography in the context of British Cold War cultural diplomacy.
Sarah A. Lichtman is Assistant Professor of Design History at Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA, where she directs the Master of Arts program in the History of Design and Curatorial Studies, offered in affiliation with Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, USA. She is co-editor, with Pat Kirkham, of Screen Interiors (Bloomsbury, 2021) and has published widely on design and gender. Lichtman is currently Managing Editor of the Journal of Design History.
Content
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Foreword, Jonathan M. Woodham (University of Brighton, UK)
Exhibitions Beyond Boundaries: An Introduction, Harriet Atkinson and Verity Clarkson (University of Brighton, UK), and Sarah A. Lichtman (Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA)
1. Universal Civilization and National Cultures: Producing Israel at the Venice Biennale, 1948-1952, Chelsea Haines (Arizona State University, USA)
2. Salvaging Through Merchandising: America's Vietnamese Craft Diplomacy on Display in the US in 1956 and 1958, Jennifer Way (University of North Texas, USA)
3. "A Slightly Exotic Country": Poland's Contentious Debut at the 11th Milan Triennale, 1957, Katarzyna Jezowska (UNSW Sydney, Australia)
4. Self-management on Display: Negotiating the Visions of Yugoslav Socialist Modernity at Expo 58 and Porodica i domacinstvo Exhibitions, Rujana Rebernjak (London College of Communication, UAL, UK)
5. "One of the Puzzles of the Exhibition": A Misunderstood Cittadina, Neoliberty, and the Italian Display at Brussels Expo 58, Rika Devos and Serena Pacchiani (Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
6. Assembling Smallness: The United States Small Industries Exhibition in Colombo, 1961, Nushelle de Silva (MIT, USA)
7. Painting from the Pacific and Artistic Exchange Across the Pacific, 1961, Ian Cooke (Independent Scholar, USA)
8. "A Wholly American Plastic Package": Transnationalism, Technology, and Theology at The Vatican Pavilion in the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair, Ethan Robey (Pennsylvania State University, USA)
9. "The Gentle Art of Cookery": Exhibiting Transnational Anglo-Russian Diplomatic History During the Cold War, 1967, Verity Clarkson (University of Brighton, UK)
10. From FESMAN '66 to FESTAC '77: Competing Curatorial Strategies for African-American Art at Pan-African Festivals, Lindsay Twa (Augustana University, USA)
11. Designing Stability: Hong Kong's Pavilion at Expo 70 and Local Expositions, Daniel Cooper (Columbia University, USA) and Juliana Kei (Royal College of Art, UK)
12. Pharaoh Diplomacy: The Soft Power of the Treasures of Tutankhamun, Mario Schulze (Zuerich University of the Arts, Switzerland)
13. A "Tropic-Proof Container Exhibition": The Role of Environmental Factors in Configuring Design, a Dutch Case Study, Joana Meroz (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Notes on Contributors
Index
Acknowledgments
Foreword, Jonathan M. Woodham (University of Brighton, UK)
Exhibitions Beyond Boundaries: An Introduction, Harriet Atkinson and Verity Clarkson (University of Brighton, UK), and Sarah A. Lichtman (Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA)
1. Universal Civilization and National Cultures: Producing Israel at the Venice Biennale, 1948-1952, Chelsea Haines (Arizona State University, USA)
2. Salvaging Through Merchandising: America's Vietnamese Craft Diplomacy on Display in the US in 1956 and 1958, Jennifer Way (University of North Texas, USA)
3. "A Slightly Exotic Country": Poland's Contentious Debut at the 11th Milan Triennale, 1957, Katarzyna Jezowska (UNSW Sydney, Australia)
4. Self-management on Display: Negotiating the Visions of Yugoslav Socialist Modernity at Expo 58 and Porodica i domacinstvo Exhibitions, Rujana Rebernjak (London College of Communication, UAL, UK)
5. "One of the Puzzles of the Exhibition": A Misunderstood Cittadina, Neoliberty, and the Italian Display at Brussels Expo 58, Rika Devos and Serena Pacchiani (Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
6. Assembling Smallness: The United States Small Industries Exhibition in Colombo, 1961, Nushelle de Silva (MIT, USA)
7. Painting from the Pacific and Artistic Exchange Across the Pacific, 1961, Ian Cooke (Independent Scholar, USA)
8. "A Wholly American Plastic Package": Transnationalism, Technology, and Theology at The Vatican Pavilion in the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair, Ethan Robey (Pennsylvania State University, USA)
9. "The Gentle Art of Cookery": Exhibiting Transnational Anglo-Russian Diplomatic History During the Cold War, 1967, Verity Clarkson (University of Brighton, UK)
10. From FESMAN '66 to FESTAC '77: Competing Curatorial Strategies for African-American Art at Pan-African Festivals, Lindsay Twa (Augustana University, USA)
11. Designing Stability: Hong Kong's Pavilion at Expo 70 and Local Expositions, Daniel Cooper (Columbia University, USA) and Juliana Kei (Royal College of Art, UK)
12. Pharaoh Diplomacy: The Soft Power of the Treasures of Tutankhamun, Mario Schulze (Zuerich University of the Arts, Switzerland)
13. A "Tropic-Proof Container Exhibition": The Role of Environmental Factors in Configuring Design, a Dutch Case Study, Joana Meroz (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Notes on Contributors
Index