Euroacademia Conferences
- Europe Inside-Out: Europe and Europeanness Exposed to Plural Observers (9th Edition) April 24 - 25, 2020
- Identities and Identifications: Politicized Uses of Collective Identities (9th Edition) June 12 - 13, 2020
- 8th Forum of Critical Studies: Asking Big Questions Again January 24 - 25, 2020
- Re-Inventing Eastern Europe (7th Edition) December 13 - 14, 2019
- The European Union and the Politicization of Europe (8th Edition) October 25 - 26, 2019
- Identities and Identifications: Politicized Uses of Collective Identities (8th Edition) June 28 - 29, 2019
- The European Union and the Politicization of Europe (7th Edition) January 25 - 26, 2019
- 7th Forum of Critical Studies: Asking Big Questions Again November 23 - 24, 2018
- Europe Inside-Out: Europe and Europeanness Exposed to Plural Observers (8th Edition) September 28 - 30, 2018
- Identities and Identifications: Politicized Uses of Collective Identities (7th Edition) June 14 - 15, 2018
The Role of Art in Cold War Diplomacy in Yugoslav – US Relations 1961-1966
-
-
Presentation speakers
- Stefana Djokic, The University of Edinburgh, UK
- Download presentation
Abstract:
During the 1960s, culture was often (sometimes unwittingly, other times intentionally) infused with the politics of the Cold War. This paper will highlight the specific role of former Yugoslavia in America’s cultural Cold War programme and Yugoslavia’s frontier position between East and West in geographical, ideological and socio-political terms. America’s foreign and cultural policies will be correlated with Yugoslavia’s government active roles and strategies and its art world in international cultural relations. The analysis will start with the year 1961, when Yugoslavia adopted a new strategic position of “nonalignment”. In the same year, the US Information Agency organised the exhibition American Vanguard Painting upon the request of the Yugoslav government. The exhibition illustrates the importance of politics in the cultural relations between the US and former Yugoslavia. Changes in Yugoslav political agenda, particularly frequent re-positioning towards the US and USSR, were manifested at all levels, including Yugoslav President Tito’s shifting attitudes towards abstract art. I demonstrate how exhibitions were not just art events, but often political “minefields” for every party involved. The neutral position of “nonalignment” allowed Yugoslavia to promote dialogue between foreign states. In art, this was achieved through the organisation of transnational exhibitions, which drew artists, curators and visitors from Eastern and Western Europe, the US and the decolonised Third World. As a result, Yugoslavia became a “contact zone” where East and West (and South and North) could meet. This is illustrated with the example of the 5th International Graphic Art Biennale in Ljubljana. Finally, a discussion of the exhibition Yugoslavia: Contemporary Trends, the Younger Generation (1966) will “turn the tables” and reveal Yugoslavia’s official strategies in promoting Yugoslav art in America. The analysis will consider how art was used to construct a modern national identity for Yugoslavia abroad and to what extent this was successful.
Related Presentations