‘National identity and exhibition histories’ is a virtual one-day symposium focused on understanding the relationship between art and politics in world’s fairs, international exhibitions, missionary loan expositions, and art biennials. It aims to explore how such cultural and artistic events played a fundamental role in fostering national identities through their displays and material culture.

Registration is essential: https://nationalidentityexhibitionhistories.wordpress.com/register/


Programme (H. 9.30 - 5.30, GMT)

9.30 - 9.45: Introduction

9.45 - 10.15: Keynote 1
- Dr Shahmima Akhtar (Royal Holloway, University of London) title: TBC.

10.15 - 10.30: Q&A Keynote 1

10.30 - 10.45: Break

10.45 - 12.45: Panel 1
Chair: Maria Chiara Scuderi (University of Leicester)

- Giulia Gelmi (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), ‘Dealing with your own ‘Otherness’: the Far North Pavilion at the 16th All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod (1896)’.

- Matthew Heathcote (University of Manchester), ‘Performing the Imagination: the 1896 Berlin colonial exhibition and the role of performative in the German colonial imagination’.

Break (15 mins)

- Eduardo De Maio (University of York), ‘Stereotypes on view: Exhibiting Italy in Britain at the turn of the twentieth century’.

- Laura Elliott (Kingston University), ‘Towards National Collections: Examining the Role of Collections Displayed at the Paris 1900 Exposition Universelle in the Making of National Art Museums in Britain and North America (1900-14)’. (TBC)

1.00 - 2.00: Lunch Break

2.00 - 2.30: Keynote 2
- Dr Giulia Smith (University of Oxford), title: 'Diasporic intimacies: rethinking exhibitions in postwar London' .

2.30 - 2.45: Q&A Keynote 2

2.45 - 3.00: Break

3.00 - 5.00: Panel 2
Chair: Claudia Di Tosto (University of Warwick)

- Lucy Shaw (University of Birmingham), ‘British Neo-Romanticism and Greece in post-war exhibitions 1946-1957’ .

- Dr Chelsea Haines (Arizona State University), ‘Zionism in Translation: Israeli Art in Western Europe, 1954-55’ .

Break (15 mins)

- Marco Polo Juárez Cruz (University of Maryland), ‘Embracing nationalist abstraction: the exhibition of Mexican non-figurative art at the World Fair (1967-1970)’ .

- María Victoria Guzmán (University of Leicester), ‘Who cares about the Venice Biennial? An ANT-ish enquiry into the Global South’s participation in world fairs today’ .

5.15 - 5.45: Conclusion