Call for Papers

We invite proposals for a forthcoming edited volume that critically examines the infrastructures of art markets in Central and Eastern Europe during and after the socialist era. This peer-reviewed volume aims to shed light on the diverse systems that enabled the production, distribution, and exchange of modern and contemporary art, not only through established institutions but also through lesser-known or subversive practices. By exploring both formal and informal mechanisms, this volume seeks to rethink the ways in which art is acquired, traded, and circulated within specific regimes and across borders.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• State involvement: Government initiatives, regulations, commissions (e.g., for monumental art, murals), guaranteed purchases, “soft power” politics, and foreign currency needs.
• State ideologies and political agendas: censorship, restrictions, manipulation, promotion or marginalisation of specific artists and movements.
• Trading platforms and networks: Museums, galleries, auction houses, art fairs, collectives, and unconventional venues (e.g., hotels, apartments) shaping art circulation and valuation.
• New art forms: Non-traditional practices (e.g., performance and conceptual art) resisting conventional collecting and developing alternative modes of exchange.
• Social Settings: Class, gender, religion, and other network and community aspects in the production, transfer, and circulation of contemporary art.
• Trade logistics: Shipping, insurance, financial infrastructures, export and import processes, and foreign currency considerations in art sales.
• Regime shifts: Strategy changes, disruptions, and adaptations in art markets under socialist and post-socialist conditions; comparative and regime-specific reflections.

We welcome proposals that offer fresh perspectives on the infrastructures of art markets. Submissions may be based on case studies, broader theoretical frameworks, or comparative approaches. Whether your focus is local or transnational, historical or contemporary, we are particularly interested in contributions that offer new insights into the mechanisms enabling the exchange of art.

This call for contributions builds in part on the workshop Infrastructures of Trading and Transferring Art since 1900, which was held at KEMKI in June 2024 in Budapest. The editors of the forthcoming book are:

• Prof. Dr. Gregor M. Langfeld, Professor of Art History, Cultural Heritage and Identity at Open University, the Netherlands and Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
• Kristóf Nagy, PhD, Fung Global Fellow at Princeton University, US; Permanent Research Fellow at the KEMKI - Central European Research Institute for Art History, Hungary;
• Prof. Dr. Lynn Rother, Professor for Provenance Studies at Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany and Adjunct Curator for Provenance at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Submission Guidelines:
Please send an abstract (max. 500 words) and a short biography (max. 150 words) to kn2656@princeton.edu

Timeline: 

Submission date for the abstract: November 30, 2025.

Feedback on abstracts: by January 15, 2026.

Submission date for the manuscript: August 30, 2026.

Anticipated publication date: Spring 2027.