Central and Eastern European Artists in Interwar Metropolises

The motivations for the relocation of Central and Eastern European visual artists to urban centres in the interwar period often followed patterns: those with formal art training included travel as part of their curriculum, financed by various funds or grants; changes in political regimes forced others to leave their home countries for shorter or longer periods; and most enjoyed the help of personal, professional or political networks while abroad.  

In addition to analysing individual cases and oeuvres of forced or voluntary, and temporary or permanent artistic emigration, the conference will address how networks may have centred on traditional institutions of artist education, political movements, intellectual circles or actors generated by private (family, friends) social capital.

The social relations of modern metropolises were shaped by industrialisation, urbanisation, changing conditions of work and leisure, developing infrastructure, housing shortages and emerging platforms of the public sphere. We invite researchers who explore this interaction between artistic production, emigration and the urban space from aspects including but not limited to:

• the impact of artists’ access to typical or atypical sources of funding on their artistic production abroad
• emigration as export/import of cultural and social capital; the role of those who stay behind in the life and practice of the emigrant
• artistic production as a  tool to make an impact in the sending country or to advance the process of integration in the receiving country
• relationship between the state and the individual based on sources produced by artists and authorities documenting legal or illegal/’undesirable’/’undeserving’ status and its consequences
• perceptions of historiography on interwar emigration during successive political regimes

We welcome proposals from researchers at all stages of their careers. Proposals of around 300 words (references not included) for a 20-minute presentation and a short CV (no more than 200 words) should be sent to the organizers by 30 April, 2024.
Notification of acceptance will be sent by 12 May.

Organizers:
Magdolna Gucsa (KEMKI – Central European Research Institute for Art History, Hungary)
Eszter Őze (KEMKI – Central European Research Institute for Art History, Hungary)

Deadline: 30 April, 2024.

Dates of the Workshop: 10–11 October, 2024.
Location: KEMKI – Central European Research Institute for Art History
(Szabolcs street 33–35, 1135 Budapest, Hungary).