Exhibitions Beyond Boundaries by Atkinson, Harriet; Clarkson, Verity; Lichtman, Sarah A.;

Short description:

The first academic work to present design exhibitions as an important means of international exchange in terms of culture, diplomacy and 'soft power'.

Long description:

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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.

Table of Contents:

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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 (Universitï¿1⁄2 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 (Zï¿1⁄2rich 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