Knowledge on art markets in East Central Europe (encompassing countries of Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine) is still largely a mystery. As stated in a recent contribution by Reinert (2017), overcoming the theoretical “iron curtain” that still divides East and West will enable us to imagine the future of art from this area in a global market where the balance of power between economics and politics in art has become horribly distorted.
Recent research has shown that a range of countries of East Central Europe had long featured certain forms of art markets – but these were marked by different artistic, historical, organizational and economic characteristics. Today, as the art of East Central Europe is still relatively little known, many Western galleries are starting to look for new artists from this region. Moreover, the interest of Western institutions in art from East Central Europe has also grown in the wake of the trend to enlarge the Western canon (Michalska, 2015), and in order to create alternatives to existing perceptions.
Taking into account these premises, we aim to present novel quantitative and qualitative approaches to the art markets in East Central Europe – even if we have to keep in mind that reliable information on this subject is often hard to get. Specifically, we seek to explore the topic from viewpoints not discussed previously, such as (but not limited to):
- presenting hidden historical facts about the existence of certain forms of art markets throughout the socialist times in particular countries or areas of East Central Europe;
- theoretical, qualitative and quantitative research on these art markets, past and present;
- historical and contemporary overviews of art markets in East Central Europe;
- pressures emanating from climate change and the COVID-19 pandemia affecting the situation of artists and galleries in East Central Europe.
We assume that the concept of the art market can benefit from a redefinition taking into account a variety of perspectives from the history and present day situation in East Central Europe and aim to address these questions with leading experts from the field. The session will consist of four selected presentations of 15 minutes, each followed by comments from the audience.
Please send proposals (ca. 250 words) together with short biographies (ca. 150 words) and contact information, all in one PDF to andrej.srakar@ier.si
Session Conveners:
Andrej Srakar, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana, Scientific Associate, Institute for Economic Research (IER), Ljubljana, Slovenia
Petja Grafenauer, PhD, Assistant Professor, Academy of Fine Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Nataša Ivanović, PhD, Assistant Professor, Academy of Fine Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Katarina Hergouth, MSc, Senior Curator, SLOART Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Tina Fortič Jakopič, MSc, Curator, National Museum of Contemporary History, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Deadline: 9 September 2020
Contact information: Andrej Srakar, Institute for Economic Research, Kardeljeva pl. 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, T: +386 (0)1 5303 860, F: +386 (0)1 5303 874, andrej.srakar@ier.si
You must be logged in to post a comment.