Curating Socialism: A Handbook of International Art Exhibitions 1947-1989

Curating Socialism takes a rare look into the world of international art exhibitions organized by socialist states between 1947-1989.

The handbook examines the mechanisms, relationships, and international agreements that enabled the organization of officially sponsored and state-organized art exhibitions after the Second World War. Apart from viewing such exhibitions as instances of Cold War diplomacy and propaganda, this book proposes a shift in the way readers view the Cold War, away from an emphasis on separation and opposition to a focus on cultural exchange and international solidarity. Throughout the book, art historians and visual culture experts provide contextual information about the main institutional actors who were responsible for organizing these exhibitions, and the personal as well as institutional or diplomatic channels involved in their hosting and curation. Despite their many differences, the shows explored in this book gesture to the notion of a socialist curatorial aesthetic in the shadow of the Cold War.

Curating Socialism demonstrates how socialist exhibition culture developed, sometimes competing with, and sometimes cooperating with Western art worlds.

• Publication date: 2 June 2026
• Page count: 448
• Dimensions: Height 198 mm; Width 246 mm; Thickness 33 mm
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9781487552961