From the Russian Revolution onwards, the West presented a problem for the Soviet Union (“Soviet Russia” until 1922) and its key ideologues. Indirect Contacts, Images and Imagination, Highly Publicised and Successful Examples of Exchange of Music and Musicians, Reception and Transfers in the Area of Theatre and Dance, Registered in England & Wales No. The author is Finnish Academy Research Fellow (2014-19), Docent of Russian History, and Senior Researcher (on leave) in University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Thus, before the First World War (1914–1918) and the Russian Revolution, artists of the Russian Empire were in close connection with the West through traveling and often living in European metropolises, such as Paris, Rome, London and Berlin. Socialist realism, even if it never was a clearly defined concept, became a template for all areas of the arts. While this volume provides insight into how political players tried to harness the arts to serve their own political purposes, at the same time it is clear that the arts and artists exploited the Cold War framework to reach their own individual and professional objectives. Artists were made a part of the Soviet elite yet were expected to align with the ideological and political demands of the system. The world of art, which is my key interest, underwent many changes during the Soviet years as connections with the West increased and decreased but never ceased altogether. The series of case studies on cultural exchanges, focusing on the decades following the Second World War, cover episodes involving art, classical music, theatre, dance and film. A major new exhibition at London's V&A Museum illustrates how the Cold War influenced world culture and design on both sides of the Iron Curtain. 30990675 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG © 2020 Informa UK Limited, Mikkonen, S. Despite the fluctuating fortunes of diplomatic relations between East and West, there was a continuous circulation of cultural producers and products. By sending its best artists and troupes abroad, it wanted to appeal to Western audiences. In the same year, the US Information Agency organised the exhibition American Vanguard Painting upon the request of the Yugoslav government. By winning over the Western populace—or, at the very least, proving that the Soviet Union was also a cultural superpower—the Soviet Union wanted to increase pro-Soviet sentiments and decrease the appeal and outreach of anti-communist forces. Throughout its existence, the Soviet Union was forced—either willingly or unwillingly—to address advances in Western countries. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. This is illustrated with the example of the 5th International Graphic Art Biennale in Ljubljana. Encounters between Soviet and Western artists increased gradually in places like Jyväskylän Kesä. Soviet cultural event in Messuhalli, Helsinki. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. America’s foreign and cultural policies will be correlated with Yugoslavia’s government active roles and strategies and its art world in international cultural relations. One major element of the Cold War was the threat of a nuclear war; another was espionage.Many works use the Cold War as a backdrop, or directly take part in fictional conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. As per Marxist theories, the West should have been in decline, but it was clear that the West was constantly ahead of the Soviet Union, especially in technological and economic development. During the 1960s, culture was often (sometimes unwittingly, other times intentionally) infused with the politics of the Cold War. Ultimately, however, the Cold War was a battle of ideologies between the communist USSR and the capitalist West, and since no physical fighting between either side was ever done, the "war" between the two superpowers very much manifested as a battle of art as propaganda. Music, Art and Diplomacy shows how a vibrant field of cultural exchange between East and West was taking place during the Cold War, which contrasts with the orthodox understanding of two divided and antithetical blocs. Artists and designers played a central role in the Cold War battle of images. I used music as a window to Soviet authorities’ perception of music, and to the demands directed at composers and music professionals by the Soviet power. Artistic program was joined with political speeches supporting communist incumbents for the upcoming parliamentary elections. In their bids for global leadership, each sponsored “front” groups that defended their priorities and values to audiences around the world. (Ed.). The analysis will consider how art was used to construct a modern national identity for Yugoslavia abroad and to what extent this was successful. Cold War in Europe in the '60s and '70s . Music, Art and Diplomacy: East-West Cultural Interactions and the Cold War. The Soviet Union had ideological reasons to engage the West after a quarter-century of voluntary isolation: Soviet leadership wanted to challenge the capitalist West and prove Soviet superiority in culture, economics, the military and technology. London: Routledge, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315596860, Eva Näripea, Ewa Mazierska, Lars Kristensen, Introduction to the Logic of East–West Artistic Interactions, Mutually Assured Distinction: VOKS and Artistic Exchange in the Early Cold War, Friendship of the Musicians: Anglo-Soviet Musical Exchanges 1938–1948, Gazing at the Baltic: Tourist Discourse in the Cinema of the Baltic Sea Countries, The Real Ambassadors? After the Revolution, many artists left Russia. My View of The West: Exploring the Causes and Consequences of Civilizational Politics, My View of the West: An Imagined Community Par Excellence, Occidentalism: The West since 1945 (proposals by 15 November), Democracy Between the West and “the Rest”, Call for Papers for an edited volume – Extended deadline October 18, 2019, Strategic Occidentalism and Mexican Fiction. In culture, the situation was not simple. (2016). Utilizing archives available only since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the volume provides a valuable socio-cultural approach to understanding the Cold War and cultural diplomacy. Despite the tensions and fear of nuclear war, the Cold War division between East and West proved surprisingly stable after 1961, despite French anti-Americanism and Russia crushing the Prague Spring. The exhibition illustrates the importance of politics in the cultural relations between the US and former Yugoslavia. Changes in Yugoslav political agenda, particularly frequent re-positioning towards the US and USSR, were manifested at all levels, including Yugoslav President Tito’s shifting attitudes towards abstract art. When contacts between the Soviet Union and the West were revived, performing artists (versus creative artists) were allowed to travel the most. The world of art is by default international and cosmopolitan. Their work was conscripted for propaganda, and their actions and opinions prized. After the Second World War, the best Soviet artistic forces were sent all over Soviet-occupied Europe to astonish and charm the local populace, which was sometimes quite wary of Soviet objectives. DOI link for Music, Art and Diplomacy: East-West Cultural Interactions and the Cold War, Music, Art and Diplomacy: East-West Cultural Interactions and the Cold War book. I demonstrate how exhibitions were not just art events, but often political “minefields” for every party involved. (Photo courtesy of Helsinki City Museum, N153651, photographed by Väinö Kannisto, 23.2.1945.).

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