[spectre] CFP: Infrastructures of Selling Art in Socialism and Postsocialism

[Andreas Broeckmann LEU]

From: Kristof Nagy
Date: Sep 30, 2025
Subject: CFP: Infrastructures of Selling Art in Socialism and Postsocialism

Deadline: Nov 30, 2025

Infrastructures of Selling Modern and Contemporary Art in Socialism and 
Postsocialism.

We invite proposals for a forthcoming edited volume that critically 
examines the infrastructures of art markets in Central and Eastern 
Europe during and after the socialist era. This peer-reviewed volume 
aims to shed light on the diverse systems that enabled the production, 
distribution, and exchange of modern and contemporary art, not only 
through established institutions but also through lesser-known or 
subversive practices. By exploring both formal and informal mechanisms, 
this volume seeks to rethink the ways in which art is acquired, traded, 
and circulated within specific regimes and across borders.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- State involvement: Government initiatives, regulations, commissions 
(e.g., for monumental art, murals), guaranteed purchases, “soft power” 
politics, and foreign currency needs.
- State ideologies and political agendas: censorship, restrictions, 
manipulation, promotion or marginalisation of specific artists and 
movements.
- Trading platforms and networks: Museums, galleries, auction houses, 
art fairs, collectives, and unconventional venues (e.g., hotels, 
apartments) shaping art circulation and valuation.
- New art forms: Non-traditional practices (e.g., performance and 
conceptual art) resisting conventional collecting and developing 
alternative modes of exchange.
- Social Settings: Class, gender, religion, and other network and 
community aspects in the production, transfer, and circulation of 
contemporary art.
- Trade logistics: Shipping, insurance, financial infrastructures, 
export and import processes, and foreign currency considerations in art 
sales.
- Regime shifts: Strategy changes, disruptions, and adaptations in art 
markets under socialist and post-socialist conditions; comparative and 
regime-specific reflections.

We welcome proposals that offer fresh perspectives on the 
infrastructures of art markets. Submissions may be based on case 
studies, broader theoretical frameworks, or comparative approaches. - 
Whether your focus is local or transnational, historical or 
contemporary, we are particularly interested in contributions that offer 
new insights into the mechanisms enabling the exchange of art.

This call for contributions builds in part on the workshop 
Infrastructures of Trading and Transferring Art since 1900, which was 
held at KEMKI in June 2024 in Budapest. The editors of the forthcoming 
book are:

- Prof. Dr. Gregor M. Langfeld, Professor of Art History, Cultural 
Heritage and Identity at Open University, the Netherlands and Associate 
Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of 
Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
- Kristóf Nagy, PhD, Fung Global Fellow at Princeton University, US; 
Permanent Research Fellow at the KEMKI - Central European Research 
Institute for Art History, Hungary;
- Prof. Dr. Lynn Rother, Professor for Provenance Studies at Leuphana 
University of Lüneburg, Germany and Adjunct Curator for Provenance at 
The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Submission Guidelines:
Please send an abstract (max. 500 words) and a short biography (max. 150 
words) to kn2656 at princeton.edu

Timeline: - Submission date for the abstract: November 30, 2025.
- Feedback on abstracts: by January 15, 2026.
- Submission date for the manuscript: August 30, 2026.
- Anticipated publication date: Spring 2027.


Reference / Quellennachweis:
CFP: Infrastructures of Selling Art in Socialism and Postsocialism. In: 
ArtHist.net, Sep 30, 2025. <https://arthist.net/archive/50744>.