European Cultural Life During the Cold War (CWCult)

During the Cold War, European cultural life was politicized in specific ways which affected conditions, possibilities, discourses and public opinions on arts and culture in multiple ways. The research group conducted studies into the impact of Cold War on cultural life as well as how artists and intellectuals were players in the Cultural Cold War. A particular attention was to consider how the arts took part in this, in order to highlight how and in which ways works of arts and artistic manifestations influenced and were marked by this context. This calls for an interdisciplinary approach including historians as well as researchers of the arts and cultural studies and area studies.

The approach was to consider the cultural cold war as a European phenomenon, as a theatre where policies and programs from the two great powers of the East and the West were directed towards the European cultural life in order to win the minds and hearts of the Europeans, first of all ‘intellectuals’ and artist which could influence public opinion. Even when certain activities were conducted within a national or local framework, these were often programs or policies on a European scale which were adapted to and negotiated with national objectives. Such an approach will make it possible to compare studies into different areas of culture, different European settings, and to compare East and West European cases.

How did the Cold War effect the conceptions of art and the discourse of art criticism? What impact had the Cold War on interpretations of musical or artistic style? How are we to evaluate the effect of cultural diplomacy and does it matter what they perform or exhibit? How did artists or musicians act and negotiate the aims when they went on cultural missions? How did the US and the Soviets apply certain programs or policies and how was their initiatives received? Such questions will be at the core of the discussions of the research group.

 

 

 

 

Members

Michael Fjeldsøe, principal project manager, Museology,  Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Poul Villaume, History, The Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen

Morten Thing,  Library/History, Roskilde University

Morten Michelsen, Musicology,  Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Nils Arne Sørensen, History, University of Southern Denmark

Peter Madsen, Literature,  Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Marianne Rostgaard, History, Aarhus University

Anne Dvinge, Modern Culture, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Karen Westphal Eriksen, Art History, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Josef Bathika, History

Rasmus Holmboe, Musicology, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Søren Møller Sørensen, Musicology, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Liza Burmeister Kaaring, Art History, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Jens Tang Kristensen, Art History, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Kristian Handberg, Art History, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen