Abstract
AbstractHow does a newly formed state and its newly created nation present itself at world’s fairs? This article focuses on the interwar period and the impact of the political restructuring of Central Europe in order to examine the strategies and motivations of Czechoslovakia for participation in exhibitions around the globe. It takes Czechoslovakia as an example of a country, created in 1918, that constructed and displayed its image in a comprehensible and uncomplicated way to international audiences. World’s fairs that were primarily organized to promote trade relationships thus gave the opportunity to countries like Czechoslovakia to validate its existence, internal composition, and domestic politics through carefully crafted narratives that were showcased. The article primarily addresses the question of who creates these narratives and why, while scrutinizing the transfer of domestic politics into international displays.
Highlights
In these few contradictions you have the whole Czechoslovakia
One of the most prominent members of the Paris and other exhibitions committees, the Czech art historian Václav Vilém Štech who worked at the Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment, concluded that “there is only one way Slovakia and Slovak politics can be represented at a world’s fair and it is through folk art” (Komora 2017, 204)
The continued presence of Czechoslovakia at all major international exhibitions in the interwar period can be taken as proof of the success of the country’s participation
Summary
While there was no unambiguous definition of the Czechoslovak nation, several tropes were established and displayed as typical of it. One of the most prominent members of the Paris and other exhibitions committees, the Czech art historian Václav Vilém Štech who worked at the Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment, concluded that “there is only one way Slovakia and Slovak politics can be represented at a world’s fair and it is through folk art” (Komora 2017, 204). In this and all other interwar exhibitions, Slovakia was reduced to folk art displays in line with the general view of the region as predominantly rural, economically backward, and culturally underdeveloped. Slovakia was represented by her folk art, which made the region culturally distinctive and at the same time indicated its inferior economic position compared to Bohemia
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