Distant Gaze: New Objectivity and Realisms in Central Europe (1925-1933)

The symposium Distant Gaze: New Objectivity and Realisms in Central Europe (1925-1933) will enable in-depth insights into the art, culture and society of the 1920s and 1930s in Central Europe and beyond. 

3/5 - 3/6/2025

It is based on the exhibition of the same title at Galerija Božidar Jakac – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (22 November 2024 – 23 March 2025), which showcases key shifts and developments in visual art and visual culture in the restless interwar period. The symposium will present contributions of a diverse and interdisciplinary group of experts and creators from fields such as visual arts, literature, history, anthropology, philosophy and other areas of the human sciences. The central focus will be on the historical and social circumstances of the politically divided, yet closely connected cultural milieus of Central Europe.

The symposium will further deepen the insights that have already been opened and analysed by the exhibition and accompanying publication Distant Gaze: New Objectivity and Realisms in Central Europe (1925-1933), which focuses on the historical period of the 1920s and 1930s, when completely new artistic tendencies started appearing and developing. The style and manner of expressionism, that was dominating art scene up to that time, was replaced by a cluster of related styles based on realism and classicism. After the traumatic experience of the World War I, the 1920s saw a major turning point, not only in politics and economy but also in arts and culture. Visual arts of the 1920s developed the style of “new realisms”, whose objective, resigned and ironic expression corresponded with the Zeitgeist of that era.

The programme of the symposium will be published here shortly. 

Stane Cuderman, Ples v Kazini, 1930. Zbirka Medobčinski muzej Kamnik.