Aims

This website was launched in response to the successful 'Cultural Exchange: Russia and the West' conference at the University of Bristol in 2011. The aim is to create an ongoing forum for discussion of Russian art and culture. 


This site allows academics, curators, researchers and interested members of the public to both submit articles and to read about the latest developments in Russian art, theory and criticism. We also aim to keep you informed of interesting related events such as exhibitions and lectures. 


We have been amazed by the response to our website with over 22,000 hits in more than 15 countries around the world since we first posted. Russian art and culture has the highest number of readers in the United States, Russia and the UK. We are already the 22nd most popular arts blog in the world according to Blogrank with our high number of RSS subscribers. Readers include academics, curators, collectors, dealers and researchers.


Cultural Exchange: Russia and the West 
The University of Bristol held a one-day postgraduate conference which explored the nature of cultural exchanges between Russia and the West. This unique conference was an opportunity to re-examine artistic creativity during the twentieth century, a time of revolutionary and ideological change, and to look at cultural connections between Russia, Europe and the United States.


Russian history is marked by key moments of contact and exchange which have shaped and transformed its cultural heritage. The conference's aim was to trace the history of cultural production during a period of artistic and political evolution within and outside of Russia. The development of Russian culture within national and international contexts was considered with a focus on art, literature and music. We challenged the idea that Russia was isolated by geography and politics.


A primary focus was to examine key moments of contact between Russian artists, writers and composers in different contexts and to explore emigration and moments of cultural interaction. These contacts across geographic, political and cultural boundaries are essential to our understanding of the development of Russian art and culture.


Current postgraduate students, recent PhD recipients and researchers working on areas of Russian scholarship from a range of academic fields attended the conference. The day allowed the cross-pollination of ideas and foster debate across a number of different disciplines. Postgraduates from a range of different disciplines including art history, history, literature, politics, film, music and cultural studies attended this event.


Three panel sessions:

• Cultural Connections: Russia and the European avant-garde
• Art, Patronage and Display: Cultural exchange between Russia and the United States
• Stalin and the West: Interpretation and Representation of the Soviet Union

This conference was organised by Theodora Clarke, editor of Russian Art and Culture.


Call for papers and overview:
http://www.bris.ac.uk/arts/gradschool/community/conferences/cultural-exchange.html


Conference report:
http://www.basees.org.uk/down/pg-culturalexchange.doc