AICA Congress in Poland in 1960: “International Character of Contemporary Art”

Abstract

The art historian prof. Irina Genova traces the history of AICA (Association internationale des critiques d’art) and focuses on its congress in Poland (Warsaw and Krakow) in 1960. The carefully chosen topic of the congress, “International Character of Contemporary Artâ€, meant to provide a meeting point for Western European and Eastern European artists and to open the post-Stalinist Eastern art scene to the contemporary tendencies of the abstract painting. The situation was different in the different countries. The research draws a parallel between the quite open Polish scene and the more conservative and closed Bulgarian one and the reception the congress had in those two contexts.