Propagandă externă și identitate. Expoziția de artă populară românească în SUA (1959-1960)
External Propaganda and Identity. The exhibition of Romanian folk art in the USA (1959-1960)

Summary/Abstract: Beyond the political and ideological tensions of the Cold War, East and West agreed to experiment with cultural collaborations in the latter part of the 1950s. Among the proposed activities, Washington and Bucharest chose to exchange exhibitions, which they would tour in several locations, during the period 1958-1960. An American architecture exhibition was doubled by a Romanian folk art exhibition. The organizers of the Romanian exhibition, the specialists from the Romanian Institute for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had a double effect in mind: the presentation of communist Romania as a civilized state, for which culture mattered, but also the impression of Romanian Americans, who had to learn that the new Romania had not sovietised, but was still promoting authentic national values. Although the exhibition was opened in four American cities, it did not reach any large cities with important Romanian communities. However, the good collaboration between Romanian diplomats, the State Department and American cultural institutions contributed to building relationships of trust and respect for the future.

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