Artists Overseas (Prague, 21-22 May 26)Prague, May 21–22, 2026Deadline: Dec 31, 2025

Artists Overseas: Foreign Artists in the Czech Lands and Czech Artists Abroad

The National Gallery Prague and the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences invite conference contributions: Artists Overseas: Foreign Artists in the Czech Lands and Czech Artists Abroad.

The deadline for applications is 31 December 2025.

The conference will take place on 21 – 22 May 2026 in Prague.

The phenomenon of mobility, migration and cultural exchange has profoundly shaped visual culture across the centuries. Owing to their location in the heart of Europe, the Czech lands have long served not only as an important crossroads through which many artists passed, but also as an attractive destination for foreign creators, particularly during periods of cultural flourishing. At the same time, movement occurred in the opposite direction: artists born or trained in the Czech environment frequently undertook shorter or longer journeys abroad. The motivations for mobility were diverse—from forced emigration for political, religious, or economic reasons to the pursuit of more stimulating training, new professional experiences, or more prestigious commissions. This two-way movement significantly influenced the local visual language, aesthetic preferences and institutional frameworks of artistic life.

The conference aims to examine this topic from multiple perspectives ranging from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. We welcome papers focusing both on biographical portraits of figures who experienced artistic mobility, as well as on broader analyses of migration patterns among artists within particular periods or between specific countries and regions. Attention may also be given to the cultural transfer that mobility generated, or to the social aspects of the issue, such as the ways in which foreign artists became integrated into local structures and adapted to new environments. On a more general level, contributions may address perceptions of otherness and foreignness that the work and lives of migrant artists typically represented for their host societies. Finally, we also welcome papers dealing with the characteristics of important sources or source types, and analyses of how such materials can be used for research purposes.

The theme is open to art historians, archivists, historians and specialists from related fields. The only requirement is that each paper should be grounded in the evidence of archival sources.

We invite those interested in active participation to submit a proposal in the form of an abstract (maximum 1,000 characters) accompanied by a brief biographical note. The expected length of each presentation is 20 minutes. Publication of the papers is planned. The conference languages will be Czech and English. The organising committee reserves the right to select papers.

Please send abstracts with brief biographies to:

uhlikova@udu.cas.cz, radka.heisslerova@ngprague.cz