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Today, we are witnessing a resurgence of nationalistic narratives, a trend also palpable in art history. The entanglement of art history with nationalism can be traced to the origins of the discipline, as both the emergence of nation-states and the institutionalization of art history were concurrent. In recent decades, scholarly efforts to decenter "the nation" as the primary framework have produced important interventions in the form of global and transnational art histories.

This roundtable proposes to examine the complex and enduring intersections between art history and nationalism from the perspective of the so-called Second World. In countries long regarded as peripheral within broader historiographical narratives, nationalism often emerged as a dominant collective ideology. Rather than treating this history as a mere footnote, we seek to explore how these experiences can serve as critical resources for understanding — and contesting — contemporary articulations of nationalism in art history.

Panelists will present relevant case studies serving as a starting point for discussion. Magdalena Moskalewicz analyzes how different historical processes such as the Cold War or the Fall of Communism shaped nationalistic tendencies in Eastern Europe. Marta Zboralska critically engages with "Polish art" as a category through case studies of two exhibitions referencing émigré writer Witold Gombrowicz’s deconstruction of national identity. Agata Pietrasik examines strategies of marginalization of minority artists within the Polish art history. Daniel R. Quiles reconstructs key moments that led to the current anti-intellectual politics and defunding of the arts in Argentina, as well as strategies of survival and resistance.