Zwischen Zivilisierungsmission, Folklorisierung und Folklorismus. Die Prager Ausstellung "Kunst und Leben in der Karpatenukraine" (1924)

Abstract

Based on the exhibition “Art and Life in the Podkarpatská Rus [Transcarpathia]”
held in Prague in the year 1924, this article analyses how Czechoslovakia constructed
this easterly territory as a periphery that was to be simultaneously modernised
and staged. The discourse of the “civilising mission” was closely linked to the folklorisation
of the region. The contribution of this study consists in revealing this paradox:
By purporting to integrate and stimulate the region, the Czechoslovak state
solidified its exoticised otherness. The article shows that the exhibition did not limit
itself to presenting the region’s folk culture, but that instead the selection of objects
and practices constructed the image of an “authentic” culture of Transcarpathia,
thereby contributing to its folklorisation and differentiation from the rest of
Czechoslovakia. The analysis of the choice of exhibits, their regional classification
and distribution across the museum venue, and their scientific framing and economic
valorisation allows the connections between knowledge, pedagogy, and power
within a single representation project to be understood. It becomes clear that the
preservation of cultural heritage in a quasi-colonial context did not represent a neutral
gesture; rather, it involved processes of hierarchisation, standardisation, and cultural
control.