Macro-National Visions:
Art, Architecture, and Cultural Diplomacy at International Expositions
Guest lecture by Constanza Robles (Boston University)
Thursday, 3 July 2025, 6 pm c.t.
Online-Lecture:
www.udk-berlin.webex.com/meet/m.oesterreich
This presentation examines how three international expositions—Buffalo (1901), Rio de Janeiro (1922), and Seville (1929)—shaped and reflected hemispheric and transatlantic alliances, with a focus on Latin America’s visual and architectural strategies. It interrogates essentialist conceptions of “Latin America” by foregrounding national divergences within larger frameworks such as Pan-Americanism, Ibero-Americanism, and Hispano-Americanism. Analyzing how countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Peru navigated these fairs, it explores how national pavilions negotiated visibility and identity, often contesting imperial narratives and racialized hierarchies. Framed through a decolonial lens, this paper positions world’s fairs as dynamic sites where Latin American nations rearticulated their role in global modernity.
Constanza Robles is a Ph.D. candidate in the History of Art and Architecture at Boston University. Her research examines Latin American and Caribbean art and architecture in international expositions, focusing on how these events fostered regional alliances and soft diplomacy between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to her research, Connie has taught a wide range of art history courses as an instructor of record at Boston University and as an assistant professor at Universidad Católica de Chile. Her work has been supported by the Fulbright Program, the Terra Foundation, and the Wolfsonian Museum. She has also presented at major conferences, including the American Historical Association and the College Art Association. As a member of ISIE, the Institute for the Study of International Expositions, she co-organizes a speaker series and co-chaired the 2024 Emerging Scholars Symposium.
