Exhibiting the nation

This chapter is an overview of the AHRC-funded Midlands4Cities doctoral research project No Country is An Island on the history of the British Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale from 1948 to present, with an emphasis on the relationship between exhibition culture, national identity and global politics. The project aims to recontextualise the exhibitions at the British Pavilion alongside the decolonisation process that started with the dismantling of the British Empire after the Second World War. Nonetheless, it also seeks to understand how shifting notions around British identity have been reflected throughout the displays of art works in the international context of the Biennale. The first part of the chapter addresses the theoretical frameworks that have informed the research questions. The second part introduces some of the case studies of the project, key editions to explore the Pavilion as site of national self-definition and redefinition.