A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Framework explores the ways specialists and institutions in the fine arts, curation, cultural studies, and art history have attempted to situate art in a more global framework since the 1980s. Offering analyses of the successes and setbacks of these efforts to globalize the art world, this innovative volume presents a new and exciting way of considering art in its global contexts. Essays by an international panel of leading scholars and practicing artists assert that what we talk about as ‘art’ is essentially a Western concept, thus any attempts at understanding art in a global framework require a revising of established conceptual definitions.
Organized into three sections, this work first reviews the history and theory of the visual arts since 1980 and introduces readers to the emerging area of scholarship that seeks to place contemporary art in a global framework. The second section traces the progression of recent developments in the art world, focusing on the historical and cultural contexts surrounding efforts to globalize the art world and the visual arts in particular global and transnational frameworks. The final section addresses a wide range of key themes in contemporary art, such as the fundamental institutions and ontologies of art practice, and the interactions among art, politics, and the public sphere.
A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Framework is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, researchers, and general readers interested in exploring global art beyond the traditional Euro-American context.
"List of Illustrations ix Series Editor's Preface xv About the Editors xvii Notes on Contributors xix Editors' Acknowledgments xxvii Introduction: The Eurocentrism of Contemporary Art, Staging the Project 1 Jane Chin Davidson and Amelia Jones Part I Decades 17 1980-1990 17 1 I Live in the Fourth Dimension When I Create Landscapes: Artist Statement 19 Senga Nengudi 2 Seeing Beyond East/West Divides: Contemporary Art in and Around 1980s China 23 Jenny Lin 1990-2000 35 3 Is There a Line that Connects All Things? Artist Statement 37 Sutapa Biswas 4 Why Contemporary Art Is Post-Soviet 41 Angela Harutyunyan 2000-2010 55 5 Art and Politics: Artist Statement 57 Tania Bruguera 6 Maori and Pacific Art at the Turn of a New Millennium 61 Nina Tonga and Caroline Vercoe 2010-2020 75 7 Art for Abolition: Artist Statement 77 Patrisse Cullors 8 Situating African Diasporic Art 79 Nana Adusei-Poku Part II Themes Institutions/Ontology 87 9 COLONIALISM ""The Whole World in his Hands"": A Decolonial Approach to European Concepts of Art 89 Claire Farago 10 PEDAGOGY The Blank Canvas and Other Myths 105 Al-An deSouza 11 CRAFT Craft and the Making of ""Global"" Contemporary Art 119 Pamela N. Corey 12 PERFORMANCE Dreams and Visions in the Interval 133 Mlondolozi Zondi 13 EMBODIMENT/MATERIALITY Love Songs (to End Hetero-Patriarchal, Settler-Colonial, Extractivism) 149 Natalie Loveless Politics/Public Sphere 167 14 REVOLUTION Revolution is a Circle 169 Tatiana Flores 15 ART AND ITS MARKETPLACES It Was a Small World, After All 183 Suzanne Hudson 16 PUBLIC SPHERES The Politics of Public Space in Postrevolutionary Iran 199 Talinn Grigor 17 (ANTI-)CAPITALISM The Imminent Promise and Fear of a Getaway Car 213 Raqs Media Collective 18 ENVIRONMENT Envisioning a More Just Future: Feminist Activist Art, Climate Change, and the Anthropocene 227 Lisa E. Bloom Identity/Subjectivity 239 19 INDIGENEITY Global Futurisms: Prophetic Practices of Reclamation, Liberation, and Transcendence 241 Timotéo I. Montoya II 20 DIASPORA Transnational Collectivities of Solidarity and Affect 255 Ceren Özpinar 21 GENDER/SEXUALITY Performing the Intersection: Camp and the ""Cat Lady"" 267 Jane Chin Davidson 22 RACE/ETHNICITY Three Forms of Appropriation: Carrie Mae Weems, Glenn Ligon, and Nao Bustamante 281 Jessi DiTillio and Cherise Smith 23 DISABILITY Disability Justice, Community, and Performance 295 Shayda Kafai and Jennette Ramirez Methods/Theories 309 24 POSTCOLONIAL/DECOLONIAL Post-/Anti-/Neo-/De- Colonial Theories and Visual Analysis 311 Alpesh Kantilal Patel 25 MARXISM/POST-MARXISM History, Marxism, Reality, and Utopia: The Bishan Project in China (2010-2016) 327 Ou Ning 26 CRITICAL RACE THEORY ""The Blast Work"": Situating Critical Race Theory in Contemporary Art and Curatorial Practice 343 Kelli Morgan in Dialogue with Amelia Jones 27 POSTSTRUCTURALISM/POSTMODERNISM/POSTCOLONIALISM Mapping Poststructuralism, Postmodernism, and Postcolonialism 359 April Baca 28 GENDER/SEX THEORY Feminist/Queer/Trans Theory and Trans Embodied Methodologies in Contemporary Art: An Intergenerational Dialogue on the Page 377 Ace Lehner and Amelia Jones 29 PERFORMANCE THEORY The ""Studies Protocols"" of Performance Studies 399 Joshua Chambers-Letson Technology/Media 417 30 INTERNET ""Bias Is Not a Bug. It's a Feature"": An Interview with Hito Steyerl on Representation in the Digital Age 419 Hito Steyerl and Anuradha Vikram 31 SOCIAL MEDIA Why Is It So Hard to Look the Other in the Eye? The Selfie and its Discontents 435 Derek Murray 32 ALGORITHM Algorithms in Global Art and Visual Culture 451 Gary Kafer and Tyler Quick Exhibition/Collecting/Archive 465 33 MUSEUM Time, Love, and the Museum 467 Florencia San Martin 34 BIENNIAL/ART FAIR Biennial as a Discursive Political System for Contemporary Art 481 Jane Chin Davidson 35 CURATING In Residence, Incarcerated Regina José Galindo's America's Family Prison 503 Andy Campbell 36 COLLECTING The World Should Collect Itself: Collecting Art Globally (and Other Predicaments) 517 Gerardo Mosquera 37 ARCHIVE Ghosts in the Archive: Exorcism, Resurrection and the Possibilities of Repair 529 Hammad Nasar Index 541"
JANE CHIN DAVIDSON is Professor of Art History and Global Cultures at California State University, San Bernadino. She has published widely on topics in contemporary global art, Chinese diasporic identity in the arts, performance, transnationalism, feminism, and eco-feminism. As an exhibition curator, she studies the decolonizing processes for global exhibitions. AMELIA JONES is Robert A. Day Professor at the Roski School of Art and Design at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Her published work and curated exhibitions have focused on queer, feminist, and anti-racist analyses of modern and contemporary visual art and performance of the Euro-American tradition. She is Editor of A Companion to Contemporary Art Since 1945 (Wiley Blackwell, 2006).
