Globalizing Contemporary Art : The Art World's New Internationalism

Exploring the dynamic evolution of contemporary visual art, this study examines how museums, galleries, and art fairs worldwide are redefining their roles by embracing non-Western perspectives. It investigates the complex interplay between internationalism, ethnicity, aesthetics, and global capitalism.

Today, contemporary art is a global phenomenon. Biennales, museums, art fairs, galleries, auction houses, academies and audiences for contemporary visual art are all institutions whose presence on a global scale has widened tremendously during the past two decades. Thus, by including contemporary art from non-Western regions, these traditional Western art institutions have not only broadened their scope to a greater extent, but have also been challenged themselves by the new cultural, economic and media world order of globalization. How contemporary art is made 'international' is the subject of this book, tracing as it does developments during the past two decades, while focusing particularly on the mecanisms of 'globality' which are at work in the art world today. The book critically investigates fundamental questions like: What is 'New Internationalism' in contemporary art, and how it affected the art world? How does New Internationalism relate to concepts like ethnicity, aesthetics, standard art history, and new media? And how is New Internationalism, rather paradoxically, furthered to a greater extent by global capitalism than it is by seemingly progressive art projects?