The "biennale culture" now determines much of the art world. Literature on the worldwide dissemination of art assumes nationalism and ethnic identity, but rarely analyzes it. At the same time there is extensive theorizing about globalization in political theory, cultural studies, postcolonial theory, political economy, sociology, and anthropology. Art and Globalization brings political and cultural theorists together with writers and historians concerned specifically with the visual arts in order to test the limits of the conceptualization of the global in art.

Among the major writers on contemporary international art represented in this book are Rasheed Araeen, Joaquin Barriendos, Susan Buck-Morss, John Clark, Iftikhar Dadi, T. J. Demos, Nestor Garcia Canclini, Charles Green, Suman Gupta, Harry Harootunian, Michael Ann Holly, Shigemi Inaga, Fredric Jameson, Caroline Jones, Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, Anthony D. King, Partha Mitter, Keith Moxey, Saskia Sassen, Ming Tiampo, and C. J. W.-L. Wee.

Art and Globalization is the first book in the Stone Art Theory Institutes Series. The five volumes, each on a different theoretical issue in contemporary art, build on conversations held in intensive, weeklong closed meetings. Each volume begins with edited and annotated transcripts of those meetings, followed by assessments written by a wide community of artists, scholars, historians, theorists, and critics. The result is a series of well-informed, contentious, open-ended dialogues about the most difficult theoretical and philosophical problems we face in rethinking the arts today.

About the Author

James Elkins is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Zhivka Valiavicharska is a PhD candidate in the Rhetoric Department at the University of California, Berkeley.

Alice Kim is a PhD candidate in the Rhetoric Department at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews

"In our era of biennales and international galleries, contemporary art compels both a new, wider analysis as well as a rethinking of basic forms and definitions. Presented in the form of dialogues, even debates, in transcript, followed by individual responses, Art and Globalization's distillation of collective seminar discussions intends to open, rather than to close, its topics: considerations of both the recent history of visual culture toward some guiding theory of globalization and its consequences for art production and consumption across space rather than time. Readers should be alerted that this seminar will surely engage them as participants and partisans, sharpening their own personal responses to the contemporary art world, but without offering consistency, closure, or conclusions."

-Larry Silver,Farquhar Professor of Art History, University of Pennsylvania

"This multivoiced volume successfully evokes the vastness of artistic production on a global scale. The conversations, assessments, and programmatic introductions and afterword make it crystal clear that if art is to be understood in global terms, the tasks of conceptual clarification, concept development, and methodological innovation must be taken up with intelligence, honesty, and energy, and in a way that takes thinking about art well beyond the usual parochialisms."

-Mette Hjort,Chair Professor and Head, Visual Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

"Art and Globalization makes an important contribution to the diverse critical practices and aesthetic performances that define the global era. The editors have orchestrated a range of perspectives passionately expressed by a roster of talented voices from across the world."

-Homi K. Bhabha,Harvard University

Book Information
ISBN 9780271037172
Author James Elkins
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Pennsylvania State University Press
Publisher Pennsylvania State University Press
Weight(grams) 658g
Dimensions(mm) 254mm * 178mm * 21mm