Modernism in Migration – Editorial

Gregor Langfeld,Tessel M Bauduin

doi:10.54533/stedstud.vol009.art01

Abstract

Today, a majority of many populations worldwide view migration negatively.[1] In times of increasing xenophobia, with Europe’s walls-up policy and a steadily growing amount of border walls (three times as many as during the Cold War), migration is regarded as a disturbing element in society.[2] Politics mainly focuses on stemming migration flows, often with cruel consequences. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, migration denotes the movement of a person, group, or people from one locality or country to another, often for the purpose of settlement.[3] Such a relocation can be permanent, temporary, or seasonal. More specific terms are used in migration research, such as exile, diaspora, and transmigration.[4] Exile and diaspora refer to the experience of persecution and forced emigration from a home country. Exile, unlike diaspora (e.g., Jewish or African), tends to be considered an individual and temporary experience. However, the distinction between these terms can be provisional; exile can become diaspora over time, if the desired return to the homeland fails to materialize. The term transmigration is applied to migrants who maintain relationships between their country of origin and country of residence. Unlike immigrants, transnational or transregional migrants do not leave their homeland behind; their sense of belonging is not limited to one place.[5] Certainly these distinctions tend to be imprecise, and must be determined with regard to particular cases.

Highlights

Today, a majority of many populations worldwide view migration negatively.[1]
With regard to art history it is strongly connected with Aby Warburg’s concept of Bildwanderung, the migration of images, which are not bound by borders and can be appropriated, adapted, and transformed.[7]
The Stedelijk Museum exhibition Migrant Artists in Paris forms the impetus for this issue, yet we will look beyond Paris as a center alone.[8]

Summary

Introduction

A majority of many populations worldwide view migration negatively.[1]. In times of increasing xenophobia, with Europe’s walls-up policy and a steadily growing amount of border walls (three times as many as during the Cold War), migration is regarded as a disturbing element in society.[2]. The term migration is used in relation to material and immaterial objects, forms, and ideas, which pass or are passed from one place to another.[6] With regard to art history it is strongly connected with Aby Warburg’s concept of Bildwanderung, the migration of images, which are not bound by borders and can be appropriated, adapted, and transformed.[7] In this issue of Stedelijk Studies we employ a broad definition of migration—that is, the movement of people, objects, and ideas from one location to another—in our focus on developments within the arts between 1910 and 1970.

Results

Conclusion