Global Art Scene Research Articles

Tools for the Portuguese contemporary art market

In the past two decades, the art market has seen significant growth, with scholars and academics across the globe showing newfound interest in its potential as an interdisciplinary field. This has led to a prolific number of publications, particularly through the lens of globalization. However, a dearth of studies from regions outside the main axes remains, despite the potential for such studies to challenge globalization. This article investigates the primary art market of Portugal, located in southwestern Europe, which borrows ideas from the Global South due to similarities with regions from outside Europe and North America. We apply this concept to the features from a country, namely Portugal that is considered semi-peripheral and marginalized within dominant narratives. We emphasize the permanent tension between the local actuation and the global aspirations of the players in this market. Using literature published on the subject, reports, and interviews, we systematize the mechanisms of activation of the primary market; the launch of art fairs; the emergence of contemporary art galleries, museums, and collectors; and the discourse surrounding the recognition of the global art scene. Despite being a small-scale, semi-peripheral market, a willingness exists to internationalize. Furthermore, in addition to its rich cultural history and substantial investments, mainly from the private sector, the market has attracted international audiences from the artistic milieu and thereby contributed to the heterogeneity observed in the Global South.

Under the Watchful Eyes of the Supreme Leader: Iranian Politics and the Art Market

Abstract This article studies the relationship between politics and the art market. It adopts the Iranian model and analyzes how the political advancement of the Islamic Republic influenced aesthetics, art production, and the art market, to highlight how a conservatively religious model—governed by theocracy—impacts an otherwise prosperous and affluent culture. As such, this study also explores the correlation between art and moral virtues within a society. According to data, exportation of Iranian art was enjoying a far more lucrative climate the world over prior to the 1979 revolution. After the Islamic Revolution, artists, collectors, art galleries, and museums were forced to carve a confined space of existence and self-expression as a consequence of the endless limitations imposed. The political realm directly affected artists’ aesthetics, materiality, subject matter, and exposure. Artists were somewhat isolated from the global art scene, and their practice was defined by predetermined moral restrictions and boundaries. As for the art market, it became a hidden and unregulated market where the sale of artworks was muddled with money laundering and illegal exchange.

Re-actualization of Traditional Themes in Contemporary Craft Art through the Concept of Hybrid Aesthetics

In the beginning, craft as a category of art was established because of its traditional cultural elements. However, in its development, contemporary craft art features many other styles and elements of art, making it difficult to distinguish craft art from other types of art. To adjust to the development and new characteristics of contemporary craft art, it is necessary to develop new methods in the creation of craft art. One of them is cultural hybridization. This article offers a method of creation by adopting the concept of a hybrid aesthetic. Through this method, artists are invited to experiment with visually re-actualizing traditional cultural elements in the creation of craft works among modern art elements. The main question that needs to be asked is how the hybrid aesthetic method can provide certain strength in reaffirming the definition of craft art according to the development of contemporary art. The adoption or application of the hybrid aesthetic concept in the creation of contemporary craft must still consider traditional elements and the adoption of other elements with the application of new methods of creation. The hybrid aesthetic concept produces a unique genre and has the opportunity to sustain an aura of originality through the re-actualization of traditional elements in a strong visual in the global art scene.

CHOLAMANDAL ARTISTS’ VILLAGE: AN INTERACTION BETWEEN THE TRADITION AND MODERNITY (INDIA, THE MADRAS SCHOOL)

Based on the analysis of scientific literature, a successful example of an independent and self-organized community of Cholamandal artists was studied as a continuation of the artistic searches and experiments of the Madras school during the second half of the 20th – early 21st centuries. The prerequisites for the emergence and development of the Cholamandal commune headed by K. Paniker are analyzed. The activities of individual artists of the art association – painters (K. Paniker, R. Pooviah, T. Tarani), graphic artists (K. Haridasan, K. Ramanujam), sculptors (C. Patnaik, S. Nandagopal) and others are considered. The plot and thematic features of their achievements are clarified – the search for original interaction with folk, religious and tantric art is characteristic for these artists. The special position of folk art becomes one of the distinguishing features of the association’s activities. Traditions and their inheritance are seen as an important communicative part and as a source of experiments for modern practices, which, in turn, supported the cross-platform nature of Cholamandal. The settlement included not only workshops and an exhibition gallery, but also an open-air theater for dancing and theatrical performances, a textile workshop, a library and all the necessary infrastructure for everyday life. Cholamandal artists are known for their experiments with traditional Indian techniques and materials such as terracotta, bronze casting, a combination of fresco and oil painting. They combined these techniques with contemporary styles and themes to create unique works of art, reflecting the richness and complexity of India’s artistic tradition. The Cholamandal commune also played an important role in popularizing of modern Indian art among a wide audience. Art exhibitions and events held at Cholamandal attracted art enthusiasts and collectors from all over India and abroad and have helped bring Indian contemporary art to the attention of the global art scene.

CONTEMPORARY CHINESE SCULPTURE OVERVIEW

In the past century, China has experienced significant cultural and societal transformations, transitioning from a culturally isolated and largely illiterate nation to one that is actively developing alongside the rest of the world and presents a unique blend of cultural tradition and modern civilization. Over the years China has seen several generations of sculptors who have been both actively and passively influenced by various schools of sculpture and ideas from France, the Soviet Union, Europe, and the US. In other words, the development of contemporary Chinese sculpture is closely tied to the ideological and cultural progress of China in the 20th century, resulting in a unique and distinctive presence within the global art scene in the 21st century. Unlike other cultural fields, Chinese contemporary sculpture has expanded beyond the boundaries of the art world and the academy. It not only focuses on developing a realistic sculpture system but also incorporates Western contemporary art concepts into its creative process while preserving traditional Chinese sculpture. Contemporary sculpture is currently being developed in a balanced manner through various mainstream routes, including the realistic art tradition of the West, the contemporary art concepts of Europe and America, and the Chinese cultural codes. The formation of this situation has complex reasons, which can be attributed to the multiple changes in the development route of Chinese sculpture throughout the 20th century. This has resulted in several trends of contemporary Chinese sculpture and culture. Additionally, the development trends of Chinese culture throughout the 20th century, as well as the semi-planned and semi-market-oriented economic system implemented in China after the Reform era, have also contributed to this situation. This article provides an overview of the overall development context, explores the issue of the delayed development of contemporary Chinese sculpture, and reviews sculpture genres and styles, offering insights into the formation and genesis of contemporary Chinese sculpture.

Paris’ Biennale (1959-85)

The Biennale of Paris was created in 1959, at the beginning of André Malraux’s tenure as Minister of Culture. It was intended as a way of promoting France’s interests on the global art scene and its main difference with other such events had to do with its emphasis on the emerging artists. The first editions of the Biennale were organized by Raymond Cogniat and Jacques Lassaigne who were both civil servants and whose career had started at a time when Paris’ role was supposed to be central in the art world. By the end of the 1960s when this was obviously no longer the case, Paris’ Biennale evolved in another direction, that of an event of a more experimental and political nature, and even more so after the art critic Georges Boudaille replaced Lassaigne in 1971. After the creation of the Centre Pompidou in 1977 and the arrival of Jack Lang as the new Minister of Culture in the early 1980s, the Biennale entered a major identity crisis that eventually caused its disappearance in 1985, after having tried to expand on a larger scale for its last edition.

Folk culture China in the China Pavilion, Venice Biennale: repositioning ‘Chineseness’ in contemporary art discourse

ABSTRACT In this article, I explore how Qiu Zhijie’s curation of the exhibition Continuum – Generation by Generation at the China Pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale offers a new understanding of ‘China’ and ‘Chineseness’. It is neither a reproduction of literati arts nor a critical use of symbols of socialist China, but an appropriation of Chinese folk culture to re-envision the central role of China in the global art scene. This new form of Chineseness is what I call ‘folk culture China’. Although the curator attempts to challenge the existing interpretation of contemporary Chinese art widely circulated in the art market, the curatorial strategy deployed in this exhibition inherits a culturalist view of Chinese culture by re-nationalizing folk culture as the essence of Chinese culture that sustains Chinese civilization. Folk culture China also highlights the importance of collaboration between folk and contemporary artists in which the former can remind the latter of the collective spirit embodied in craftsmanship, which is the core of the Chinese mode of art-making. More importantly, folk culture China is an anti-nation-statist discourse that paradoxically repositions China from an object of the Euro-American-centric contemporary art system to the center of the world.

Taoism and Confucianism as a Reflection of African Artistic Creation: The Case of Bamileke Art in West Cameroon

Rendered in Africa by curiosity, researchers have issued divergent opinions about the cultivation of different peoples. Some have been taken aback by the wealth of artistic production, while others believed that Africa did lack history. Father Engelbert Mveng reacted to these aberrations by arguing that the history of Africa is written in art and that we are so often uneducated before this writing. The Reverend Father wanted to represent the fundamental structure of works of art in Sub-Saharan Africa. The work of art in African artistic design does not simply reproduce nature as it is done in Western realism. It is more of a form of expression, a language, or a narrative being told. The two aspects gathered, namely the signifier and the signified, real and unreal, soul and body, are, in a sense, the different binomials that characterize traditional African art and give it existence. In other words, the existence of an artwork in Africa improves the moment these two elements are present. In Asia, there are two philosophical thoughts that, far from being completely contradictory, share a common foundation. It is in Taoism and Confucianism, that the concept of Yin and Yang is associated. These doctrines allow us to translate more concretely the concept of duality in African arts, which will be illustrated in this study by the art of the Bamileke people. Taoism is oriented towards eternal and supernatural values while Confucianism is cored and geared to human morals and ethics. Taoism here refers to the spirit of the work, on its unreal side while Confucianism referred to the body of the work, on its real side. The argument consists of two parts: first a comparative study between Chinese aesthetics and the aesthetics of the Bamileke people, then the convergence of thought that exists between the two cultures. Thus, Taoism and Confucianism are with Buddhism the foundation of the Chinese culture, making it a civilization that is needed under all heaven. As a result, the question is why African culture, despite having the same assets as its Asian counterpart, is still learning how to assert itself on the global art scene, despite its natural and human potential.

Contemporary independent curatorial practices as contested ground: tracing exhibition histories in Thailand from court, to state, to curating for the people

This essay traces and reappraises the curatorial practices in Thailand from the late nineteenth century to the present. It seeks to situate the curatorial practice under the notion of nationalism and cryptocolonisation in relation to its social history. It explores three main parts: first the birth of curatorial practices in relation to the museum and exhibition in Siam since the late nineteenth century showing how, during the colonial period, Siam used these as cultural diplomacy tools, to present herself as independent from the colonial West and to engage with the world. Second, it asks what role the state played in using exhibitions and fairs to promote and introduce the modern concept of ‘constitution’ after the radical shift from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy in 1932, and the making of public art in the early twentieth century. Third, it looks at how the art institutions and curatorial practices emerged yet became absent in the context of local and regional modern and contemporary art scene. How did contemporary art curatorial practices reconnect and engage with the global art scene during the period of globalisation, which seemed to be progressive and transnational? It also explains how Thailand’s ongoing political turbulence and the lack of freedom of expression has unfortunately hindered the local contemporary art scene, despite the increasing amount of public and private support.

The Landscape of African Art: Transformations at the Venice Biennale

“Although I try and put things into perspective, I believe that the reason I have become so spiritually foreign to my native country, while remaining preoccupied by it – while it remains a preoccupation –, is for a great part its refusal to acknowledge the existence of this skull.” The Venice Biennale, to a greater extent than any other international event, offers a summary of the current global art scene, which could opportunely be re-questioned regarding the visibility of contemporary Afric...

Performatywne alter ego

The dynamic development of the Internet and the constant search for new ways of reaching the user bring about the availability of materials that were previously unattainable. Performance art, thanks to its special openness to new methods of expression, reaches the mass media, while showing the individual’s psyche and character of the author’s work. The set of gestures, their sequence and narration are the basis for creating performance art, understood not only as a clear alternative to conventional art, but also characterized by unpredictability, in which the viewer is not prepared for the way messages are received. Undoubtedly, social platforms create an illusion. “The influencer” can reach thousands of viewers and gain fame without leaving home. Without a doubt, social media have created a new entry point to the global art scene, opening way to a wide spectrum of diverse artistic activities. The method of recording, the non-cutaneous nature of the phenomenon makes it possible to own performative actions. The context of a performance is particularly important. It affects what can be universally recognized as art. The question arises (since we distinguish two values of the performative action: in the art gallery and on the street), what frames on the social media allow the audience to interpret it as art, and assuming that it is an art, does it change the perception of a given phenomenon?

PERFORMATIVE PERFORMATIVE

The dynamic development of the Internet and the constant search for new ways of reaching the user bring about the availability of materials that were previously unattainable. Performance art, thanks to its special openness to new methods of expression, reaches the mass media, while showing the individual’s psyche and character of the author’s work. The set of gestures, their sequence and narration are the basis for creating performance art, understood not only as a clear alternative to conventional art, but also characterized by unpredictability, in which the viewer is not prepared for the way messages are received. Undoubtedly, social platforms create an illusion. “The influencer” can reach thousands of viewers and gain fame without leaving home. Without a doubt, social media have created a new entry point to the global art scene, opening way to a wide spectrum of diverse artistic activities. The method of recording, the non-cutaneous nature of the phenomenon makes it possible to own performative actions. The context of a performance is particularly important. It affects what can be universally recognized as art. The question arises (since we distinguish two values of the performative action: in the art gallery and on the street), what frames on the social media allow the audience to interpret it as art, and assuming that it is an art, does it change the perception of a given phenomenon?

Performative alter ego

The dynamic development of the Internet and the constant search for new ways of reaching the user bring about the availability of materials that were previously unattainable. Performance art, thanks to its special openness to new methods of expression, reaches the mass media, while showing the individual’s psyche and character of the author’s work. The set of gestures, their sequence and narration are the basis for creating performance art, understood not only as a clear alternative to conventional art, but also characterized by unpredictability, in which the viewer is not prepared for the way messages are received. Undoubtedly, social platforms create an illusion. “The influencer” can reach thousands of viewers and gain fame without leaving home. Without a doubt, social media have created a new entry point to the global art scene, opening way to a wide spectrum of diverse artistic activities. The method of recording, the non-cutaneous nature of the phenomenon makes it possible to own performative actions. The context of a performance is particularly important. It affects what can be universally recognized as art. The question arises (since we distinguish two values of the performative action: in the art gallery and on the street), what frames on the social media allow the audience to interpret it as art, and assuming that it is an art, does it change the perception of a given phenomenon?

Art and Motion: Shen Yuan’s Transcultural Aesthetics

The study considers the Chinese-born artist Shen Yuan in the context of contemporary cultural production, particularly regarding debates about the mobility of people, objects and images, and investigates whether her installations incorporate the notion or action of movement at the levels of their functioning and/or reception. It is argued that Walter Moser’s concept of “artmotion”, as well as findings from recent mobility studies, are useful theories with which to explore this question. The transformational function of her installations is also examined in order to probe how the mobile, sensory and transitory aesthetic experiences felt by the viewer affect their perception and comprehension of objects in the world. An equal concern is how the viewer moves through or around the pieces, contributes to their meaning and thereby participates in wider discourses about Chinese traditions, politics and contemporary concerns. In addition, by considering how Shen’s aesthetics are inspired by Chinese culture at the same time as drawing on the current, global art scene, it will be shown how the transcultural is at the heart of her artistic project and how it demands a constant negotiation between two parts of her self. Finally, the study proposes that mobility studies may be usefully applied to other contemporary artists in transit.

Of Patterns and Markets: The Making and Unmaking of Asafo Flags

ABSTRACTThis essay focuses on the metamorphosis of asafo flags from layered and complex performative artworks to objets d'art circulating on the international art market and featured in museum exhibitions. While the trajectory outlined is common to many African art objects, the relatively recent history traced in this case study makes it possible to identify the players that have contributed to this specific semantic transformation and reflect on their roles. The increased international visibility of asafo flags on the one hand affected the monetary value of these objects on the market, on the other, generated interesting creative feedbacks on the local and global art scene. By connecting these two spheres of circulation and value the essay challenges a dichotomic understanding of African art objects and argues for more layered and complex object biographies.

Venecijanski Bijenale na putovima autorskih koncepcija (2003. – 2017.)

This retrospective overview of the oldest exhibition of contemporary art, the Venice Biennale, focuses on the artistic concepts of its selectors from the 50th exhibition in 2003 until the latest, 57th, which took place in 2017. The central thematic exhibitions of the Biennale have become the benchmark for evaluating the entire artistic production of the two-year interval, the main trends on the global art scene, and the spirit of the time. Analysing the selectors’ concepts, the author has indicated some of their qualities and deficiencies and assessed the state of theoretical superstructure of curatorial concepts at the time and their comparability with the actual, converging or diverging state of artistic production. His conclusion is that the Biennale has been losing momentum and flow, and that the selectors’ concepts are often imposed at the cost of artistic quality. The exhibition of Damien Hirst (2017) has confirmed the already present trend in which the collateral exhibitions taking place during the Biennale tend to overshadow the Biennale itself and shift the focus on the more compact and artistically more appealing exhibitions of individuals, art groups, or phenomena.

Contemporary Lithuanian Artists: Career Opportunities

SummaryBy analysing the careers of internationally recognized artists from Lithuania and the relationship between Lithuanian contemporary artists and art galleries and museums, the author explores the challenges faced by today’s artists and hypothetically underlines the principles that could be useful for them in seeking to enter into the global art scene.The essay analyses the lack of cooperation between artists and galleries, and the representation of artists in Lithuanian museums, which is considered to be the base of a contemporary artist’s career. The essay assesses the influence of the main participants in the art market upon artists’ careers, by investigating the Lithuanian art market’s position after the restoration of independence in 1990. Twenty Lithuanian artists, major galleries or representatives of museums (such as the National Art Gallery and the MO Museum, formerly known as the Modern Art Centre) were interviewed for the purposes of this study.This examination of the Lithuanian art market reveals the peculiarities that artists have encountered, and could help international art market players to better understand the problems that the Lithuanian art market is facing. The author seeks to identify the main factors helping artists to navigate the global art scene and the global art market.

THE EMERGENCE OF DEATH REPRESENTATIONS IN VISUAL ARTS: STEREOTYPES AND SOCIAL REALITIES

This article will investigate the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on the contemporary practices of today's artists. Therefore, this investigation will lead to an analogy between the visual representations created by the artist and the representations created by the various forms of ICT. Accordingly, do the artists in this regards critique the stereotypical representations of images or do they copy what they see, the artwork may appear in different visualizations, but the concept is the same. What is the role of the artist in telling the real story behind the fake image created by media? The contemporary artists in some cases created clear distinctions between media and art. The images of death and terror in global media created a strong impact on the global art scene, where some artists copied those images without investigating the real situation on ground. They became another tool controlled by false messages. However, other contemporary artists started to investigate the social reality of media messages and analyse it in their art. Some artists led significant role in criticizing the common stereotypes, which the global media had established in the late few years. Keywords: Death representations, Visual Arts, Multimedia, Communication, Art and Design

Reorientalism and globalisation: transnational artists from India and representations of the ‘other’

In this article, I discuss some artists who have emigrated from India to the United States and the United Kingdom whose more recent work contains ‘Orientalising’ imagery influenced by the conjoined forces of the art market, collectors, biennales, globalisation, the Internet, the rapid development of India’s economy and its impact on the global art scene. It seems that fame and fortune for some Indian artists living in the West entails capitulating to the desire for exotic, ornate, sexual and stereotypical representations associated with Indian culture and religion. In contrast, I consider the direction taken by other artists who remain in their country of origin and portray life lived there without being particularly attentive to being Indian, although they may concentrate on social and political issues.

Liberdade, identidade e política na arte contemporânea: um diálogo com Danto

O presente trabalho se propõe a instaurar um diálogo crítico com a filosofia dantiana da arte. A primeira parte do texto acompanha o desenrolar da construção teórica dos trabalhos de Danto paralelamente ao desafio de explicar as conseqüências estéticas e filosóficas das mudanças que ocorreram no cenário artístico mundial contemporâneo. Mostramos como Danto extrai implicações filosóficas dessas mudanças, colocando em pauta temas como o da liberdade artística, do pluralismo, das identidades multiculturais e da política. Contudo, problematizamos também os aspectos ideológicos presentes na relação que ele estabeleceu entre sua tese do fim da arte e a ideia do fim da história. Na segunda parte do texto, discutimos algumas intuições do próprio Danto sobre os temas acima elencados para confrontarmos sua teoria oficial com a especificidade da produção local de identidades artísticas periféricas. Finalmente, procuramos indicar como alguns elementos renovados da Teoria Crítica da Sociedade podem nos ajudar a perceber o surgimento de subjetividades históricas que estão fora da comunidade dominante, mas encontram com grande criatividade “novos usos” para os objetos do cotidiano, bem como para suas próprias identidades, em contraste com aqueles que vivem apáticos sob a segurança e a acomodação política do mercado global.