Expanding Internationalism - A Conference on ... - Mary Jane Jacob
Expanding Internationalism - A Conference on ... - Mary Jane Jacob
Expanding Internationalism - A Conference on ... - Mary Jane Jacob
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EXPANDING INTERNATIONALISM<br />
A <str<strong>on</strong>g>C<strong>on</strong>ference</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> Internati<strong>on</strong>al Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
May 27 • 28, 1990<br />
Venice, Italy<br />
Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Institute of Internati<strong>on</strong>al Educati<strong>on</strong><br />
809 United Nati<strong>on</strong>s Plaza<br />
New York, NY 10017<br />
212-984-5370
TABLE OF CONTENTS<br />
I. Foreword 1<br />
<strong>Jane</strong> M. Gull<strong>on</strong>g<br />
II. Introducti<strong>on</strong> 5<br />
<strong>Mary</strong> <strong>Jane</strong> <strong>Jacob</strong><br />
III. Opening Remarks 13<br />
Sheila Avrin McLean<br />
IV.<br />
Keynote Speeches<br />
Simultaneous Translati<strong>on</strong>: Mbdernity and the Inter-nati<strong>on</strong>al 21<br />
Homi K. Bhabha<br />
The Verb "Curate"<br />
35<br />
Guy Brett<br />
V. Positi<strong>on</strong> Papers<br />
Aracy A. Amaral (Brazil)<br />
Ermlanuel Nnakenyi Arinze (Nigeria)<br />
Piedad de Ballesteros (Colombia)<br />
Ma.rk Francis (Great Britain/United States)<br />
Guillermo GOmez-P~a (United States)<br />
Ma.rina Grzinic (Yugoslavia)<br />
Beral Madra (Turkey)<br />
Jean-Hubert Martin (France)<br />
Gerardo M::>squera (Cuba)<br />
Bernice Murphy (Australia)<br />
David A. Ross (United States)<br />
Ryszard Stanislawaki (Poland)<br />
Vladimir Vadja (Yugoslavia)<br />
51<br />
57<br />
63<br />
67<br />
69<br />
73<br />
79<br />
83<br />
85<br />
87<br />
91<br />
95<br />
97<br />
VI. Moderators' Summaries of Roundtable Discussi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
VII.<br />
Multiculturalism<br />
Kinshasha Holman C<strong>on</strong>will<br />
The Other<br />
catherine David<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s Today<br />
Lynn Gumpert<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s and the Host Country<br />
Paulo Herkenhoff<br />
New Forums<br />
Milena Kalinovska<br />
List of Participants<br />
103<br />
109<br />
113<br />
123<br />
130<br />
141
FOREWORD<br />
Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al, a divisi<strong>on</strong> of the Institute of Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Educati<strong>on</strong>, c<strong>on</strong>vened a two-day c<strong>on</strong>ference "<str<strong>on</strong>g>Expanding</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>alism</str<strong>on</strong>g>" during<br />
the opening week of the Venice Biennale in May 1990.<br />
The papers and<br />
commentary included in this report reflect something of the wide-ranging<br />
discussi<strong>on</strong> that took place <strong>on</strong> the ways in whiCh c<strong>on</strong>temporary art of diverse<br />
cultures is chosen and presented in internati<strong>on</strong>al shows.<br />
The participants themselves represented the Challenge of expanding<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>alism, corning from 36 different countries and drawn equally from<br />
Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Latin America, North<br />
America, and Western Europe.<br />
Their energy and receptivity to new ideas made<br />
the c<strong>on</strong>ference an important step in rec<strong>on</strong>sidering and Changing the role and<br />
irrpact of major internati<strong>on</strong>al arts exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s throughout the world.<br />
The<br />
riChness of the papers and discussi<strong>on</strong> has already produced more interest in<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tinuing to exchange ideas through meetings, c<strong>on</strong>ferences and publicati<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
"<str<strong>on</strong>g>Expanding</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>alism</str<strong>on</strong>g>" would not have taken place without the<br />
leadership, corrmitment and generosity of its c<strong>on</strong>tributors. Alberta Arthurs,<br />
Director of the Arts and Humanities at The Rockefeller Foundati<strong>on</strong>, encouraged<br />
the development of the ideas for this c<strong>on</strong>ference from the outset and The<br />
Rockefeller Foundati<strong>on</strong>'s support made it possible for participants to come<br />
from all over the world.<br />
Raym<strong>on</strong>d Learsy, Agnes Gund, and The Stanley and<br />
Madalyn Rosen Fund made c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong>s at a crucial moment in the c<strong>on</strong>ference<br />
planning and we are most grateful for their visi<strong>on</strong> and generosity. The United<br />
States Informati<strong>on</strong> Agency provided travel subsidy for several of the<br />
participants from Africa. Fiat made possible a recepti<strong>on</strong> and private viewing<br />
of "Andy Warhol: A retrospective" at The Palazzo Grassi.
The c<strong>on</strong>ference was c<strong>on</strong>ceptualized and coordinated by <strong>Mary</strong> <strong>Jane</strong> <strong>Jacob</strong> who<br />
brilliantly identified the participants, named the issues and c<strong>on</strong>ceived the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ference format.<br />
The staff of the Peggy Guggenheim Collecti<strong>on</strong> in Venice,<br />
especially Renata Rossani and its Director, Philip Rylands were indispensable<br />
supporters.<br />
The Cini Foundati<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> San Giorgio Maggiore and Venice itself<br />
were an inspirati<strong>on</strong>al and unparalleled setting for an internati<strong>on</strong>al meeting.<br />
Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al, which administers The Fund for U.S. Artists at<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al Festivals and Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, undertook the organizati<strong>on</strong> of this<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ference with the encouragement of the Fund's partners--The Nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Endowment for the Arts, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Rockefeller Foundati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
and The United States Informati<strong>on</strong> Agency.<br />
The Fund was established to help<br />
assure that the excellence, diversity, and vitality of the arts in the United<br />
States are represented at internati<strong>on</strong>al events. Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al, a<br />
divisi<strong>on</strong> of the Institute of Internati<strong>on</strong>al Educati<strong>on</strong>, encourages internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
collaborati<strong>on</strong> in all the arts through programs of grants, advocacy, exchange<br />
and informati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The Instituti<strong>on</strong> of Internati<strong>on</strong>al Educati<strong>on</strong> is the largest<br />
educati<strong>on</strong>al exchange agency in the United States. It manages more than 200<br />
exchange and training programs, involving 158 countries.<br />
Noreen Tomassi, Associate Director of Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al administered<br />
"<str<strong>on</strong>g>Expanding</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>alism</str<strong>on</strong>g>. "<br />
The staff was guided by Sheila McLean, Vice<br />
President for the Arts and Educati<strong>on</strong> of the Institute of Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Educati<strong>on</strong> and by Thomas M=sser, Chairman of Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al' s Advisory<br />
Corrnnittee and the Director Emeritus of the Solom<strong>on</strong> R. Guggenheim Foundati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Finally, it is our hope that "<str<strong>on</strong>g>Expanding</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>alism</str<strong>on</strong>g>" will not end<br />
with the c<strong>on</strong>ference in Venice or with this report, being distributed now <strong>on</strong>ly<br />
to its participants and supporters. Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al is seeking support for<br />
-2 -
the printing 1<br />
publicati<strong>on</strong> and wider distributi<strong>on</strong> of this report. We hope to<br />
encourage the establishment of permanent networks am<strong>on</strong>g curators; to arrange<br />
regi<strong>on</strong>al meetings that c<strong>on</strong>tinue to address these critical issues; and to<br />
encourage and sustain dialogue which may result in meaningful collaborati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
and exchanges.<br />
<strong>Jane</strong> M. Gull<strong>on</strong>g<br />
Director 1 Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
-3 -
-4 -
INTRODUCTION<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s have gained vitality and taken <strong>on</strong> a new<br />
irrportance in the field over the past decade.<br />
Their frequency, scale,<br />
attendance, costs, and press coverage have all escalated; they now play a<br />
central role in the exhibiting, making, and distributi<strong>on</strong> of c<strong>on</strong>temporary<br />
art. At the same time, we have also become more aware of aesthetic and<br />
cultural issues that can no l<strong>on</strong>ger be c<strong>on</strong>tained within the definiti<strong>on</strong>s of<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>al boundaries nor identified with a single type of artist today.<br />
Now after a series of critically and commercially influential<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s in the 1980s, and in light of events of the<br />
recent past that have reshaped political, ec<strong>on</strong>omic, and cultural<br />
boundaries around the world, it seemed particularly timely to take up the<br />
subject of internati<strong>on</strong>al forums and look at them from today's changed<br />
perspective as it reflects a new era of internati<strong>on</strong>alism. Venice, the<br />
site of the l<strong>on</strong>gest running internati<strong>on</strong>al show and occasi<strong>on</strong> for the<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al art world to gather, was an especially appropriate place and<br />
moment for this meeting.<br />
The impetus for this c<strong>on</strong>ference carne in 1989 from the museum and<br />
arts professi<strong>on</strong>als serving <strong>on</strong> the Federal Advisory Committee <strong>on</strong><br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s who expressed a feeling of isolati<strong>on</strong> and lack of<br />
dialogue with their colleagues worldwide.<br />
Knowledge of major periodic<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al shows bey<strong>on</strong>d the biennials of Venice, S~o Paulo, and Sydney;<br />
Gennany' s "Documenta; " and the U.S. ' s "Carnegie Internati<strong>on</strong>al" is scant<br />
and their irrpact is greatly diminished.<br />
From a wide range of sources,<br />
recommendati<strong>on</strong>s of possible participants were received.<br />
The delegates<br />
-5 -
invited were those who play an active role in the criticism or<br />
presentati<strong>on</strong> of c<strong>on</strong>temporary art in their countries and who have special<br />
interest in internati<strong>on</strong>al exchange.<br />
An attempt was made to represent<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>s from around the world defined as the following six areas: Africa,<br />
Asia/Pacific, Eastern Europe/Middle East, Latin America, North America,<br />
and Western Europe.<br />
A balance was achieved as far as possible within the<br />
budgetary limitati<strong>on</strong>s of both organizers and participants, and given the<br />
logistics of worldwide communicati<strong>on</strong> and pers<strong>on</strong>al factors of<br />
availability. This meeting was intended to be a working sessi<strong>on</strong> limited<br />
to about 50 pers<strong>on</strong>s. From an initial mailing of 100 names in 50<br />
countries, 56 individuals attended, coming to Venice from 29 countries: 4<br />
from 4 African nati<strong>on</strong>s, 6 from 4 Asian/Pacific countries, 7 from 4 Eastern<br />
Europe/Middle Eastern countries, 7 from 6 Latin American countries, 19<br />
from 3 North American nati<strong>on</strong>s, and 13 from 8 Western European countries.<br />
To have a meaningful dialogue--<strong>on</strong>e in whiCh all participants could<br />
take an active part--the c<strong>on</strong>ference centered around five roundtable<br />
discussi<strong>on</strong> groups eaCh composed of ten participants led by a moderator.<br />
Being able to talk directly to eaCh other was essential for grappling with<br />
the philosophical and practical problems facing us today in presenting art<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>ally and to come to an understanding of what others--and<br />
ourselves--mean by the terra "internati<strong>on</strong>al art."<br />
The c<strong>on</strong>ference opened with keynote speeChes by two distinguished<br />
critical thinkers in the field of internati<strong>on</strong>al art. Their talks are<br />
reprinted in full in this report. Homi Bhabha, a professor in comparative<br />
literature and literary theory who has become a spokesman for a new field<br />
of critical thought in the visual art, has brought aspects of his<br />
-6-
discipline of training to the theoretical inquiry of the arts. In his<br />
talk, "Simultaneous Translati<strong>on</strong>: Modernity and the Inter/Nati<strong>on</strong>al," he<br />
advocated a change from a binary system of internati<strong>on</strong>al relati<strong>on</strong>ships<br />
(e.g., us and them, self and other) that implies "social destiny of<br />
difference" and defines cultural universalism, simultaneously translating<br />
cultures in terms of each other, sanitizing cultural difference between<br />
foreign cultures, homogenizing them, and placing them within a hierarchy<br />
of major and minor, or marginal cultures. He showed how modernity, a<br />
Euro-centric noti<strong>on</strong>, can <strong>on</strong>ly be insured in a culturally homogeneous<br />
climate such as that of Western nati<strong>on</strong>-states, which itself demands a<br />
binary logic of inside/outside, traditi<strong>on</strong>/progress, and so <strong>on</strong>.<br />
Emanating<br />
from a col<strong>on</strong>ial perspective, modernity appropriates the "Other" to<br />
establish cultural prerogative and superiority. Bhabha asked for a<br />
rethinking of the language of cultural corrmunity from a post-col<strong>on</strong>ial<br />
point of view that would allow for complex cultural and political<br />
boundaries, and a hybridizati<strong>on</strong> of cultural influence.<br />
The next speaker, Guy Brett, a L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>-based critic who has organized<br />
several exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s of Latin American artists as well as published <strong>on</strong> both<br />
avantgarde and vernacular art, spoke directly to the group in their role<br />
as exhibiti<strong>on</strong> organizers, asking them in his talk "The Verb Curate" to<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sider a show's c<strong>on</strong>text as a major curatorial resp<strong>on</strong>sibility. He began<br />
with the premise that the familiar format of biennials is inadequate, and<br />
even that of ":M3giciens de la Terre" (Centre Georges Pompidou, 1989) ,<br />
which departed from previous models, still polarized work by showing it<br />
according to "us and them" lines. Brett suggests that efforts for greater<br />
"internati<strong>on</strong>al representati<strong>on</strong>" in so-called internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s are<br />
-7 -
meaningless without fresh thinking of the c<strong>on</strong>cept of art and the models<br />
used for these exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. He pointed to artists who have stretched<br />
limits and brought about new genres as a model for how curators can expand<br />
the idea of internati<strong>on</strong>alism. To Brett, what is needed now is not just an<br />
extensi<strong>on</strong> of the existing system to include others, but a redefiniti<strong>on</strong> of<br />
the system and alterati<strong>on</strong> of the assumpti<strong>on</strong>s up<strong>on</strong> which it has been<br />
traditi<strong>on</strong>ally based.<br />
In additi<strong>on</strong> to these two lectures, a series of positi<strong>on</strong> papers were<br />
distributed to serve as the basis for the next day' s roundtables.<br />
These<br />
commissi<strong>on</strong>ed statements by selected participants from the six defined<br />
regi<strong>on</strong>s of the world are all reprinted here.<br />
In these, their authors<br />
addressed:<br />
how they define "internati<strong>on</strong>al" geographically and<br />
philosophically; if they believe that work from diverse nati<strong>on</strong>s can be<br />
presented in the same exhibiti<strong>on</strong>; whether they find traditi<strong>on</strong>al biennales<br />
to still be a viable format for exchange today; how internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s functi<strong>on</strong> for their country; and what they think are the<br />
pressing challenges that lie ahead.<br />
On the sec<strong>on</strong>d day of the meeting, participants reported to the<br />
roundtable to which they had been assigned.<br />
Broadly speaking, the topics<br />
were defined as: Imllticulturalism, the other, the host country,<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s today, and new· forums.<br />
"Mllticulturalism" was<br />
led by Kinshasha Holman C<strong>on</strong>will, Executive Director of The Studio Mlseum<br />
in Harlem, New York.<br />
This group investigated how a Im.llticultural point of<br />
view can affect the organizati<strong>on</strong> of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s; whether<br />
this work can be selected according to the same aesthetic criteria used to<br />
assess mainstream art, and whether this work should be joined in the same<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong> with mainstream works, in other words, in what c<strong>on</strong>text should<br />
this work be viewed.<br />
-8 -
Catherine David, Curator at the Jeu de Paume, Paris, led the sessi<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong><br />
"The Other" which looked at how we represent the art of other cultures and<br />
how we represent ourselves to others in internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. As we<br />
increasingly observe c<strong>on</strong>fr<strong>on</strong>tati<strong>on</strong> between the dominant and those of<br />
others, it is necessary to c<strong>on</strong>sider what c<strong>on</strong>text is appropriate, or even<br />
possible, for showing the work of diverse cultures. Are we seeking to<br />
achieve a balance of cultural diversity or to shed light <strong>on</strong> cultural<br />
difference by expanding the scope of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s How do<br />
anthropological or social points of view based <strong>on</strong> a col<strong>on</strong>ial perspective<br />
intervene in the presentati<strong>on</strong> of this work, and how can they be changed.<br />
How internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s can be made more effective for the<br />
host country, particularly when they are located outside major Western<br />
centers, was the theme of the roundtable led by Paulo Herkenhoff, curator<br />
of the M.lseu de Arte de sao Paulo I<br />
Brazil. Locati<strong>on</strong> can effect a show' s<br />
focus, interpretati<strong>on</strong>, and recepti<strong>on</strong>. How the individual participant's<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerns were shaped by their country of residency became evident in<br />
exploring whether such exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s should resp<strong>on</strong>d to local needs for<br />
exposure to c<strong>on</strong>tercporary art, or be intended for the internati<strong>on</strong>al art<br />
community.<br />
It was pointed out that the lack of press and inf<strong>on</strong>nati<strong>on</strong><br />
systems, and the weak patr<strong>on</strong>age or gallery system in some parts of the<br />
world affect how these shows are represented and received<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>ally. Also discussed was how artists and instituti<strong>on</strong>s in the<br />
host country can be more actively engaged in the internati<strong>on</strong>al show, and<br />
how these shows can be used as an occasi<strong>on</strong> to educate the local<br />
c<strong>on</strong>stituency.<br />
-9-
Lynn Gumpert, an independent curator based in New York, moderated<br />
the discussi<strong>on</strong> group dealing with the c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> of internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s to today' s c<strong>on</strong>terrporary art scene.<br />
The c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong><br />
inevitably led to c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong>s of how the prevailing mainstream and the<br />
marketplace affect the c<strong>on</strong>tent of these shows and whether they are best<br />
seen as forums to expose new art; or to give recogniti<strong>on</strong> to those artists<br />
who have reached a certain level of achievement; or to deal with topical<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerns.<br />
In additi<strong>on</strong>, the format for internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s best<br />
suited to displaying today's art--the blockbuster, smaller focused,<br />
thematic shows, or shows of individual artists--was debated.<br />
Throughout<br />
the discussi<strong>on</strong> it was necessary to keep returning to the questi<strong>on</strong>: who is<br />
the audience for these exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
"New Forums" was the subject of the roundtable led by Washingt<strong>on</strong>,<br />
D.C. -based independent curator Milena Kalinovska.<br />
This group looked at<br />
how new models and sites might help to address the need for an expanded<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>alism, or could changes be achieved through curatorial<br />
leadership, for instance, by increasing the participati<strong>on</strong> of n<strong>on</strong>-Western<br />
curators. Government agencies have played a key role up till now in<br />
defining the character of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s; the group discussed<br />
how this could be changed, as well as what are the viable exhibiti<strong>on</strong><br />
formats that can be alternatives to that of nati<strong>on</strong>al divisi<strong>on</strong>s as<br />
exemplified by the Venice pavili<strong>on</strong>s; and who should organize internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
shows--should they be selected by <strong>on</strong>e curator, a committee, local or<br />
foreign pers<strong>on</strong>s It was found that in rec<strong>on</strong>sidering the internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
scene, there is a pr<strong>on</strong>ounced need for new exhibiti<strong>on</strong> sites around the<br />
-10-
world through which change can be implemented.<br />
If instituted, how could<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong> sites outside the West be promoted to a primary rather than<br />
sec<strong>on</strong>dary status<br />
An outline of the proceedings of these roundtable discussi<strong>on</strong>s was<br />
presented by the moderators in a plenary sessi<strong>on</strong> immediately following.<br />
Their summaries are also c<strong>on</strong>tained ir1 this publicati<strong>on</strong>. From these it was<br />
clear that each roundtable touched <strong>on</strong> many of the same issues, though<br />
approached them from different perspectives. General themes of inequity<br />
within the art system and imbalance of nati<strong>on</strong>s as represented in the art<br />
world was frequently voiced.<br />
The traditi<strong>on</strong>al Western-based program was<br />
c<strong>on</strong>stantly questi<strong>on</strong>ed.<br />
Over and over the need for new types of<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s and exchanges was expressed, al<strong>on</strong>g with the need<br />
for a new terminology to deal with these issues and c<strong>on</strong>cepts. And in this<br />
dialogue more voices from the n<strong>on</strong>-Western world, it was evident, are<br />
needed and will hopefully be heard in future c<strong>on</strong>ferences.<br />
Though seemingly coming from differing points of view and, in fact,<br />
from different parts of the world, many participants surprisingly found<br />
that their interests coincided and that they faced the same problems in<br />
bringing about change.<br />
This b<strong>on</strong>d, in part, was due to a growing<br />
c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong> and communicati<strong>on</strong> between art professi<strong>on</strong>als around the world.<br />
Each delegate, too, in being selected with same criteria in mind, shared<br />
some comm<strong>on</strong> experience and attitudes that allowed for ready discussi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
For the most part they represented a generati<strong>on</strong> seeking to change the<br />
status quo.<br />
-11-
Immediate results from this meeting were seen even before its<br />
closing: new associati<strong>on</strong>s and networks were built as newly introduced<br />
colleagues spoke about future plans and projects. In the resp<strong>on</strong>ses<br />
received after the event many spoke regrettably that the time was too<br />
short to get to know each other and to talk. The program for this<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ference, with its far reaching and general topics, was too broad to<br />
cover all subjects thoroughly, but it revealed a future agenda.<br />
And this<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ference c<strong>on</strong>ceived as a starting point will hopefully be but <strong>on</strong>e<br />
c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong> in a c<strong>on</strong>tinuing dialogue.<br />
Perhaps moving <strong>on</strong> in other<br />
directi<strong>on</strong>s, subsequent meetings may bring more artists into the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong>; c<strong>on</strong>tinue the successful roundtable format while focusing <strong>on</strong><br />
more specific topics or those germane to the c<strong>on</strong>ference site; may become a<br />
forum for visual, as well as verbal, exchange of informati<strong>on</strong>; make<br />
recommendati<strong>on</strong>s for acti<strong>on</strong>. For now, this c<strong>on</strong>ference, however, has served<br />
to move us al<strong>on</strong>g in our collective and individual rethinking of<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>alism, cultural c<strong>on</strong>text, and c<strong>on</strong>terrporary art.<br />
<strong>Mary</strong> <strong>Jane</strong> <strong>Jacob</strong><br />
Independent Curator<br />
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OPENING REMARKS AT THE PLENARY SESSION<br />
Sheila Avrin MCLean<br />
Vice President, Arts and Educati<strong>on</strong><br />
Institute of Internati<strong>on</strong>al Educati<strong>on</strong><br />
On behalf of the Institute of Internati<strong>on</strong>al Educati<strong>on</strong> and Arts<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al, I am pleased to welcome you to this c<strong>on</strong>ference.<br />
We are<br />
delighted to have gathered such a distinguished group--50 participants from 32<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>s--to discuss the irrportant subject of this meeting: the changing nature<br />
of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
I would like to take a few moments before addressing the specific goals of<br />
this c<strong>on</strong>ference to familiarize you with the work of IIE and of its Arts<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al program.<br />
The Institute of Internati<strong>on</strong>al Educati<strong>on</strong> has been in existence for over 70<br />
years.<br />
It was founded so<strong>on</strong> after the First World War by a group of prominent<br />
U.S. internati<strong>on</strong>alists who believed that lasting peace depended up<strong>on</strong> greater<br />
understanding am<strong>on</strong>g nati<strong>on</strong>s and that such understanding could be increased<br />
through cultural exchange.<br />
The Institute began operati<strong>on</strong>s in 1919 with a<br />
single program.<br />
Today, it has evolved into a diverse organizati<strong>on</strong> that<br />
administers over 250 programs involving nearly 10,000 individuals in over 150<br />
countries. We currently have staff in six U.S. cities and in H<strong>on</strong>g K<strong>on</strong>g,<br />
Ind<strong>on</strong>esia, Thailand, Mexico, Egypt, Sri Lanka, South Zimbabwe and we will so<strong>on</strong><br />
be opening an office in Eastern Europe.<br />
The exchanges managed by IIE are supported by individuals and by a variety<br />
of organizati<strong>on</strong>s, including foundati<strong>on</strong>s, corporati<strong>on</strong>s, the U.S. government,<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al organizati<strong>on</strong>s, and foreign governments.<br />
Certainly our best<br />
-13-
known program is the Fulbright Exchange.<br />
All our activities, however, are<br />
linked together by our fundamental missi<strong>on</strong>:<br />
to encourage the free flow of<br />
ideas and the sharing of intellectual and cultural resources across nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
boundaries.<br />
The Institute's involvement with the arts dates back at least forty years<br />
to 1949 when it brought 22 artists to the United States for summer residencies<br />
and administered the first Fulbright Fellowships in the creative arts. A few<br />
years later, the Institute began management of a visual arts program which<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tinued until 1983, touring exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s in cooperati<strong>on</strong> with the Smiths<strong>on</strong>ian<br />
Traveling Exhibiti<strong>on</strong> Service and the American Federati<strong>on</strong> for the Arts.<br />
The creati<strong>on</strong> of the Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al divisi<strong>on</strong> in 1987 was a result of<br />
our increasing cornnitment to the arts as envoys of society's most inportant<br />
cultural messages.<br />
With the guidance of Thomas Messer, its chairman and<br />
director emeritus of the Guggenheim Foundati<strong>on</strong> and M.lseums, Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
works in a number of ways to enc::ow:-ag€! internati<strong>on</strong>al activities.<br />
First, Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al is manager of the Fund for U.S. Artists at<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al Festivals and Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. This Fund is supported by the<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Inf<strong>on</strong>nati<strong>on</strong> Agency, The Rockefeller<br />
Foundati<strong>on</strong>, and The Pew Charitable Trusts. It provides $1 milli<strong>on</strong> annually to<br />
send U.S. performing artists to internati<strong>on</strong>al festivals and to support u.s.<br />
representati<strong>on</strong> at internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s such as this <strong>on</strong>e in Venice.<br />
This<br />
year, The Fund has provided essential support for the Jenny Holzer<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
N<br />
Last year, it sp<strong>on</strong>sored the Martin Puryear show at the Sao Paolo<br />
Bienal.<br />
-14-
Sec<strong>on</strong>d, Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al also manages a number of other fellowships,<br />
travel grants, internships, and exchange programs, including the prestigious<br />
Cintas Fellowships which provide grants of $10,000 to Cuban expatriate artists<br />
around the world.<br />
Third, within the United States, Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al is a primary<br />
clearinghouse for informati<strong>on</strong> about internati<strong>on</strong>al arts. We maintain data <strong>on</strong><br />
sources of support for internati<strong>on</strong>al arts projects and <strong>on</strong> internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
festivals and exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. We also publish reports and books that provide<br />
informati<strong>on</strong> to U.S. artists interested in working internati<strong>on</strong>ally.<br />
In additi<strong>on</strong> to these activities, Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al has a very serious<br />
advocacy agenda aimed at creating a U.S. policy <strong>on</strong> cultural exchange and<br />
increasing government and private-sector support for internati<strong>on</strong>al work.<br />
Led<br />
by Mr. Messer, Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al's Advisory Committee works toward these<br />
goals in cooperati<strong>on</strong> with prominent nati<strong>on</strong>al leaders from the public and<br />
private $ectors.<br />
Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al also has become, somewhat by accident, a c<strong>on</strong>ference<br />
organizer. From time to time, an issue presents itself to us that we and our<br />
~nsors believe cries out for intelligent analysis and discussi<strong>on</strong> and we find<br />
ourselves c<strong>on</strong>vening a c<strong>on</strong>ference.<br />
This c<strong>on</strong>ference is--as its title suggests--c<strong>on</strong>cerned with expanding and<br />
redefining the structure and goals of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
Traditi<strong>on</strong>ally, internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s have been grouped by nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
definiti<strong>on</strong>. But perhaps the time has come to introduce new models.<br />
As you know, it has become increasingly difficult to label artists<br />
bycountry and we have all become increasingly sensitive to the inherent<br />
hierarchy and cultural biases such a system encourages.<br />
There is a growing<br />
-15-
need to acknowledge the cultural diversity within countries and accept that<br />
cultural c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>s and communities in the late 20th century are no l<strong>on</strong>ger<br />
bound by nati<strong>on</strong>al borders.<br />
In fact, we have experienced--and are in the middle of<br />
experiencing--significant changes in the ways nati<strong>on</strong>s coexist. We trade in<br />
new corrm<strong>on</strong> markets. We share media. ~~e p<strong>on</strong>der shared soluti<strong>on</strong>s to global<br />
dangers--ranging from the envir<strong>on</strong>ment to arms c<strong>on</strong>trol. Remarkably, in the<br />
past year, we seemed to have embraced exchange as the essential means for<br />
growth in the next century. More than ever, we rely <strong>on</strong> arts and culture as a<br />
corrm<strong>on</strong> language to facilitate this exchange, and up<strong>on</strong> nu.1seums as the halls of<br />
cultural diplomacy and curators as cultural diplomats.<br />
IIE is proud to have helped bring together this meeting of curators and<br />
other experts to c<strong>on</strong>sider some of the deeper messages of: whose art is<br />
displayed why and how might choices of exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s be expanded<br />
We are<br />
living in a historic period of transiti<strong>on</strong> of nati<strong>on</strong>s, which co:rrpels us to look<br />
back at history. Almost two centuries ago, in 1798, Friedrich Wilhelm of<br />
Prussia wrote of great paintings:<br />
"Only by making them public and uniting<br />
them in display can they become the object of true study, and every result<br />
obtained from this is a new gain for the corrm<strong>on</strong> good of mankind."<br />
This c<strong>on</strong>ference is intended to engage those already working in the field<br />
of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. There can be no more irrportant or timely<br />
subject than how such exhbiti<strong>on</strong>s can, in Friedrich Wilhelm's language, "result<br />
in new gains for the corrm<strong>on</strong> good of mankind."<br />
This c<strong>on</strong>ference has been<br />
structured to create dialogue am<strong>on</strong>g a small number of participants<br />
representing every part of the globe. We hope that it will engender new<br />
-16-
alliances am<strong>on</strong>g individuals from diverse cultures and ultimately challenge the<br />
way in which internati<strong>on</strong>al shows have been c<strong>on</strong>ceived.<br />
Most important, we hope<br />
it will offer practical suggesti<strong>on</strong>s for the future and act as a catalyst for<br />
change.<br />
I would like to thank the Rockefeller Foundati<strong>on</strong> for their support of this<br />
gathering and their c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> to travel stipends.<br />
They have made this a<br />
far more inclusive gathering than would otherwise have been possible.<br />
I would<br />
also like to thank three private d<strong>on</strong>ors--Raym<strong>on</strong>d Learsy, Agnes Gund, and<br />
Madalyn Rosen--for their generous c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
Our thanks also to the F<strong>on</strong>dazi<strong>on</strong>e Giorgio Cini for sharing this beautiful<br />
setting with us.<br />
And I thank all of you for joining us and for bringing your ideas and<br />
experience to bear <strong>on</strong> these vitally important issues.<br />
-17-
-18-
-19-
-20-
SIMULTANEOUS TRAN"SIATION: :MJDERNITY AND THE INTER-NATIONAL<br />
Homi K. Bhabha<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al events exude an aura of the "comm<strong>on</strong> good" in their<br />
attempts to forge a comm<strong>on</strong> language in which to c<strong>on</strong>tinue the cultural<br />
c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong>s of mankind.<br />
Despite the asymmetrical relati<strong>on</strong>s of<br />
geopolitical power, and the appropriati<strong>on</strong> or annihilati<strong>on</strong> of sites of<br />
cultural otherness, we seek a kind of redemptive, representative<br />
comm<strong>on</strong>ality.<br />
And we seek it in a world that is <strong>on</strong>ly as brave as the<br />
aftermath of AIDS, Chernobyl, and Bhopal allows us to be;<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly as new as<br />
the 'new' freedoms of Eastern Europe which bring in their wake the<br />
spectres of racism, nee-fascism.<br />
If ours is no l<strong>on</strong>ger a brave new world,<br />
there is n<strong>on</strong>e-the-less a horiz<strong>on</strong> of hope that haunts internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
events: the hope for a comm<strong>on</strong> language of corrparis<strong>on</strong>, c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>,<br />
collaborati<strong>on</strong> and communicati<strong>on</strong>;<br />
the possibility of a kind of<br />
"simultaneous translati<strong>on</strong>" of cultural traditi<strong>on</strong>s, aesthetic strategies<br />
and political priorities.<br />
We seek to represent their historical time in our space;<br />
to<br />
synchr<strong>on</strong>ise our signs and sciences with their knowledges and noti<strong>on</strong>s; to<br />
simultaneously place our tribes and traditi<strong>on</strong>s beside their myths and<br />
mentalities; to reflect their identities in our mirrors and somehow,<br />
ir<strong>on</strong>ically, attempt to look at ourselves in another's glass darkly.<br />
Ours<br />
and theirs determine various social relati<strong>on</strong>s: the socio-political<br />
distance between North and South, the class divisi<strong>on</strong>s of Them and Us, the<br />
cultural marginalisati<strong>on</strong>s irrplicit in Self and other, the discriminati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
of race and sexuality represented as the "normal" and the "perverse."<br />
-21-
In the "internati<strong>on</strong>al" mode -- if I may call it that -- we seek to<br />
simultaneously translate such polarities in terms of each other,<br />
registering the social destiny of difference -- sometimes tragic,<br />
sometimes empowering -- in order to transcend them in a for:m of cultural<br />
universalism, sometimes called the "global village," sometime, the<br />
"internati<strong>on</strong>al community."<br />
It is as if the main technological innovati<strong>on</strong><br />
that makes possible an internati<strong>on</strong>al discourse -- simultaneous translati<strong>on</strong><br />
-- becomes cultural differences. But culture does not live by metaphor<br />
al<strong>on</strong>e!<br />
The "market" is equally implicated in the simultaneous translati<strong>on</strong><br />
of the "symbolic capital" of art-works into the values of the<br />
stock-exchange even if the language of possessi<strong>on</strong>/acquisiti<strong>on</strong> is couched<br />
in the mixed metaphors of patr<strong>on</strong>age, patriarchalism and patriotism: Who<br />
can forget Alan B<strong>on</strong>d's attempt to make a thousand flowers bloom by buying<br />
the Van Gogh Irises, "for Australia." Van Gogh's ghost went crying all<br />
the way to the bank!<br />
The crucial questi<strong>on</strong> is whether the universalism, that is often<br />
inherent in the expansive, empathetic impulse to "simultaneously<br />
translate" cultures, can provide us with the critical space appropriate to<br />
the c<strong>on</strong>tradictory and hybrid cultural identities that distinguish the<br />
histories of nati<strong>on</strong>s toward the end of our century.<br />
The "global issue"<br />
may blur the "localness" of the nati<strong>on</strong>al locati<strong>on</strong>, but as <strong>on</strong>e artist<br />
recently testified: "We are pushed to understand our work in a more<br />
universal c<strong>on</strong>text ... [although] I know that when I say "universal" that<br />
c<strong>on</strong>text is defined by Western culture." Should our search for an<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al, liberal "comn<strong>on</strong> ground" be replaced by our attenti<strong>on</strong> to the<br />
more problematic, more liminal sense of a shifting, multivalent<br />
-22-
"borderline" between and within nati<strong>on</strong>al comrmmities<br />
How do we negotiate<br />
those c<strong>on</strong>tentious borderline histories that are expressed in the<br />
hyphenated, articulated peoples of our times - diasporic, refugee,<br />
migrant, exilic: African-American, Latino-Chicano, Afro-Caribbean,<br />
Sri-Lankan Tamil, Aboriginal-Australian, Indo-Kashmiri, Turkish<br />
gastarbeiter, New Yurican<br />
The cornn<strong>on</strong> coin of cultural exchange in modem societies, at the<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al level, is still the nati<strong>on</strong>al community and the nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
culture, even though their representati<strong>on</strong>s may be more complex.<br />
In the<br />
current climate it is difficult to think of the politics of cultural<br />
identity outside the nati<strong>on</strong>al questi<strong>on</strong>. We celebrate the blossoming of<br />
the "Prague spring" in the Winter of 1989 for much of Eastern Europe;<br />
we<br />
are painfully and quite properly reminded of the need for nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
self-determinati<strong>on</strong> in South Africa and Palestine; we rightly deplore the<br />
violati<strong>on</strong>s of nati<strong>on</strong>al aut<strong>on</strong>omy in the Carribean, now that it is<br />
increasingly seen as the "backyard of the United States of America." We<br />
have no opti<strong>on</strong> but to agree with Edward Said that "You want the right to<br />
represent yourself, to have your own ethos and ethnos; "<br />
but then his<br />
qualificati<strong>on</strong> must be our urgent task:<br />
"unless ... linked ... to a wider<br />
practice which I would call liberati<strong>on</strong>, bey<strong>on</strong>d nati<strong>on</strong>al liberati<strong>on</strong> ... it<br />
seems to me a violently dangerous and awful trap. "<br />
Our visi<strong>on</strong> must extend bey<strong>on</strong>d the two familiar, if opposed,<br />
positi<strong>on</strong>s that determine the terms of "internati<strong>on</strong>al" discourse. We<br />
cannot place ourselves in that Archimedian space of neutrality between<br />
"world cultures," in a kind of mus~ imaginaire;<br />
nor can we espouse the<br />
nativist perspective that speaks assertively, <strong>on</strong> the basis of its own<br />
-23-
"authentic," pure cultural particularism. Neither of these positi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
takes us into that wider practice of liberati<strong>on</strong> because they do not<br />
interrogate and displace the underlying myth of modernity that fuels the<br />
universalist tendency of this questi<strong>on</strong>able "internati<strong>on</strong>alism. "<br />
And this<br />
strategy to appropriate and sanitize "cultural difference, " in the name of<br />
the universal, is not <strong>on</strong>ly relevant to the representati<strong>on</strong> of other<br />
"foreign" cultures -- of the Orient by the Occident -- it is equally<br />
crucial to the heirarchical and homogeneous representati<strong>on</strong> of the<br />
"otherness" of minority or marginal cultures within the indigenous or<br />
native "locati<strong>on</strong>," d<strong>on</strong>e in the name of the nati<strong>on</strong>al and internati<strong>on</strong>al,<br />
both in the East and the West.<br />
For despite the multinati<strong>on</strong>al movements of capital, the<br />
transnati<strong>on</strong>al telecommunicati<strong>on</strong>s networks, the internati<strong>on</strong>al language of<br />
the Coca-cola sign, and ethnographic surrealism of Warhol's Marilyn <strong>on</strong> a<br />
calcutta billboard, advertising P<strong>on</strong>ds's, appropriately named, Vanishing<br />
Cream -- despite these simulcral citati<strong>on</strong>s that some jejune postrnodernists<br />
celbrate as making new, carnivalesque c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>s in time and space, I<br />
agree more with the Chilean-New York artist Alfredo Jaar that, although<br />
there is a growing referencing and cross-referencing of diverse cultural<br />
locati<strong>on</strong>s and practices, in some essential ways "the boundaries between<br />
'here' and 'there' are str<strong>on</strong>ger than ever. Racial tensi<strong>on</strong>s are<br />
increasing, immigrati<strong>on</strong> laws are becoming more restrictive ... So the way<br />
from there to her from the n<strong>on</strong>-West to the West is closed, although it is<br />
an open road from here to there ... we send them our garbage, our pois<strong>on</strong>s."<br />
The cultural traffic from here to there is powered at the<br />
idealogical level by the Eurocentric noti<strong>on</strong> that it is the cultural<br />
-24-
homogeneity achieved by "nati<strong>on</strong>al" societies <strong>on</strong> the Western model, that<br />
ensures the emergence of the "civilizing" values of modernity.<br />
When I<br />
talk of "modernity" I am referring primarily to that set of cultural ideas<br />
and values associated with post-enlightenment Western thinking: the<br />
ethics of individualism, the linear narratives of historicism, the<br />
homogeneity of the social, the sovereignity of the "rati<strong>on</strong>al." These<br />
values have a paradoxical existence in those cultural can<strong>on</strong>s that we<br />
identify with the movements of modernism;<br />
reproducing them at the<br />
ideological level while challenging them in the act of formal innovati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
But such paradoxes are permissible because modernity, whose matrix is the<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>-space, enables cultural value to be framed in what Walter Benjamin<br />
called a "homogeneous empty time."<br />
It is a fo:rm of cultural-time that allows the "simultaneous<br />
translati<strong>on</strong>" of traditi<strong>on</strong>s and peoples, so l<strong>on</strong>g as forms of alterity,<br />
minority voices, marginal and transgressive styles of life and art, can be<br />
ordered and represented in terms of a binary logic of inside/outside,<br />
traditi<strong>on</strong>/progress, custom/culture, ritual/writing. The homogeneous empty<br />
time of modernity needs to move bey<strong>on</strong>d its "ethnos and ethos," to cite,<br />
quote, fetishise, appropriate the "Other" in order to authorise and<br />
establish its cultural prerogative.<br />
If this is not d<strong>on</strong>e explicitly in the<br />
name of the nati<strong>on</strong> -- for instance, The Nati<strong>on</strong>al Gallery -- it is d<strong>on</strong>e in<br />
the name of the metropolis -- The M=tropolitan M.lseum of Modern Art. Can<br />
the "universal" claims of globality or the metropolitan values of the<br />
museum articulate or exhibit n<strong>on</strong>-appropriative, n<strong>on</strong>-marginalising<br />
significati<strong>on</strong>s of cultural difference What are the possibilities of such<br />
representati<strong>on</strong>s given the "homogeneous empty time-frame" that provides the<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>al and internati<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s of "modernity"<br />
-25-
Too often the argument takes a moralistic turn: c<strong>on</strong>demnati<strong>on</strong>s of<br />
African masks in the work of Picasso, or T.S. Eliot's Vedantic chants of<br />
"Shanti! Shanti! Shanti!" like a doped-out sadhu at the end of The Waste<br />
Land. At other times, as in the Hayward show "The Other Story," in 1989,<br />
there was a far-reaching, collective critique of the paradoxical<br />
ethnocentricity of the citadels of modernity.<br />
Abstract and c<strong>on</strong>ceptual artists, many of whom emigrated from the<br />
fo:r:mer col<strong>on</strong>ies to L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> in the '50s because their radical faith in<br />
modernism had helped them to questi<strong>on</strong> the traditi<strong>on</strong>alist precepts of their<br />
societies (often reinforced by col<strong>on</strong>ialist orientalisms), found themselves<br />
barred from the internati<strong>on</strong>al movement of modernism.<br />
Their abstracti<strong>on</strong><br />
was derivative; their c<strong>on</strong>cepts sec<strong>on</strong>d-hand;<br />
they somehow lacked the<br />
shock of the new.<br />
Unable to accept the show's historical interventi<strong>on</strong><br />
into the ethnocentricity of art instituti<strong>on</strong>s, critics repeated precisely<br />
what they had said decades before: these were pale shadows of greater<br />
precursors and anyway it was all rather dated now.<br />
We quickly learned the<br />
living credo of cosmopolitanism:<br />
Talk Global, exhibit local:<br />
L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> ... New York ... Paris ... Berlin ...<br />
M:>dernity and modernism pride themselves <strong>on</strong> their ability to<br />
simultaneously translate various axial planes, different languages verbal<br />
and visual, multicultural voices and visi<strong>on</strong>s. All this, so l<strong>on</strong>g as its<br />
fragmentati<strong>on</strong>s silently follow the symmetry of that binary ordering at the<br />
point at which texts of cultural difference are articulated. A plurality<br />
of meanings are reproduced in the gaps, in the disturbance of surface<br />
sense and sensibility. Pluralism and relativism are fine so l<strong>on</strong>g as the<br />
irrplicit teleology, and the modernist-nati<strong>on</strong>al history of the "homogeneous<br />
empty time-frame" is preserved as the tabula rasa of cultural<br />
inscripti<strong>on</strong>: the nati<strong>on</strong>-space, the gallery-space, the canvas, the page.<br />
-26-
In many instances, despite the invocati<strong>on</strong> of the postrnodern, citati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
assemblage and bricolage, this fundamental pluralism and relativism that<br />
assumes a homogenity of time-frame has not been substantially<br />
transformed.<br />
Indeed, it is Richard Rorty, the much celebrated<br />
Anglo-American "postrnodern" philosopher of pluralism and pragmatics who<br />
writes in his latest work that Western societies have already had all the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ceptual revoluti<strong>on</strong>s they need in the work of John Stuart Mill. Whose<br />
modernity What internati<strong>on</strong>alism<br />
Now what I have described as the binary ordering, that produces a<br />
"modernist" teleology at the point of the articulati<strong>on</strong> of cultural<br />
difference, is the specific critical issue in a number of current debates<br />
<strong>on</strong> the representati<strong>on</strong> of the cultural Other.<br />
Thomas MCEvilley took issue<br />
with the "Primitivism in the 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and<br />
the Modern" show at The M.lseum of Modern Art, New York, in 1984 precisely<br />
<strong>on</strong> the grounds of its juxtapositi<strong>on</strong> of the Modem and the "primitive;"<br />
critics of "Magiciens de La Terre," c<strong>on</strong>tested the juxtapositi<strong>on</strong> of<br />
postrnodem c<strong>on</strong>ceptual Western artists with more traditi<strong>on</strong>al, even "folk"<br />
f<strong>on</strong>ns from the Third World which, they claimed, produced (rather than<br />
critically reflected) an ideology of "uneven and unequal development."<br />
In his "The Multicultural Paradigm: An open letter to the Nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Arts Community" published in High Perf<strong>on</strong>nance in Fall 1989 (see also<br />
"Positi<strong>on</strong> Papers"), Gomez-Pena also proposes a practice of cultural<br />
juxtapositi<strong>on</strong> across the c<strong>on</strong>cept of borderline cultures where "to be<br />
avant-garde in the late '80s is to c<strong>on</strong>tribute to the decentralizati<strong>on</strong> of<br />
art ... to be able to cross the border back and forth between art and<br />
politically charged territory .... "<br />
The inpulse to dialogue is to<br />
-27-
dialecticize the asymmetrical relati<strong>on</strong>s between North and South.<br />
Juxtapositi<strong>on</strong> is a multi valent term:<br />
it refers to philosophical issues<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerned with forms of dialectical or "doubling" in the articulati<strong>on</strong> of<br />
cultural c<strong>on</strong>tradicti<strong>on</strong> and heterogeneity;<br />
it relates to the making of<br />
meaning through the mediati<strong>on</strong> of image, metaphor, symbolic and linguistic<br />
difference;<br />
it is relevant to the punctuati<strong>on</strong> of the gallery space with<br />
artworks, juxtaposing text and image, objects, multi-media, orality and<br />
visuality, positi<strong>on</strong>ing the spectator;<br />
locating the gaze in the movement<br />
through the te:rrporality of the musemn.<br />
Mc:Evilley' s influential critique -- which objects, in my terms, to<br />
the simultaneous translati<strong>on</strong> of cultural difference -- opens up a debate<br />
both from the critical-theoretical perspective and for the curatorial<br />
functi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
I shall <strong>on</strong>ly deal with two issues.<br />
First, in objecting to "elective affinities" in the juxtapositi<strong>on</strong> of<br />
modernist and primitive works, Mc:Evilley suggests that the social<br />
intenti<strong>on</strong>ality and cultural histories of tribal image makers are repressed<br />
in attributing this or that Western aesthetic to them.<br />
He suggests a form<br />
of aut<strong>on</strong>omy and separatism -- "the fact that the tribal objects were not<br />
shown entirely in their own separate area, that was my point." Sec<strong>on</strong>dly,<br />
he says, "I want the objects written about without attributing our motives<br />
to their makers.<br />
I want writing and exhibiting that are as clean as<br />
possible of ego-projecti<strong>on</strong>s." I will now discuss these issues because<br />
they are res<strong>on</strong>ant and representative problematics wherever<br />
multiculturalism and the Other are in questi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The strategic, political importance of McEvilley' s positi<strong>on</strong> cannot<br />
be overemphasised, nor the importance of his critique of that particular<br />
-28-
show. C<strong>on</strong>ceptually it is more problematic. In restoring an aut<strong>on</strong>omous<br />
c<strong>on</strong>text for tribal works, doesn't his separatism itself -- which is<br />
polemically pitted against similitude -- suggest a kind of homogenous<br />
time-frame that is part of the peculiar western ideology of nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
cultures Does the "separati<strong>on</strong>" not reproduce another form of the binary<br />
ordering that I've argued against In the "separati<strong>on</strong>" is there not the<br />
shadow of the atomizati<strong>on</strong> of cultural experience that follows the<br />
particular western divisi<strong>on</strong> of the private and the public -- the socially<br />
effective and the psychically, sensuously effective -- even while he is<br />
asserting that tribal objects would be better compared with utilitarian<br />
objects rather than objects d'art.<br />
MCEvilley is right to questi<strong>on</strong> that specific juxtapositi<strong>on</strong> of<br />
objects, but by demanding a separate space he doesn't questi<strong>on</strong> the<br />
"homogeneous empty time" that frames both the c<strong>on</strong>noiseurship he c<strong>on</strong>demns<br />
and, ir<strong>on</strong>ically, his own espousal of cultural pluralism and his<br />
problematic ethnographic desire for a problematic transparency in the<br />
reproducti<strong>on</strong> and representati<strong>on</strong> of the "intenti<strong>on</strong>ality" of the cultural<br />
Other.<br />
Intenti<strong>on</strong>alities -- as the horiz<strong>on</strong>s of social and collective meaning<br />
are always transformed in relati<strong>on</strong> to the instituti<strong>on</strong>s and locati<strong>on</strong>s in<br />
which they are represented; they can never be inscribed or repeated in and<br />
for themselves.<br />
Their cultural displacement is itself a matter of<br />
interest: a site of re-locati<strong>on</strong> and re-inscripti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
To demand that cultural judgement and choice be free of<br />
ego-projecti<strong>on</strong>s is also to ask for a denial of the super-ego;a disavowal<br />
of the norms and values that c<strong>on</strong>stitute our awareness of the social and<br />
-29-
ethical world in which we live. To be sanitized of the power of<br />
psychological "projecti<strong>on</strong>" is to disavow our dangerous, crucial and<br />
corrplex fo:rms of human identificati<strong>on</strong> mediated through myth, symbol,<br />
metaphor, image, narrative, figurati<strong>on</strong> -- human agency without the<br />
fantasmatic functi<strong>on</strong> of the Unc<strong>on</strong>scious and the designs and defenses of<br />
desire. This would be to capitulate corrpletely to a "rati<strong>on</strong>alist" noti<strong>on</strong><br />
of modernity and the sovereign individualist subject.<br />
It would also fail<br />
to interrogate -- by sirrply negating -- the instituti<strong>on</strong>al, and individual<br />
desire and pleasure that c<strong>on</strong>stitutes the modern museum's flirtati<strong>on</strong> with a<br />
manicured, well-mannered metissage.<br />
McEvilley leads us correctly to the<br />
"ethnocentric" boundaries of the modernist culture of aestheticism and<br />
museum practice, but his propagati<strong>on</strong> of a form of separate, exhibiting<br />
spaces for the Other's culture, does not open up that hybrid "borderline"<br />
that I've argued for, and which Jaar and Gomez-Pena evoke as a horiz<strong>on</strong> of<br />
hope in the '90s.<br />
What form of cultural juxtapositi<strong>on</strong> could free us from modernity's<br />
homogenous empty time and its universalist implicati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
This requires an understanding of the strange "irrpossibility" of<br />
modernity, the paradoxical destiny of difference that fuels its desire for<br />
the Other; c<strong>on</strong>fr<strong>on</strong>ts it with the cultural and structural ambivalence that<br />
c<strong>on</strong>stitutes its own authoritative image; reveals the narcissistic, organic<br />
"boundaries" of its cultural priority or purity as always being open to<br />
the "borderline" process of difference and heterogeneity. For crucially,<br />
the binary divisi<strong>on</strong>s up<strong>on</strong> which cultural homogeneity is secured -- in the<br />
simultaneous translati<strong>on</strong> of the nati<strong>on</strong>al as the internati<strong>on</strong>al -- suggest<br />
that it is <strong>on</strong>ly through the process of difference that cultural priority<br />
I<br />
,t.,.'<br />
-30-
can be secured.<br />
At this point we begin to see that the cultural myths of<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>al integrity and organicism, c<strong>on</strong>tained in the homogeneous empty<br />
time-frame, are open to questi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In his influential essays <strong>on</strong> nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
sentiment, Tom Nairn names the nati<strong>on</strong> "the modern Janus." Nati<strong>on</strong>alisms<br />
repress our awareness of the "uneven development" of capitalism, he<br />
argues.<br />
There exists a splitting at the heart of the idea of nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
modernity:<br />
progressi<strong>on</strong> and regressi<strong>on</strong>, political rati<strong>on</strong>ality and<br />
irrati<strong>on</strong>ality exist simultaneously in the very genetic code of the<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
This is a structural fact to which there are no excepti<strong>on</strong>s and<br />
"in this sense, it is an exact (not a rhetorical) statement about the<br />
nati<strong>on</strong> to say that it is by nature ambivalent."<br />
To reveal such a liminality of nati<strong>on</strong>al cultures -- both in the East<br />
and the West -- in order to c<strong>on</strong>test f<strong>on</strong>ns of cultural supremacy and<br />
dominati<strong>on</strong>, is the prime task of the postcol<strong>on</strong>ial perspective.<br />
Its<br />
significant precursor here is the cultural fr<strong>on</strong>t of feminist movements<br />
that rearticulate the pers<strong>on</strong>al-in-the-political. The irrportant<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> of psychoanalysis for cultural analysis is to questi<strong>on</strong> the<br />
"naturalizati<strong>on</strong>" of masculinity and femininity; to suggest that these<br />
positi<strong>on</strong>s of the subject are neither biological nor binary.<br />
The cultural<br />
politics of sexual difference struggles to understand the objects of<br />
fantasy and representati<strong>on</strong> -- dreams, desires, discourse, displacement<br />
as the point at which the symbolisati<strong>on</strong> of the social crosses over, and<br />
crosses out, the full sufficiency of the subject.<br />
In questi<strong>on</strong>ing the noti<strong>on</strong> of a homogeneous empty time-frame of<br />
modernity, the postcol<strong>on</strong>ial perspective provides an alternative historical<br />
and c<strong>on</strong>ceptual frame for the articulati<strong>on</strong> of cultural differences.<br />
It<br />
-31-
substantially intervenes into those justificati<strong>on</strong>s of modernity -<br />
progress, homogeneity, cultural organicism, the "deep nati<strong>on</strong>," the "l<strong>on</strong>g"<br />
past -- that rati<strong>on</strong>alize the authoritarian, "normalizing" tendencies<br />
within cultures in the name of the nati<strong>on</strong>al interest of the ethnic<br />
prerogative. Post-col<strong>on</strong>iality is not the "end" of dominati<strong>on</strong>; it is the<br />
recogniti<strong>on</strong> of its diversity and disseminati<strong>on</strong>; its hybrid and productive<br />
existence at the level of cultural objects' identificati<strong>on</strong>s. It disavows<br />
any nati<strong>on</strong>alist or "nativist" pedagogy that sets up the relati<strong>on</strong> of Third<br />
World and First World in a binary structure of oppositi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The<br />
postcol<strong>on</strong>ial perspective resists any such homogeneous or holistic forms of<br />
social explanati<strong>on</strong> in its recogniti<strong>on</strong> of the more complex cultural and<br />
political boundaries that exist in-between these political spheres.<br />
It is<br />
a way of rec<strong>on</strong>ciling Jaar' s sense of the peculiar and perverse nearness<br />
and farness of the here and the there.<br />
It is from this experience of a productive hybrid of cultural<br />
influence and "nati<strong>on</strong>al" detenninati<strong>on</strong>, that the postcol<strong>on</strong>ial attempts to<br />
elaborate a historical and cultural project. The orientati<strong>on</strong> of such a<br />
project requires a for.m of dialectical thinking that doesn't sublate or<br />
surmount the alterity, the Otherness that c<strong>on</strong>stitutes the symbolic<br />
representati<strong>on</strong> of psychic or social identificati<strong>on</strong>. The play of social<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tradicti<strong>on</strong>, or the incommensurability of cultural judgments, resist the<br />
transcendent scale of universalism; they cannot easily be accomodated<br />
within a cultural or philisophical relativism that assumes "a public and<br />
syrrmetrical world" (Ernest Gellner) The cultural possibilities of such a<br />
differential history have led Fredrick James<strong>on</strong> to recognize the<br />
"internati<strong>on</strong>alizati<strong>on</strong> of the nati<strong>on</strong>al situati<strong>on</strong>s" in the postcol<strong>on</strong>ial<br />
-32-
criticism of Roberto Retamar "which calls us into questi<strong>on</strong> fully as much<br />
as it acknowledges the Other ... neither reduc [ ing] the Third World to some<br />
homogeneous Other of the West, nor ... vacuously celebrat [ ing] the<br />
'ast<strong>on</strong>ishing' pluralism of human cultures". (Foreword to Retamar, caliban<br />
and Other Essays, University of Minnesota, 1989) .<br />
As current debates in postmodemism questi<strong>on</strong>, to adapt Hegel' s<br />
phrase, the "cunning" of modernity -- its historical ir<strong>on</strong>ies, its<br />
disjunctive temporalities, its paradoxes of progress, its representati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
aporia -- it would profoundly change the values and judgements of such<br />
interrogati<strong>on</strong>s if they were open to the argument that metropolitan<br />
histories of civitas cannot be c<strong>on</strong>ceived without evoking the savage<br />
col<strong>on</strong>ialist and imperialist antecedents of the ideals of civility. It<br />
also suggests, by implicati<strong>on</strong>, that the language of rights and<br />
obligati<strong>on</strong>s, so central to the modem myth of a peoples, must be<br />
questi<strong>on</strong>ed <strong>on</strong> the basis of th~<br />
anomalous and discriminatory legal and<br />
cultural status assigned to migrant, diasporic and refugee populati<strong>on</strong>s who<br />
find themselves, inevitably, <strong>on</strong> the other side of the law.<br />
The postcol<strong>on</strong>ial perspective forces us to rethink the profound<br />
limitati<strong>on</strong>s of a c<strong>on</strong>censual and collusive "liberal" sense of corrmunity.<br />
It insists that cultural and political identity is c<strong>on</strong>structed through a<br />
process of alterity. Questi<strong>on</strong>s of race and cultural difference overlay<br />
issues of sexuality and gender, and overdetermine the social alliances of<br />
class and democratic socialism. The time for "assimilating" minorities to<br />
holistic and organic noti<strong>on</strong>s of cultural value has dramatically passed.<br />
In this neuraesthenic hour the very language of cultural and "nati<strong>on</strong>al"<br />
corrmunity needs to be rethought from a postcol<strong>on</strong>ial perspective, in a move<br />
-33-
similar to the prof<strong>on</strong>nd shift in the language of sexuality and the self<br />
effected by feminists in the seventies, and the gay community in the '80s.<br />
Culture is a painful process of becoming:<br />
as rm.1ch an uncomfortable,<br />
disturbing practice of survival and supplementarity between art and<br />
politics, past and present, the public and the private, race and<br />
sexuality, the known and the numinous, as its resplendent being is a<br />
moment of pleasure, enlightenment or liberati<strong>on</strong>. It is from such<br />
narrative positi<strong>on</strong>s in-between cultures and nati<strong>on</strong>s, theories and texts,-<br />
the political, psychic, poetic, and the painterly, the past and the<br />
present -- that the postcol<strong>on</strong>ial perspective seeks to affi.rm and extend a<br />
new inter-nati<strong>on</strong>al dimensi<strong>on</strong>, both within the margins of the nati<strong>on</strong>-space,<br />
and in the boundaries in-between nati<strong>on</strong>s and peoples.<br />
Difference and Otherness emerge most forcefully, within cultural<br />
discourse, when we think we speak most intimately and indigenously<br />
"between ourselves." It is by questi<strong>on</strong>ing the collusive, "comm<strong>on</strong>sensical"<br />
sense of an internati<strong>on</strong>al community that we should attempt to create a<br />
more difficult, differential comm<strong>on</strong>ality am<strong>on</strong>gst ourselves as others.<br />
-34-
THE VERB "CURATE"<br />
Guy Brett<br />
I speak as some<strong>on</strong>e who wrote his statement before coming here, and<br />
based it inevitably <strong>on</strong> projecti<strong>on</strong>s of what kind of assembly this would<br />
be.<br />
I knew that this was to be an assembly of the visual arts world, and<br />
I thought I could see from the list of participants that it would be an<br />
assembly or a particular part of the visual arts world, namely the<br />
directors of museums and curators of exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. Although it is broad in<br />
<strong>on</strong>e way -- its multinati<strong>on</strong>ality -- it is narrow in another: it seemed that<br />
the voice of the artist was not included.<br />
I know that in some cases<br />
curators are also artists, but they are here in their capacity as curators.<br />
Such selectivity certainly becomes a cause for reflecti<strong>on</strong>. Why this<br />
kind of assembly What others might be possible or desirable How does a<br />
distincti<strong>on</strong>, <strong>on</strong> a micro-level, an intemal level, an art world level,<br />
between curator and artist, bear <strong>on</strong> the big, macro-level, questi<strong>on</strong>s of<br />
power and politics, the divisi<strong>on</strong> of the world into affluent and<br />
impoverished This may seem an odd, perhaps oblique way of posing the<br />
questi<strong>on</strong>, but I hope the way in which it could be related to a more just,<br />
more transnati<strong>on</strong>al representati<strong>on</strong> of the world's people as artists will<br />
:become clear later. The questi<strong>on</strong> has another inflecti<strong>on</strong> which I would<br />
like to introduce: what is the relati<strong>on</strong> between the kind of discourse<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ducted here -- a verbal discourse, probably leaning towards the<br />
sociological -- and the producti<strong>on</strong> of meaning in art works We speak in<br />
-35-
the name of art, but what happens when art's possible meanings are reduced<br />
in line with the c<strong>on</strong>cerns of a particular interest group, or with<br />
already-held views for which the art work is used as an illustrati<strong>on</strong><br />
What does it mean when discussi<strong>on</strong>s of exhibiti<strong>on</strong> strategies and other<br />
managerial questi<strong>on</strong>s are separated, or assumed to be separate, from<br />
discussi<strong>on</strong> of artistic structure and quality, as they appear to be here<br />
Art is a sensitizing process. Will this survive the c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong> of the<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong><br />
I think every<strong>on</strong>e is familiar with the topography of large<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s which exists today.<br />
The inadequacy of the<br />
structure of biennials, where quite a wide range of nati<strong>on</strong>s are<br />
represented by artists chosen by their cultural authorities, somehow<br />
c<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>es the practice of exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s like "Documenta" which has been<br />
almost exclusively limited to European and North American artists, and to<br />
those either well-established, or up-and-coming-, .i.J:'l "t:he gallery I dealer<br />
network.<br />
Those familiar with the well-trodden path followed by the most<br />
of the curators of such exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s when they visit even Western European<br />
countries, will not be surprised by the effects of informati<strong>on</strong> barriers<br />
and different levels of cultural infrastructure when it comes to other<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tinents. The aspirati<strong>on</strong>s towards globality of the Paris exhibiti<strong>on</strong><br />
"Magiciens de la Terre" passed a revealing comment <strong>on</strong> these "previous"<br />
models.<br />
It tended to counterpose "Western art" with traditi<strong>on</strong>al ritual<br />
art of countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, or c<strong>on</strong>temporary<br />
evolving f<strong>on</strong>ns of them, and to shy away from artists of those c<strong>on</strong>tinents<br />
whose working c<strong>on</strong>text resembled that of Europe.<br />
The result, as many<br />
-36-
people comnented, was to polarize "here"/"there," "We"/"They," First<br />
World/Third World.<br />
All of these have been models of a kind of absorpti<strong>on</strong><br />
rather than dialogue.<br />
"How," as the Chilean-Australian artist Juan Davila<br />
asks, "can <strong>on</strong>e avoid bringing to the European market new products"<br />
Does therefore, "expanding internati<strong>on</strong>alism" mean simply an<br />
extensi<strong>on</strong> of the existing system, the desire of those inside the system to<br />
extend it and of some of those outside it to "plug into" it, or a change,<br />
or at least a challenge, to that system.<br />
"The questi<strong>on</strong> here," as Jean<br />
Fisher has written, "is not how do we make the artifacts of others "fit"<br />
our instituti<strong>on</strong>s, what universalizing principles can we invent to<br />
incorporate them into our exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, but how do we interrogate and<br />
dismantle the assumpti<strong>on</strong>s <strong>on</strong> which our instituti<strong>on</strong>s are based." I think<br />
this has been a vital issue throughout 20th-century art, which bland terms<br />
like modernism and postmodernism <strong>on</strong>ly cover up, :because it c<strong>on</strong>cerns the<br />
social value and the efficacy of art. I would like to pursue this issue<br />
by asking what it might mean in relati<strong>on</strong> to a noti<strong>on</strong> like internati<strong>on</strong>alism.<br />
P<strong>on</strong>der the following statement by the British artist Richard L<strong>on</strong>g:<br />
":M:>untains and galleries are both in their own ways extreme, neutral,<br />
uncluttered, good places to work .... "<br />
Although the remark is a kind of<br />
aside and probably came very naturally to L<strong>on</strong>g, it is worth looking at<br />
what is implied here: the remarkable link made :between mountains and<br />
galleries, :between the "earth" and the "nruseurn," as a link :between the<br />
"real" and "ideal" space in which both are assumed to :be neutral. The<br />
t<strong>on</strong>e of the statement, by which a kind of art-school assumpti<strong>on</strong> of the<br />
availability of space and materials is projected outwards so that the<br />
whole world is available as a tabula rasa for the artist (I :believe L<strong>on</strong>g<br />
-37-
works in the same spirit whether he is in the mountains of Scotland or<br />
Bolivia), joins together a c<strong>on</strong>cepti<strong>on</strong> of art and of the world.<br />
The<br />
"mountain" becomes santized, tamed and delocalized by its associati<strong>on</strong> with<br />
the "gallery;" the "gallery" becomes romanticized, placed in a great open,<br />
timeless space by its associati<strong>on</strong> with the "mountain."<br />
We know that galleries and museums are far from neutral. They are<br />
subject to the laws of the land, and are often the focus of intense<br />
c<strong>on</strong>troversy, either taking place privately before the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> or<br />
publicly afterwards, as to what is permissable or desirable in that<br />
space.<br />
The questi<strong>on</strong> of what is permissable becomes coupled with the<br />
questi<strong>on</strong> of the relati<strong>on</strong> of the museum to the land, or the "cultural" to<br />
the "natural" space, in a particularly acute sense, in fact in a<br />
life-and-death sense, with the history of shows of Native American art.<br />
These questi<strong>on</strong>s were illuminated for me by the writings of Jimmie Durham,<br />
Jean Fisher, Susan Hiller, Margaret Holm, and others.<br />
At the 1986 World's Fair in canada -- to take a typical example<br />
space in the projected "Indians of canada" pavili<strong>on</strong> was denied to Native<br />
American groups because the authorities felt that if they c<strong>on</strong>trolled it<br />
themselves they would not use it in prescribed cultural ways, but would<br />
draw attenti<strong>on</strong> to their present-day struggles, especially struggles over<br />
land rights. For their part, Native American groups have sometimes<br />
refused to land artifacts to museum shows as a challenge to the ruling<br />
assumpti<strong>on</strong>s, which, in relati<strong>on</strong> to Native American culture, have<br />
<strong>on</strong>e-sid.edly emphasized the spiritual. Thus, "The Spirit Sings, " organized<br />
at calgary as part of the 1988 Winter Olympics was boycotted by the<br />
Lubic<strong>on</strong> Cree because the oil company which partly sp<strong>on</strong>sored the show was<br />
-38-
operating with devastating effect in their own territory, land over which<br />
they have been involved in a 40-year dispute with the local and federal<br />
government.<br />
"You d<strong>on</strong>'t feel," an interviewer from an Alberta magazine asked<br />
Lubic<strong>on</strong> Cree Chief Bernard Cmniayak, "that the viewer will get an insight<br />
into c<strong>on</strong>terrporary Indian culture through the historical references"<br />
"No," he replied. "There's a great difference between the past and<br />
the presently. What's happening now is that our people are slowly being<br />
killed, I think a lot of times our people would be better off if some<strong>on</strong>e<br />
came up to them and got rid of them instantly. Anything so we wouldn't be<br />
dying a slow death."<br />
"Is this really just a show for white people in the city" the<br />
interviewer asked.<br />
"That's right. And again it's glorified by the same people who are<br />
doing the damage to the Native people in our area. "<br />
In what way is the ec<strong>on</strong>omic power of the oil company associated with<br />
a noti<strong>on</strong> of culture as an ideal space in which the producti<strong>on</strong> of every<br />
people is given its place am<strong>on</strong>g the "masterpieces of world art" In what<br />
way is the Native American resistance associated with a noti<strong>on</strong> of culture<br />
as taking resp<strong>on</strong>sibility for the whole, with refusing the separati<strong>on</strong> of<br />
phenomena<br />
The title "The Spirit Sings," instead of being uplifting,<br />
suddenly becomes sinister, a sign that we are being duped.<br />
When it came to "Magiciens de la Terre," the organizers chose to<br />
ignore all the c<strong>on</strong>siderable body of work by Native Americans which both<br />
stands within the internati<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>text of m<strong>on</strong>demism and deals with<br />
"spiritual values" in terms of the historical c<strong>on</strong>flict between Native<br />
-39-
Americans and European settlers, the dilemmas of identity, the<br />
possibilities of new language, new metaphors.<br />
Instead they chose to<br />
include a neo-traditi<strong>on</strong>al Navaho sand painting by Joe Ben, Jr.<br />
I am not criticizing the painting itself and certainly not the<br />
painter, but actually the inclusi<strong>on</strong> of this work, al<strong>on</strong>g with a number of<br />
others, raised difficult and problematic questi<strong>on</strong>s which point to the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>fusi<strong>on</strong>s and struggles which are going <strong>on</strong> over the c<strong>on</strong>cept of art. It<br />
is known that Navaho sand paintings are traditi<strong>on</strong>ally part of a healing<br />
ritual -- just a part, "<strong>on</strong>e am<strong>on</strong>g a great number of things." But<br />
"Magiciens" was prevented from explaining this functi<strong>on</strong> because, in the<br />
name of treating every<strong>on</strong>e as "artists," they were displaying little more<br />
than the artist's name, place of origin, and title of work.<br />
They had,<br />
thus, prevented thernsel ves from carrying out what was supposed to be the<br />
rais<strong>on</strong> d'~tre of the show: to c<strong>on</strong>sider artists as "magicians," shamans,<br />
with an aesthetic practice and social role different from the traditi<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Western <strong>on</strong>e.<br />
But again, apparently the <strong>on</strong>ly way open to them to explicate<br />
the painting would be through anthropological, text-panels, which would<br />
relegate it to an etlmographic category and lower its status in comparis<strong>on</strong><br />
with the work of the Western artists. Was, in any case, the Joe Ben, Jr.<br />
painting an authentic liturgical work, or had it been modified, as I think<br />
has been the custom, to allow it to enter the Western realm and c<strong>on</strong>cept of<br />
art as a museum exhibit<br />
I d<strong>on</strong>'t believe these are merely hair-splitting distincti<strong>on</strong>s. They<br />
have very much to do with our relati<strong>on</strong>ship to art today, and in what way<br />
we c<strong>on</strong>sider art to be efficacious. Our society makes everything visible,<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sumable, buyable. A few years ago I was deeply stunned and moved when I<br />
-40-
saw for the first time the drawings and paintings by survivors of the<br />
bombing of Hiroshima, eye-witness memories of events lived through thirty<br />
years before.<br />
I realized that the Japanese group charged with the care of<br />
these pictures, their curators, had faced the dilemma that to withhold and<br />
to hide the images was as important as to show them.<br />
They tried to assess<br />
each pers<strong>on</strong>'s or organizati<strong>on</strong>'s request to exhibit or reproduce the<br />
pictures so that they would be properly shown and labelled and would not<br />
lose their efficacy (which is very c<strong>on</strong>siderable) through over-exposure.<br />
They were co:rrpelled to take this attitude out of respect for the people<br />
whose devastating experiences these picture depicted.<br />
Even the book they<br />
produced, combining photographs of the effects of the bombing with the<br />
paintings, was not made available for sale, but could be applied for as a<br />
gift.<br />
Although it is rather difficult for the Hiroshima paintings, even<br />
without their labels (the texts writt~ <strong>on</strong> .them by their authors), to slip<br />
into the category of "naive art, " for which there is already a subsecti<strong>on</strong><br />
of the art market, there are plenty of c<strong>on</strong>temporary, popular visual<br />
expressi<strong>on</strong>s being produced around the world as a testim<strong>on</strong>y to lived<br />
experience which are eminently c<strong>on</strong>sumable <strong>on</strong> that level. How do we<br />
prevent them from falling prey to what the Australian writer Eric Michaels<br />
has called "our ultra-c<strong>on</strong>sumerist appetite, using up the object to the<br />
point of exhausti<strong>on</strong>, of 'sophisticati<strong>on</strong>, ' so as to risk making it<br />
disappear altogether" This is, I believe, a problem which a number of<br />
artists in different places have actually addressed themselves in their<br />
work in recent years. And this is <strong>on</strong>e of the points at which I would like<br />
to propose an examinati<strong>on</strong> of the relati<strong>on</strong>ship between artist and curator.<br />
-41-
One of the ways in which I think some artists have addressed these<br />
questi<strong>on</strong>s has been by relinquishing the traditi<strong>on</strong>al noti<strong>on</strong> of the artist<br />
as god, c<strong>on</strong>troller, master, the creator of a world, with a tyrranical<br />
"will to fom," and by exploring a new relati<strong>on</strong>ship both to their material<br />
and to the spectator. This was <strong>on</strong>e of the desires which lay behind<br />
experiments in participati<strong>on</strong>, at their height in the '60s, a moment which<br />
has apparently passed without its radical nature being properly<br />
remembered. I can't go into great detail here. These artists (I'm<br />
thinking of people like the Brazilians Lygia Clark and H~lio Oiticica, the<br />
Filipino David M=dalla, and others) experimented in giving up the role of<br />
sole creator, the producer of unique objects c<strong>on</strong>sumed by a passive public.<br />
Instead they proposed relati<strong>on</strong>al, dialogical, objects/events/structures.<br />
In M=dalla' s "participati<strong>on</strong>-producti<strong>on</strong> pieces" of the mid-' 70s, the act of<br />
looking became c<strong>on</strong>nected with the act of making in a way which did not<br />
allow "using up the object to the point of exhausti<strong>on</strong>, " because a process<br />
of renewal was involved.<br />
His proposal obviously c<strong>on</strong>tained a challenge to<br />
the Im.lseological c<strong>on</strong>cept of art, because in museums things are not<br />
renewed. They are untouchable, they merely age. In fact, the experiments<br />
in participati<strong>on</strong> took place in the midst of a very widespread challenge to<br />
the instituti<strong>on</strong>s of art.<br />
Another way in which artists have relinquished the master-role and<br />
the m<strong>on</strong>ological voice is through an enomous variety of methods of<br />
mediati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
This is another "collaborative" practice which is often used<br />
with c<strong>on</strong>siderable ir<strong>on</strong>y.<br />
I want to just briefly menti<strong>on</strong> two examples:<br />
the American artist Susan Hiller's work Fragments (1978), which<br />
incorporated the materials of "another culture" (many small broken found<br />
-42-
pieces of Pueblo pottery made by women potters) as a way of<br />
cross-referencing it with her own society in order to establish the<br />
struggle of women to be seen as "primary makers of meaning. "<br />
Or, for<br />
example, recent sculpture by the Brazilian Jac Leimer which involved<br />
collecting and sorting tens of thousands of devalued banknotes, and<br />
bringing to light the notes as carriers of an<strong>on</strong>ymous popular graffitti.<br />
In these examples, artists are acting in <strong>on</strong>e sense as curators. Or<br />
rather, they use the metaphor of curating ir<strong>on</strong>ically to show the illusi<strong>on</strong><br />
of "objective" observati<strong>on</strong>: to observe is to remake, reform. It's<br />
curious that the word "curator," which I think has been a noun in English<br />
in its museum sense since at least the 18th century, has <strong>on</strong>ly recently<br />
become a verb.<br />
I think the c<strong>on</strong>flict between artist and curator has, thus,<br />
been <strong>on</strong>e of values, not of metier as such, and the denunicatory metaphors<br />
of curating which artists have used have been metaphors of c<strong>on</strong>trol,<br />
master:y, and disinfecti<strong>on</strong>. For example, as al<strong>on</strong>g ago as the early '70s,<br />
the American artist Robert Smiths<strong>on</strong> exhibited as his "work" at "Doctmle!lta"<br />
a statement, of which this is part:<br />
Cultural c<strong>on</strong>finement takes place when a curator ircposes his own<br />
limits <strong>on</strong> an art exhibiti<strong>on</strong>, rather than asking an artist to set his<br />
limits. Artists are expected to fit into fraudulent catagories.<br />
Some artists imagine they've got a hold <strong>on</strong> this apparatus, which in<br />
fact has got a hold of them.<br />
As a result they end up supporting a cultural pris<strong>on</strong> which is out of<br />
their c<strong>on</strong>trol ... Museums like asylums and jails, have wards and cells<br />
-- in other words, neutral rooms called "galleries" ... The functi<strong>on</strong><br />
of the warden-curator is to separate art from the rest of society ....<br />
-43-
Mbre recently the Chilean-Australian artist Juan Davila has<br />
described a very familiar experience:<br />
The <strong>on</strong>ly way for an artist in Australia to have access to the museum<br />
[is] through the "theme-curated show." Here the artist shares with<br />
many others the wanted or unwanted fate of a group venture, and the<br />
limitati<strong>on</strong> of being illustrators of a given theme. The curator<br />
imposes his overview, addresses his peers and particularly avoids<br />
any argument, trying to please every<strong>on</strong>e ... Some artists have tried<br />
lately to bypass the system by finding more sympathetic curators or<br />
curating exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s themselves.<br />
But when they do this, Davila says, they often end up repeating the<br />
official formula.<br />
Mbst cultural instituti<strong>on</strong>s, in fact systems of educati<strong>on</strong> as a whole,<br />
are still structured al<strong>on</strong>g nati<strong>on</strong>al lines. Even their "internati<strong>on</strong>alism"<br />
is an extensi<strong>on</strong> of their noti<strong>on</strong> of the nati<strong>on</strong> (as Homi has so well<br />
described) .<br />
exchanges.<br />
And in this they lag behind the reality of actual changes and<br />
As Edward Said has written: "We are mixed with each other in<br />
ways which most nati<strong>on</strong>al systems of educati<strong>on</strong> have not dreamed of." I<br />
believe I can illustrate this with an allusi<strong>on</strong> to the history of postwar<br />
art in my own locality-- Britain. Britain's official and semi-official<br />
participati<strong>on</strong> in internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s has always been a projecti<strong>on</strong> or<br />
exportati<strong>on</strong> into the internati<strong>on</strong>al arena of a nati<strong>on</strong>al self-image in art:<br />
actually a mythical image.<br />
There is a curious but revealing symmetry in<br />
the way the country absorbs a plethora of cultural manifestati<strong>on</strong>s from all<br />
over the world, but exports resolutely an image of Britishness. Sculpture<br />
provided <strong>on</strong>e c<strong>on</strong>venient support <strong>on</strong> which to c<strong>on</strong>struct a genealogy of<br />
British art which each generati<strong>on</strong> of cultural functi<strong>on</strong>aries has extended.<br />
If it is not as solidly white, male (it's still very male) and<br />
m<strong>on</strong>ocultural as it was, it still centralizes and establishes a beaux-arts<br />
-44-
model of art as the <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>e proper to the nati<strong>on</strong>, a nati<strong>on</strong>al product, a<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>al ambassador.<br />
Raym<strong>on</strong>d Willaims, as l<strong>on</strong>g ago as 1971, called it the<br />
"timid avant-garde." Needless to say, this is very remote from the<br />
intercultural mixings and clashings, the critical and experimental edges,<br />
which characterize Britain.<br />
Perhaps as a corollary to this timidity, modernism-- the<br />
20th-century avant-garde -- was seen from the Western point of view as a<br />
pure projecti<strong>on</strong>, something merely received and copied in other centers.<br />
(This view was often reinforced by cultural authorities in those countries<br />
who promoted work which they felt would be acceptable in the Western<br />
metropolis where value was c<strong>on</strong>ferred.)<br />
In the West we are <strong>on</strong>ly educated<br />
to see our images as central and successful and originary. Others are<br />
peripheral, late, or less successful. Therefore, we do not begin to see<br />
the intensity of other cultural histories. We do not see, for example,<br />
the complex dialogue or. argument between IJ\oQern:L$ITl and indigenism in Latin<br />
American countries, in which the work of intellectuals has had a very<br />
intricate relati<strong>on</strong>ship with popular culture. As the Chilean artist<br />
Eugenio Dittborn says, we should not be talking about "modernity in Latin<br />
America, but Latin America in modernity. "<br />
Since we have little practice<br />
in dialogue -- <strong>on</strong>ly a static noti<strong>on</strong> of absorpti<strong>on</strong> and annulment <strong>on</strong> the <strong>on</strong>e<br />
hand, or exportati<strong>on</strong> and projecti<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> the other -- we fail to see that<br />
there has always been a dynamic complexity arising out of artists' travels<br />
and unofficial exchanges.<br />
The c<strong>on</strong>tradicti<strong>on</strong> and the mixing between artist and curator could<br />
surely lead, if it has a positive outcome, to a new elasticity of genre<br />
and the inventi<strong>on</strong> of new genres, visual genres, and mixed genres.<br />
The<br />
-45-
factor of the "support" is almost a c<strong>on</strong>stant through the history of<br />
art--i.e. the wall, the canvas, the sheet of paper.<br />
The support is going<br />
through many and significant changes today--recent examples:<br />
the earth,<br />
water, the body; or, say, subdivisi<strong>on</strong>s of traditi<strong>on</strong>al supports: the<br />
color xerox, the fax sheet.<br />
By way of c<strong>on</strong>clusi<strong>on</strong>, I would like to tie together some of the<br />
things I've said by reference to Eugenio Dittborn' s work (as an example or<br />
analogy, not an illustrati<strong>on</strong> or prescripti<strong>on</strong>) .<br />
His work was included in<br />
an exhibiti<strong>on</strong>, "Transc<strong>on</strong>tinental," with which I was involved recently at<br />
the Ik<strong>on</strong> Gallery in Birmingham and the Cornerhouse in Manchester.<br />
Dittborn has invented, or let's say greatly developed, a new genre:<br />
the<br />
Ainnail painting. His works at the present time are sent through the post<br />
in envelopes which are then exhibited beside them, envelopes marked with<br />
all the journeys the work has made from its point of origin in Santiago,<br />
Chile.<br />
The support is a white, synthetic, light-weight material which<br />
unfolds to go <strong>on</strong> the wall; its surface is painted, stitched, stained,<br />
collaged, embroidered, printed, and written <strong>on</strong>, and, of course, even when<br />
exhibited still carries the creases of its folds.<br />
In many of Dittborn' s works we face faces which face us. One work<br />
is called The 6th History of the Human Face (Black and Red Camino) .<br />
In a<br />
l<strong>on</strong>g row, faces found in Chilean detective magazines of the '50s of<br />
small-time criminals, faces of aboriginals from an anthropological book,<br />
forgotten sports heroes--vivid pers<strong>on</strong>s lost to official Chilean<br />
history--are combined with graffiti, found images, and faces from "how to<br />
draw" books. Below is another freize: faces drawn in red paint by<br />
Dittborn's daughter Margarita, seven at the time.<br />
These images drift <strong>on</strong>to<br />
-46-
other works too, in other assemblies.<br />
The journey of the painting is<br />
echoed in the journey of the body and in the journey of images from a<br />
state of being lost and forgotten to being found and recombined.<br />
And <strong>on</strong><br />
this surface, each crystalized presence floats in an unmarked space or<br />
void.<br />
Dittborn' s strategy is a coherent <strong>on</strong>e.<br />
At <strong>on</strong>e level the Airmail<br />
painting is a rejoinder, a riposte, to the prevailing art system, and <strong>on</strong>e<br />
devised specifically by an artist working at its periphery, in the<br />
so-called Third World.<br />
Made of cheap materials, easily transported, not<br />
dependent <strong>on</strong> a developed infrastructure, they arrive to unfold and occupy<br />
a substantial amount of the hotly-c<strong>on</strong>tested space of the cultural<br />
metropolis. At the same time they refuse to be seen as floating, neutral,<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al cultural corrmodities.<br />
It's clear from where they speak.<br />
But they also reflect <strong>on</strong>, or embody, traveling, exchange, the unresolvable<br />
paradox of closeness and distance. Their political clarity meets their<br />
pers<strong>on</strong>al openness and vulnerability. It becomes a way of making,<br />
circulating, and displaying work which guards its immediacy and efficacy<br />
for the viewer.<br />
I would like to say more about the work of the nine Latin American<br />
artists in "Transc<strong>on</strong>tinental" as exemplifying the tensi<strong>on</strong> between, and<br />
mixing of, many kinds of duality: not simply the geographical, cultural,<br />
and political realities of the "there" and the "here", but also how these<br />
c<strong>on</strong>nect with the abstract/figurative, male/female, sculpture/painting,<br />
light/ dark, transparent/ opaque, present/ absent divides. Perhaps the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>crete particularities of such experiments are a subject we can return<br />
to in later sessi<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
-47-
-48-
POSITI
-50-
Aracy A. Amaral<br />
Art Critic, Independent Curator<br />
S~o Paulo, Brazil<br />
In Latin America, and Brazil is no excepti<strong>on</strong>, we are relatively poor in<br />
cultural events <strong>on</strong> an internati<strong>on</strong>al level when compared to initiatives in<br />
developed countries due to our pe:rmanent ec<strong>on</strong>omic crisis. As everywhere, at<br />
these moments the cultural field is always the most immediately affected am<strong>on</strong>g<br />
the different areas of activity. Thus, while we c<strong>on</strong>stitute a large regi<strong>on</strong> of<br />
intense artistic vitality, paradoxically, we are deprived of stable cultural<br />
instituti<strong>on</strong>s and unable to organize internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s for our<br />
audiences.<br />
As a c<strong>on</strong>sequence, artists and cultural milieu are limited to what<br />
they see when able to travel: exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s organized by the First World.<br />
And<br />
this happens even when the theme of the internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong> or objects in<br />
it are produced in our countries. In this sense we are observers and<br />
followers of what developed countries organize in terms of exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, even<br />
if very often our creative expressi<strong>on</strong> is more inventive than that of the<br />
so-called developed countries. Only in the last two or three years have we<br />
been assisting with a new demand for Brazilian group or individual exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
abroad, chiefly in Europe, yet most of these are still organized by Europeans.<br />
Sometimes creators who are precursors in our countries are "discovered"<br />
very late by organizers of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, making it seem as if we<br />
were not aware of their quality and value. Truly speaking, there seems to<br />
exist an advantage in being culturally "dependent":<br />
to a certain degree, we<br />
have a wider knowledge than those of the cultural milieu of First World<br />
countries, since we know our producti<strong>on</strong> as well as that of the most-admired<br />
developed world.<br />
-51 -
Art in Brazil changed dramatically after the beginning of the Bienal of<br />
1\.<br />
s·ao Paulo in 1951.<br />
This date signals a definite starting point of<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al trends for Brazilian artists. As a c<strong>on</strong>sequence, this event was<br />
very much attacked during and after the First Bienal because radicals saw in<br />
it a surrender of Brazilian roots in visual arts by young artists who started<br />
to be increasingly interested in following internati<strong>on</strong>al art fashi<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
But<br />
there are many Brazils, and, as Pierre Gaudibert <strong>on</strong>ce wrote about it,<br />
regi<strong>on</strong>alism has been a str<strong>on</strong>g issue for centuries, and today more than<br />
yesterday, it is relevant to be different.<br />
MUlti-cultural representati<strong>on</strong> of individual countries<br />
It is almost impossible to define what is culture within<br />
geographic-political limits of each country.<br />
This is why we think we should<br />
of each nati<strong>on</strong>, and not be c<strong>on</strong>cerned <strong>on</strong>ly in showing <strong>on</strong>e face of its culture,<br />
in a sirrplistic manner of trying to see the "Other, " in an utopian search of<br />
alterity.<br />
Representati<strong>on</strong> of local vs. internati<strong>on</strong>al artists<br />
Every day I believe less in the possibility of comnunicati<strong>on</strong> through<br />
the visual arts. That is, I believe more each day that every<strong>on</strong>e sees in an<br />
artistic object <strong>on</strong>ly that which his repertory allows him to see. There is<br />
nothing new in this point, but when a curator of a certain country organizes<br />
an internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong> he or she must have in mind this limitati<strong>on</strong> of his<br />
-52 -
or her eyes and his or her percepti<strong>on</strong>, and never try to dream he or she is<br />
making a "c<strong>on</strong>clusive" statement <strong>on</strong> the aspects of the art focused up<strong>on</strong> in his<br />
or her c<strong>on</strong>cept for the exhibiti<strong>on</strong>. For this same reas<strong>on</strong>, each country smiles<br />
slightly when foreign curators organize shows of artists from some other<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>. An important point is also that curators seem to organize exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
for their audiences exclusively. What do they want to see What are this<br />
audience's expectati<strong>on</strong>s I get the inpressi<strong>on</strong> that, to a certain degree, they<br />
are working like televisi<strong>on</strong> producers trying to get a large audience, when<br />
what should worry us most is how to get an audience initiated in a certain<br />
art, from a certain culture. Our aim must always be the artistic object<br />
first, and <strong>on</strong>ly sec<strong>on</strong>dly, the audience.<br />
In other words, guide the audience<br />
through the artistic object.<br />
The need for the formati<strong>on</strong> of new internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong> sites<br />
A meeting such as this <strong>on</strong>e seems to indicate that there is a potential<br />
interest in opening new sites for internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, that this is not<br />
meant to be a mere exchange of ideas. This intenti<strong>on</strong> seems to me positive as<br />
far as it may result in a project, or in several projects, in additi<strong>on</strong> to the<br />
Euro-North-American centers.<br />
I do not fear anymore the glObal village from<br />
the cultural point of view, nor two or ten hegem<strong>on</strong>ic centers with many<br />
dependent centers. We have been living this reality for a l<strong>on</strong>g time. But we<br />
have arrived at new times.<br />
Suddenly postwar times have ended, cold war has<br />
ended, and we assist avec 6t<strong>on</strong>nement the rebirth of nati<strong>on</strong>alisms in Europe<br />
when, c<strong>on</strong>tradictorily, we are <strong>on</strong> the eve of the European Comrrnmity of 1992.<br />
Et pour cause. . . actors and scenarios are changing very rapidly in Europe--as<br />
-53 -
well as in Latin .America--and we d<strong>on</strong>'t know exactly which is the play that is<br />
going to be performed in which we shall certainly participate. Then a curious<br />
and problematic similitude occurs in Latin American countries: artists wish to<br />
declare explicitly their identity from the cultural point of view, or want to<br />
reject themselves as Latin-Americans and just be c<strong>on</strong>sidered hommes du m<strong>on</strong>de<br />
(citoyens du m<strong>on</strong>de) .<br />
The complexity of this situati<strong>on</strong> is our c<strong>on</strong>temporaneity<br />
which we live intensely, because of its unique situati<strong>on</strong> in this delicate<br />
moment -- the vertiginous instant in which we are involved.<br />
Disseminati<strong>on</strong> of informati<strong>on</strong> about internati<strong>on</strong>al shows; how to increase press<br />
coverage for exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s in n<strong>on</strong>-western countries.<br />
Disseminati<strong>on</strong> of informati<strong>on</strong> about internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s is<br />
nowadays, at least in Brazil, a very serious problem.<br />
newspapers and magazines have changed their pJ:lilo~qplJ.y.<br />
Editorships of<br />
Art criticism in<br />
Brazil has been substituted by reporters' art coverage, generally quick and<br />
superficial by uninformed journalists. There is no c<strong>on</strong>cern in trying to get<br />
involved in the complexity of the organizati<strong>on</strong> of a show until it is received<br />
by the audience.<br />
Sometimes a newspaper gives an exhibiti<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong>ly "<strong>on</strong>e day"<br />
attenti<strong>on</strong>, as if an exhibiti<strong>on</strong> was a televisi<strong>on</strong> program <strong>on</strong> the air for a<br />
single evening from 9 to 10. Also, because of the "audience aura," very often<br />
these "reportages" are written before the formal opening of the show.<br />
That<br />
makes it difficult for the writer to have a complete view of the physicality<br />
of the show, which is fundamental, from our point of view, in order to write<br />
about it.<br />
-54 -
Even in South America the art market seems also to be the "magic word"<br />
for the press, as well as for advertising. This means that today, more than<br />
in other periods of this century, ec<strong>on</strong>omic power is the main determinant not<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly in sales of works of art, but also in opening up possibilities for press<br />
and televisi<strong>on</strong> coverage.<br />
In the name of the art market phenomen<strong>on</strong>, art itself<br />
is probably neglected. However, this is an internati<strong>on</strong>al problem or<br />
phenomen<strong>on</strong>.<br />
How to more effectively represent artists working outside the disciplines of<br />
painting and sculpture; other roles for artists in internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
bey<strong>on</strong>d that of exhibitor.<br />
tv<br />
I think it is positive to give acquisiti<strong>on</strong> prizes, as the Bienal of Sao<br />
Paulo has just decided to do, particularly in countries where the museums do<br />
not have the possibility of acquiring c<strong>on</strong>temporary art (as opposed to the<br />
usual situati<strong>on</strong> in developed countries). What I criticize, however, is not<br />
having an internati<strong>on</strong>al jury for an internati<strong>on</strong>al event -- even if a majority<br />
of Brazilians with knowledge of the needs of our nati<strong>on</strong>al collecti<strong>on</strong>s are<br />
present. Artists working with installati<strong>on</strong>s and performances should be<br />
encouraged to participate in these events, as they represent a c<strong>on</strong>temporary<br />
trend in art.<br />
In Sao Paulo Bienal, that has taken place twenty times uninterrupted<br />
(which is really miraculous for a country practically without fully active<br />
museums) , I have registered a rather curious phenomen<strong>on</strong>: Brazilian or<br />
Latin-American artists that come to visit the Bienal show an intense interest<br />
in the works of art they see during their visits. On the other hand, foreign<br />
-55 -
artists from the "hegem<strong>on</strong>ic centres" (Europe, USA), when they are the "stars"<br />
of the event, seem in general to come to be seen.<br />
They arrive, organize their<br />
space in the show, give their regular interviews, and depart the day after the<br />
opening of the Bienal.<br />
I believe that other efforts of involving themselves<br />
with the local artistic world should occur.<br />
'V<br />
In Sao Paulo young artists have tried hard, opening their studios to<br />
visitors during the Biennial period, making teleph<strong>on</strong>e calls all day l<strong>on</strong>g,<br />
printing folders with their addresses.<br />
Of course, there is always the problem<br />
of the artist's pers<strong>on</strong>ality, and many artists perhaps simply d<strong>on</strong>'t care about<br />
exchanging ideas. But "workshops" with local instituti<strong>on</strong>s or artists have<br />
already proved to be positive. And the Goethe Institute has made fruitful<br />
experiments in this area in Brazil. I am referring to a dialogue between<br />
creators of diverse cultures. As we all know, the meeting or c<strong>on</strong>fr<strong>on</strong>tati<strong>on</strong> of<br />
cultures has always proved to be stimulating to the renewal of arts.<br />
-56-
"Multi -Cultural Representati<strong>on</strong> of Individual Countries<br />
In Internati<strong>on</strong>al Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s: An African Perspective"<br />
by<br />
Emmanuel Nnakenyi Arinze<br />
Director<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Museum<br />
Lagos, Nigeria<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s across the world c<strong>on</strong>stitute veritable tools for<br />
speaking a language that has a meaning to people of diverse socio-cultural<br />
backgrounds.<br />
They are a most effective means of communicati<strong>on</strong> as what they<br />
c<strong>on</strong>vey is capable of influencing the thoughts of people.<br />
In a multi-cultural exhibiti<strong>on</strong> emanating from <strong>on</strong>e country or a combinati<strong>on</strong><br />
of countries, it is necessary that certain basic issues be addressed, am<strong>on</strong>g<br />
which are the message of the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> and who is the target of the<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
I will now posit the African experience in this framework.<br />
Generally,<br />
African works -- be they antiquities or c<strong>on</strong>temporary art -- form a good<br />
percentage of exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s that are shown in most internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
abroad, both in museums and public instituti<strong>on</strong>s. Requests for these<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s come so regularly that most African museums are becoming less<br />
enthusiastic in granting them.<br />
Could this be because of lack of proper<br />
articulati<strong>on</strong> of the reas<strong>on</strong>s for the request; could it be that internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s are fast assuming an ec<strong>on</strong>omic importance in the global art world;<br />
or could it be because such exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s are used as instruments of enhancing<br />
the influence or prestige of the host museum or country<br />
-57 -
These questi<strong>on</strong>s need to be addressed at this c<strong>on</strong>ference.<br />
Let me<br />
illustrate with Nigerian examples.<br />
In 1979, the Nigerian MUseum Service<br />
received a request from The Detroit Institute of Art for the best of our art<br />
treasures to be exhibited in Detroit and a few U.S. cities. After lengthy<br />
negotiati<strong>on</strong>s and discussi<strong>on</strong>s, the exhibiti<strong>on</strong>,<br />
Treasures of Ancient Nigeria:<br />
Legacy of 2000 Years, was opened at The Detroit Institute of Arts in 1980.<br />
The exhibiti<strong>on</strong> was originally billed to be out for <strong>on</strong>e year, but it did not<br />
return finally to Nigeria until 1985 after traveling for five years. As a<br />
result of very str<strong>on</strong>g requests, it had to go to other countries in Europe both<br />
West and East.<br />
I was very much involved with the entire exhibiti<strong>on</strong> and was<br />
also present at some of the openings, so I had the privilege of talking to and<br />
discussing with people who saw the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> at different times and at<br />
different locati<strong>on</strong>s and envir<strong>on</strong>ments.<br />
MOre recently, a similar exhibiti<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> a smaller scale went to Japan for<br />
less than <strong>on</strong>e year..<br />
Again the .. ezpe:r;ience was .. so~thing quite challenging.<br />
Based <strong>on</strong> these ezperiences, I believe that internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s do have<br />
great advantages for both the host country and the country of origin.<br />
Am<strong>on</strong>g others, such exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s have the advantage of:<br />
1. challenging and correcting stereotyped views about a people and their<br />
cultures and, through a closer examinati<strong>on</strong>, fostering an appreciati<strong>on</strong> and<br />
understanding of their arts;<br />
2. creating greater understanding and awareness about the artists, the people<br />
and their history;<br />
3. bringing the cultural art world much closer by narrowing the gaps that<br />
artificially divide us in the areas of arts and cultural understanding;<br />
-58 -
4. opening up new opportunities and avenues for man to develop a greater and<br />
better understanding of his neighbors; and<br />
5. promoting better political and cultural relati<strong>on</strong>s between nati<strong>on</strong>s and<br />
peoples.<br />
The political dimensi<strong>on</strong> of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s is now<br />
assuming important dimensi<strong>on</strong>s we can no l<strong>on</strong>ger ignore.<br />
However, we in Africa do recognize the practical problems involved in<br />
organizing internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. Let me highlight some of our fears and<br />
problems:<br />
1. the risk of overexposure of the works due to excessively l<strong>on</strong>g lengthy<br />
viewing, thus making them lose their dramatic impact, which may lead to<br />
trivializing their meaning and potency;<br />
2. the lack of financial benefits accruing to the country or museum of<br />
origin<br />
(This is a serious problem that should be addressed at this<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ference. African Museums are generally under-funded, and it does not<br />
appear that they benefit financially like the host country or museum when<br />
their works of art are taken out for exhibiti<strong>on</strong>) ; and<br />
3. the risk of taking the exhibits out with too small a number of trained and<br />
qualified staff from the museum/country of origin.<br />
In most cases, as was<br />
the case with the Nigerian experience, <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>e staff was taken at a<br />
time.<br />
This is grossly inadequate and unprofessi<strong>on</strong>al, especially when it<br />
is understood that such a pers<strong>on</strong> acco.rrpanying the works is the anchorman<br />
for the museum/ country of origin.<br />
-59-
Management of Internati<strong>on</strong>al Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
1. There should be proper dialogue and negotiati<strong>on</strong>s with all parties<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerned so that mutual agreements can be arrived at without any<br />
irrpositi<strong>on</strong> of ideas and views by either side.<br />
2. The nati<strong>on</strong>al interest of all parties should be taken into c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong> at<br />
all times during the negot.i.ati<strong>on</strong>, the exhibiti<strong>on</strong>, and when the exhibits<br />
are being returned at the close of the exhibiti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
3. The financial benefits accruing from the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> should be equitably<br />
disbursed am<strong>on</strong>g all parties according to an agreed-up<strong>on</strong> f<strong>on</strong>nula.<br />
4. There should be an accepted standard for the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> in the host<br />
country, ensuring that the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> does not become exposed to under<br />
danger and/or risk.<br />
5. There should be an effective publicity machine set in moti<strong>on</strong> in both the<br />
host country and the country of origin to ensure that an appropriate,<br />
receptive climate is created £ar .. the exbil:>iti~QD!<br />
·~··~········~····· ...... ~ ·•<br />
6. Copies of all educati<strong>on</strong>al materials emanating from the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> should<br />
be deposited with the country of origin to be used as educati<strong>on</strong>al resource<br />
materials.<br />
The Future in Perspective<br />
As we begin a new decade and as we begin the march into the 21st century,<br />
there is need for us to review our approach to internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
This has become more relevant as our global visi<strong>on</strong> of the art world is fast<br />
changing.<br />
-60-
The African situati<strong>on</strong> again has all its uniqueness and peculiarities. For<br />
instance, the requests for African exhibits to go to Europe and the United<br />
States have always come from abroad; the c<strong>on</strong>cepts, percepti<strong>on</strong>s and designs are<br />
usually those of the foreign museums and countries asking for the exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s;<br />
this effectively removes the country of origin from influencing the exhibiti<strong>on</strong><br />
which is made up of its own works.<br />
Should this trend c<strong>on</strong>tinue Perhaps we<br />
should address it as an issue.<br />
In the spirit of "<str<strong>on</strong>g>Expanding</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>alism</str<strong>on</strong>g>" I would like to put forward<br />
some proposals that may be useful in charting the course of internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s in the future, from an African point of view.<br />
1. The present <strong>on</strong>e-directi<strong>on</strong>al flow of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s should<br />
change.<br />
A multi-directi<strong>on</strong>al approach should emerge whereby internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s will flow both from Africa to Europe and America, and from<br />
Europe and America to Africa. We in Africa want to see and appreciate the<br />
great arts and art treasures of Europe and America.<br />
2. Internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s should be held in African museums to enable us<br />
in Africa to enjoy the visi<strong>on</strong> of the best of the arts of other nati<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
3. M.lseums in Europe and America should sp<strong>on</strong>sor exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s between African<br />
museums, encourage such exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s to travel across Africa, and later go<br />
abroad.<br />
4. Internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, by their c<strong>on</strong>tents and messages, should<br />
challenge the minds and attitudes of people in order to make them rethink<br />
and expand their percepti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
5. Internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s should not be apologetic. They should be<br />
presented as they are and for what they are; their messages should be loud<br />
and unambiguous.<br />
-61 -
6. Internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s should stimulate scholarship and debates.<br />
However, in doing so, the messages of the images and/or paintings should<br />
not be distorted. lilly attempt in this directi<strong>on</strong> may make the images and<br />
paintings "laugh" at the lack of understanding of the debaters!<br />
7 . In expanding internati<strong>on</strong>alism, we should all reach out to our neighbors so<br />
that we can evolve a corrm<strong>on</strong> language through our exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s that will be<br />
meaningful to us all.<br />
I see Africa as a catalyst in expanding internati<strong>on</strong>alism for she remains<br />
the virgin that still can give birth to ideas which will lead to greater<br />
research and experimentati<strong>on</strong> and which in turn will lead to changes that will<br />
further narrow the gap of our cultural visi<strong>on</strong> of the changing global art world.<br />
-62 -
Piedad de Ballesteros<br />
Director of Plastic Arts<br />
Colcultura<br />
Bogota, Columbia<br />
Introducti<strong>on</strong><br />
Both because of the structural and c<strong>on</strong> junctura! nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
circumstances of Columbia these days, we cannot talk about a pe:r:manent,<br />
coherent, and c<strong>on</strong>tinuous philosophy, nor can we speculate up<strong>on</strong> it. As a<br />
matter of fact, with each change of the government that takes place every<br />
four years, the cultural politics and their philosophy are improvised or<br />
unc<strong>on</strong>solidated because of the peculiarity of the party in power, or due to<br />
other kinds of pressing needs and the c<strong>on</strong>tinuous social riots which<br />
relegate culture to a sec<strong>on</strong>dary positi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
For these reas<strong>on</strong>s, and because we think that other countries whose<br />
characteristics are similar to ours would be interested, I am suggesting,<br />
with the following text, a serious polemic which may:<br />
a) clarify the general view of arts as regards the state in the<br />
third world countries;<br />
b) look for comm<strong>on</strong> soluti<strong>on</strong>s to comm<strong>on</strong> problems; and<br />
c) find mechanisms -- through internati<strong>on</strong>al entities such as Arts<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al -- that make possible a link between the two<br />
periods of transiti<strong>on</strong>, a link based <strong>on</strong> universally well-grounded<br />
philosophies, which can help new ideas from dying, and instead<br />
survive and develop during this changing period.<br />
-63 -
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>alism</str<strong>on</strong>g>, Political Expansi<strong>on</strong>, and C<strong>on</strong>tinuity<br />
If we talk about internati<strong>on</strong>alism and its expansi<strong>on</strong> during these<br />
hard times we are living in Columbia, we are compelled to specify some<br />
points.<br />
1. Though the image of Columbia is shown everywhere in the world by<br />
the media as exclusively a place of crime and violence, the inner<br />
reality is not this <strong>on</strong>e.<br />
Yes, these things happen, but they are<br />
not the <strong>on</strong>ly reality.<br />
2. For this reas<strong>on</strong> all Columbians who believe in our cultural and<br />
social values feel the necessity to spread the positive and valid<br />
elements we have at an internati<strong>on</strong>al level.<br />
3. The word "internati<strong>on</strong>al" these days, and from the point of view<br />
of Columbia, is given in a. definiti<strong>on</strong> .. that;"merges the" gegg:rapmc<br />
with the philosophic elements, because our point of view does not<br />
allow us to separate these two categories at first sight.<br />
4. The positive outcome generated by this situati<strong>on</strong> is that we feel<br />
obliged to reach a positi<strong>on</strong> that may ransom our true dimensi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In light of the above menti<strong>on</strong>ed points, it is easy to understand the<br />
interest we have in these internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s as a means of showing<br />
the cultural and artistical processes internati<strong>on</strong>ally in our countx:y.<br />
But<br />
it is necessax:y to analyze in which way this participati<strong>on</strong> has to be made,<br />
since up to now both participati<strong>on</strong> and selecti<strong>on</strong> modalities have led us to<br />
send <strong>on</strong>e or two artists who by this means c<strong>on</strong>solidate their positi<strong>on</strong> at a<br />
local level.<br />
-64 -
The fact that the selecti<strong>on</strong> is made by an officer working in the<br />
Mrrnistry for Foreign Affairs or in the Culture Institute whose c<strong>on</strong>tacts<br />
with the organizati<strong>on</strong> of the expositi<strong>on</strong> is incidental, does not allow for<br />
the development of a dialogue between the artistic scene of the country<br />
and the internati<strong>on</strong>al interlocutor. This brings me to suggest the<br />
following points as a working theme:<br />
let's take advantage of this group of people coming from different<br />
parts of the world to create per:manent working groups; and<br />
every <strong>on</strong>e of us is playing at this moment an important role in his<br />
own country, but our charges are temporary and the politicians operate<br />
without visi<strong>on</strong> of the future when our charges will be over and others in<br />
our place.<br />
This is an appropriate moment generated by the cultural leadership<br />
of Arts Internati<strong>on</strong>al at a world level -- that could fail if no method is<br />
defined to allow in this decade for the structuring of an organizati<strong>on</strong> in<br />
which each participant works in his own country with the representative of<br />
the geographically brother countries, under the directi<strong>on</strong> of an<br />
organizati<strong>on</strong> dealing with clear policies and a necessary infrastructure<br />
that may keep this process active, in spite of the changing social,<br />
political, and ec<strong>on</strong>omic situati<strong>on</strong> which otherwise could c<strong>on</strong>fuse and<br />
deprive the real objectives here suggested.<br />
There is no doubt that this kind of meeting represents to every<strong>on</strong>e<br />
present a chance for mutual, open exchange and also a c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> to<br />
every<strong>on</strong>e's background.<br />
But such an extensi<strong>on</strong> must have wider dimensi<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
I invite you to define "how" and "by which means" it is possible to<br />
keep open the dialogue we are starting here.<br />
-65 -
~<br />
The three important internati<strong>on</strong>al expositi<strong>on</strong>s -- Venice, Kassel, Sao<br />
Paulo<br />
are already classical instituti<strong>on</strong>s of c<strong>on</strong>temporary art; but<br />
thanks to the c<strong>on</strong>stant exchange of informati<strong>on</strong> taking place between<br />
representatives of each country, internati<strong>on</strong>al artistic events can arise<br />
with more specific objectives, in accordance with the changes which<br />
c<strong>on</strong>temporary art, in its agile state, makes.<br />
Some changes are suggested for a transiti<strong>on</strong> period, but when shared<br />
and compared, have the regenerative strength of definitive proposals that<br />
will surely be reflected in the important internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
-66 -
Mark Francis<br />
Curator of C<strong>on</strong>temporary Art<br />
Carnegie Museum<br />
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA<br />
This debate is becoming riddled with the corpses of "compulsory<br />
sincerity." We should not succumb to the illusi<strong>on</strong> that we are discussing art<br />
or human rights here, but rather a c<strong>on</strong>text of power and politics.<br />
(We are<br />
meeting under the auspices of an organizati<strong>on</strong> which states "our goals are to<br />
increase U.S. representati<strong>on</strong> at important internati<strong>on</strong>al festivals and<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s ....")<br />
For myself, I would like to see an emphasis <strong>on</strong> three linked attitudes:<br />
scepticism toward the nati<strong>on</strong>al or regi<strong>on</strong>al interests of politicians,<br />
bureaucrats, and critics who normally tend to hijack or simplify artistic<br />
projects; generosity toward the interests of artists and the viewing public<br />
(such as we experienced during the installati<strong>on</strong> of "Magiciens de la Terre" in<br />
Paris last year); and pragmatism toward realistic projects which will create a<br />
dialogue of different histories and geographies, of artistic dialects, and of<br />
the hybrid, composite, complex diaspora in which we are all living.<br />
Let us take a practical example.<br />
We might investigate what comm<strong>on</strong><br />
structures and differences could :be identified in the great urban centres of<br />
the world--such as Tokyo, Los Angeles, cairo, Kinsha, Mexico City, Bombay.<br />
This was something we discussed but did not treat in Paris. And here it is<br />
more or less fruitless to superimpose the old intellectual ~ of the 20th<br />
century, or words such as idealism or the "exotic."<br />
-67 -
Some of the "internati<strong>on</strong>al" exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s now have a l<strong>on</strong>g history and<br />
traditi<strong>on</strong>, as in Kassel, Venice, or the "carnegie Internati<strong>on</strong>al" in Pittsburgh<br />
(founded 1896) .<br />
If nothing else, those of us who are resp<strong>on</strong>sible for these<br />
venerable instituti<strong>on</strong>s must account for what is being made in the world of<br />
art, and c<strong>on</strong>tinually remake the "carte du m<strong>on</strong>de poetique" (M. Broodthaers) as<br />
time passes. And it is to the artists themselves that we should first attend.<br />
-68 -
"The Multicultural Paradigm"<br />
(from High Perf<strong>on</strong>nance, Fall 1989)<br />
by<br />
ltJ<br />
Guillermo Gomez-Pena<br />
Artist<br />
San Diego, California, USA<br />
The First and Third Worlds have mutually penetrated <strong>on</strong>e another.<br />
The<br />
two Americas are totally intertwined.<br />
The corrplex demographic, social, and<br />
liguistic processes that are transforming the U.S. into a member of the<br />
"Sec<strong>on</strong>d World" (or perhaps Fourth World), are being reflected in the art and<br />
thought produced by Latinos, Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, and<br />
Anglo-Europeans.<br />
Unlike the images <strong>on</strong> televisi<strong>on</strong> or in commercial cinema<br />
depicting a m<strong>on</strong>ocultural middle class world existing outside of internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
crises, c<strong>on</strong>temporary U.S. society is fundamentally multicultural,<br />
multilingual, and socially polarized.<br />
So is its art.<br />
In order to describe the trans-, inter-, and multicultural processes<br />
that are at the core of c<strong>on</strong>temporary border experience as Latino artists in<br />
the U.S. , we need to find a new terminology, a new ic<strong>on</strong>ography and a new set<br />
of catagories and definiti<strong>on</strong>s. "We need to re-baptize the world in our own<br />
terms." The language of postmodemism is ethnocentric and insufficient. And<br />
so is the existing language of cultural instituti<strong>on</strong>s and funding agencies.<br />
Terms like "Hispanic," "Latino," "ethnic, " "minority, " "marginal, "<br />
"alternative," and "Third World," am<strong>on</strong>g others, are inaccurate and loaded with<br />
ideological irrplicati<strong>on</strong>s. They create categories and hierarchies that promote<br />
political dependence and cultural underestimati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In the absence of a more<br />
enlightened terminology, we have no choice but to utilize them with extreme<br />
care.<br />
-69-
"Multicultural" is the hip word of the late '80s. Everybody agrees it<br />
is politically correct. Few know what it really means.<br />
It is an ambiguous term.<br />
It can mean a cultural pluralism in which the<br />
various ethnic groups collaborate and dialog with <strong>on</strong>e another without having<br />
to sacrifice their particular identities and this is extremely desirable. But<br />
it can also mean a kind of Esperantic Disney World, a tutti frutti cocktail of<br />
cultures, languages, and art forms in which "everything becomes everything<br />
else." This is a dangerous noti<strong>on</strong> that str<strong>on</strong>gly resembles the bankrupt<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cept of the melting pot with its familiar c<strong>on</strong>notati<strong>on</strong>s of integrati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
homogenizati<strong>on</strong> and pasteurizati<strong>on</strong>. It is why so many Latino and black<br />
organizati<strong>on</strong>s are so distrustful of the term.<br />
The debate is <strong>on</strong> and we should all participate in sharpening the<br />
meaning of the word.<br />
Artistic quality is also relative. Hegem<strong>on</strong>ic centers like New York,<br />
Paris, and M9Kioo City have manufactured sacred CQ,DQil~~Qctc!lfl!~r~(ility<br />
and<br />
eKcellence that we are eKpected to follow in order to break out of regi<strong>on</strong>alism<br />
or ethnicity. But these dogmas are crumbling.<br />
The multicultural process that<br />
the U.S. is presently undergoing irrplies a shift of center, a decentralizati<strong>on</strong><br />
of aesthetic can<strong>on</strong>s and styles, and therefore a multiplicati<strong>on</strong> of validating<br />
criteria.<br />
We must realize that all cultures are open systems in c<strong>on</strong>stant process<br />
of transformati<strong>on</strong>, redefiniti<strong>on</strong>, and rec<strong>on</strong>textualizati<strong>on</strong>. What we need is<br />
dialog, not protecti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In fact, the <strong>on</strong>ly way to regenerate identity and<br />
culture is through <strong>on</strong>going dialog with the other.<br />
Then, the questi<strong>on</strong> is, what does dialog mean.<br />
Some thoughts in this<br />
respect: "Dialog is a two-way <strong>on</strong>going comrmmicati<strong>on</strong> between peoples and<br />
comrmmities that enjoy equal negotiating powers."<br />
-70 -
Dialog is a micro-universal expressi<strong>on</strong> of internati<strong>on</strong>al cooperati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
When it is effective, we recognize ourselves in the other and realize we d<strong>on</strong>'t<br />
have to fear.<br />
Dialog never existed between the First and Third Worlds.<br />
We must not<br />
c<strong>on</strong>fuse dialog with neo-col<strong>on</strong>ialism, paternalism, vampirism, tokenism, or<br />
appropriati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Dialog is the opposite of nati<strong>on</strong>al security, neighborhood watch, racial<br />
paranoia, aesthetic protecti<strong>on</strong>ism, sentimental nati<strong>on</strong>alism, ethnocentrism, and<br />
m<strong>on</strong>olinguality.<br />
In order to dialog, "we must learn each other's language, history, art,<br />
literature, and political ideas." We must travel South and East, with<br />
frequency and humility, not as cultural tourists but as civilian ambassadors.<br />
Only through dialog we can develop models of coexistence and<br />
cooperati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Only through an <strong>on</strong>going public dialog in the form of<br />
publicati<strong>on</strong>s, c<strong>on</strong>ferences and collaborative intercultural art and media<br />
projects, can the wound effectively heal. "It will be a l<strong>on</strong>g process. It<br />
might take 30 to 50 years. We cannot undo centuries of cultural indifference,<br />
dominati<strong>on</strong> and racism overnight." All we can aspire to is beginning a<br />
dialog. This documentati<strong>on</strong> is a htmlble c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
I ask you to join in.<br />
-71 -
-72 -
"Multiculturalism"<br />
by<br />
:Marina Grzinic<br />
Video Artist, Independent Curator , and Critic<br />
Ljubljana, Yugoslavia<br />
We have to understand multiculturalism in the ;vay culture<br />
genealogically means cultivare (to cultivate). But this cultivare doesn't<br />
suppose a regi<strong>on</strong>alism or particularism, but more corrplex taking care of<br />
multicultural situati<strong>on</strong>, cultivare differences.<br />
So, multiculturalism is<br />
understood to be like a pluralism of differences between cultures.<br />
Multiculturalism is not a mere juxtapositi<strong>on</strong> of cultures in<br />
geographical terms, but a political definiti<strong>on</strong>. That means an understanding<br />
of the c<strong>on</strong>texts of multicultural c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s. Or, if we are speaking about<br />
geography, than relating it to the history of cultures (in time and space) ,<br />
instead of its territorial determinati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
When we start to rec<strong>on</strong>sider cultural differences, we have to speak<br />
about c<strong>on</strong>text, because it can seem to us at first glance that producti<strong>on</strong>s are<br />
similar--but the effects are different. Therefore, we have to ask what are<br />
the c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s, what c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s have made this interacti<strong>on</strong> of cultures<br />
possible, and what may be the result and effect of this multiculturalism.<br />
That means that we are proposing not to discuss the situati<strong>on</strong> described<br />
by the statement "their identity in our mirrors," where "their" means "we,<br />
third world, socialist countries, or eastern Europe," but instead to transform<br />
this into "your identity in our mirrors."<br />
-73 -
If we try to make a more exact definiti<strong>on</strong> of this difference, i.e., to<br />
determine it within the artistic and cultural discourse of the '80s and '90s<br />
in Slovenia, Yugoslavia, we have to take into c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong> some projects<br />
realized during this time.<br />
The art projects of the group IRWIN (a group of painters known also<br />
abroad due to their exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s in Europe and the USA).<br />
IRWIN, together with<br />
the music group Laibach and the theater family "The Sisters of Scipi<strong>on</strong> Nasice"<br />
(in 1988 renamed "Red Pilot"), established a specific artistic collective<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sisting of more than 100 artists, ideologists, media harbingers, etc. -<br />
Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK)/The New Slovenian Art.<br />
The paintings by IRWIN<br />
display mostly repetiti<strong>on</strong> of "isms" that are c<strong>on</strong>stitutive for the Slovene<br />
history of art, socialist realism, and modernism of the ' 60s, where the latter<br />
is presented as a negative experience, as a delay in regard to the modernism<br />
of the West, as a kind of kitsch-producti<strong>on</strong>. We may say that all the<br />
syntactics of pictoriaL ic<strong>on</strong>ography in th§ J2~jJ)t:;Jng~<br />
are a kind of a<br />
c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong> of elements and models bel<strong>on</strong>ging to the Slovene cultural area and<br />
to the avant-gardes and neo avant-gardes of Western culture and traditi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
II.<br />
Some projects of copied paintings, sculptures, etc. by:<br />
--Artist Adrian Kovacs who presented the project of "copied Cezanne<br />
self-portraits" at the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> "Yugoslav Documenta" (Sarajevo, 1989) .<br />
Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, projects of copying presented under titles like: "The Last<br />
Futurist Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>," realized in the 1985/1986 in Belgrade and Ljubljana.<br />
This exhibiti<strong>on</strong> was a rec<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong> of the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> first held by the great<br />
Russian Supremacist painter Kazimir Malevich, presented in Petrograd in 1915<br />
under the same name.<br />
The author (or authors) of the Yugoslav project signed<br />
-74 -
themselves as Kazimir Malevich.<br />
In the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> a series of Nee-Supremacist<br />
paintings made from Supremacist elements in gobelin technique, etc .... were<br />
included.<br />
This Kazimir Malevich acquainted the American and world public<br />
with his exhibiti<strong>on</strong> by a letter published in the art magazine Art in America<br />
where he was asked why the real Petrograd exhibiti<strong>on</strong> aroused such interest.<br />
The Belgrade repetiti<strong>on</strong> was followed by a New York <strong>on</strong>e; artist David Diao<br />
created an unique photograph of the Petrograd exhibiti<strong>on</strong> as a two-dimensi<strong>on</strong>al<br />
picture.<br />
--"The Internati<strong>on</strong>al Exhibiti<strong>on</strong> of Modem Art" (presented in Belgrade<br />
and Ljubljana in 1986) was a partial rec<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong> and symbolic repetiti<strong>on</strong> of<br />
a large exhibiti<strong>on</strong> of modem art known as the "Armory Show" in 1913 when, for<br />
the first time, modem European art was introduced to the USA; at "The<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al Exhibiti<strong>on</strong> of Modem Art" copied works of modem art up to the<br />
present time were also shown.<br />
This exhibiti<strong>on</strong> was organized by an<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al group c<strong>on</strong>temporary Europecm and .. American artists.<br />
These projects not <strong>on</strong>ly functi<strong>on</strong> interpellatively--as spots, making a<br />
subject of a spectator, determining him as their own spectator--but also they<br />
develop series of strategies and tactics of representati<strong>on</strong>s and presentati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
which we can c<strong>on</strong>sider as new models of representati<strong>on</strong> and so, thought models,<br />
which determine the subject in this so-called time of postmodemism.<br />
Through<br />
these producti<strong>on</strong>s "the Other" ("their /yours identity") is formed, reformed,<br />
deformed, and transformed.<br />
We can speak about interior multiculturalism, with<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al effects; through the process of reappropriating, recycling<br />
different histories and cultures within the artistic process, a specific<br />
multicultural c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong> is c<strong>on</strong>structed.<br />
-75 -
The questi<strong>on</strong> still to be answered regards the ideologic c<strong>on</strong>sequence of<br />
postm<strong>on</strong>dernism (or postmodernist c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>) in the East -- in the socialist<br />
societies. While it seems that the ideological c<strong>on</strong>sequences are sec<strong>on</strong>dary to<br />
the capitalist art-market, the c<strong>on</strong>trary applies to the socialist society,<br />
where there is no art market.<br />
We can say (more in a for:m of c<strong>on</strong>cept) that the<br />
so-called socialist and capitalist societies are "structured" by two different<br />
discourses. While the capitalist society functi<strong>on</strong>s as a neurotic discourse,<br />
which tries to neutralize the side effects of a pertinent<br />
interpretati<strong>on</strong>/producti<strong>on</strong> in the way that they are to be understood as<br />
something accidental and marginal, the socialist society presents a painful<br />
example of psychotic discourse functi<strong>on</strong>, which tries to neutralize the side<br />
effects of a pertinent interpretati<strong>on</strong>/producti<strong>on</strong> in a way to hide, to mask, to<br />
rename them the history. The projects delineated above, whose strategies and<br />
tactics can be defined as imitati<strong>on</strong>, simulati<strong>on</strong>, loss of the object or<br />
producti<strong>on</strong> of the new object,, try to reaGh ~actJj7. ~§"Jl-i-~~9EX·<br />
We can say<br />
that the c<strong>on</strong>cepts/models/strategies of copying, repeating, imitati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
simulati<strong>on</strong> ... are the ideal models of producing the new for:ms of representati<strong>on</strong><br />
and presentati<strong>on</strong>, and bring it, through the effects of mimicry,<br />
territorializati<strong>on</strong>, and binocularizati<strong>on</strong>, into discursive c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong>s which<br />
can bel<strong>on</strong>g to the new situati<strong>on</strong> of multiculturalism of the ' 90s.<br />
What appears here, can appear precisely because it was absent.<br />
The<br />
"Other" is inscribed in this "passage," which is now referred to image,<br />
memory, history, or cliche. These works/projects functi<strong>on</strong> as the "instituti<strong>on</strong><br />
of different cultures and histories made visible". It is here a matter of<br />
repetiti<strong>on</strong> more than copying or reproducing.<br />
Repetiti<strong>on</strong> and remembering are<br />
not corrmutati ve because the artist started with repetiti<strong>on</strong> in order to achieve<br />
remembering.<br />
-76 -
The effect of these quotati<strong>on</strong>s, repetiti<strong>on</strong>s, and combining of different<br />
painting ted:miques and material (coal, animal blood ... ) is a special kind of<br />
object: the c<strong>on</strong>temporary relic, fetish objects whose presence we must<br />
understand semantically.<br />
The presence of fetish objects becomes semantic when<br />
we realize that it, by its "positive" presence, <strong>on</strong>ly c<strong>on</strong>firms the filling of a<br />
gap and absence.<br />
That is, the object, although positively given, by its<br />
presence, presents fulfillment, c<strong>on</strong>firmati<strong>on</strong>, a sign of its own absence, of<br />
its own leave.<br />
These objects are, in their positivity, the purest symbol, "the<br />
signifier" of absence.<br />
That is why, aside from any ideology of returning to<br />
the roots and closeness, such a shift from "the signifier to the object" can<br />
present a "rati<strong>on</strong>al essence" of theories of this specific kind of<br />
multiculturalism.<br />
The effect of such a transfer is the ability to experience<br />
how some symbolic "unrepeatable move," completely structural, defining a<br />
structural place of the object (of the artistic producti<strong>on</strong>, of the cultural<br />
c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>, of the interpretati<strong>on</strong> ... ) , and not its "real characteristics,"<br />
decide about that diffe'rence.<br />
-77 -
-78 -
"Notes <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>alism</str<strong>on</strong>g> and the Internati<strong>on</strong>al Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s"<br />
by<br />
Beral Madra<br />
Curator of the Istanbul Biennale<br />
and Director, Galeri BM<br />
Istanbul, Turkey<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>alism</str<strong>on</strong>g> today has its positive and negative aspects and<br />
exposes a duality that must be overcome c<strong>on</strong>stantly in order to protect the<br />
regi<strong>on</strong>al and cultural identities. The superficial internati<strong>on</strong>alism created by<br />
tourism, business interacti<strong>on</strong>s, media flow, televisi<strong>on</strong>, and fashi<strong>on</strong> is<br />
building up a kind of cultural standardizati<strong>on</strong>. All over the world the<br />
regi<strong>on</strong>al and the nati<strong>on</strong>al qualities are wearing out.<br />
These qualities have<br />
been and still are the sources of cross fertilizati<strong>on</strong>, an essential process<br />
for the development of the universal culture. The historical art regi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
which are most Subject to touristic and commercial corrupti<strong>on</strong>, in both<br />
physical and c<strong>on</strong>ceptual senses, are the primary victims of this kind of<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>alism. The superficial internati<strong>on</strong>alism can be overcome through<br />
reinforcing art and culture activities. Artists, traveling all over the world<br />
and creating art works in situ for any given and chosen place, are leaving<br />
behind evidences of real internati<strong>on</strong>alism. The real internati<strong>on</strong>ality lies in<br />
the c<strong>on</strong>fr<strong>on</strong>tati<strong>on</strong> of the distant references, diversities, or even c<strong>on</strong>flicting<br />
opposites, all developing into a new metaphor.<br />
Since the beginning of the '80s the fr<strong>on</strong>tiers of the art world have<br />
been rapidly expanding.<br />
The c<strong>on</strong>ference in Glasgow (:M:lrch 1990) titled "Arts<br />
Without Fr<strong>on</strong>tiers" dealt with this subject in length and depth.<br />
The growing<br />
-79-
seeds of the art market, the search for further good works and artists, the<br />
growing influence of communicati<strong>on</strong> systems and facilities, the informati<strong>on</strong><br />
flow, the need for exploring new inspirati<strong>on</strong>s and experiences, the producti<strong>on</strong><br />
of art works all over the world are the reas<strong>on</strong>s of this expansi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The recent<br />
political changes also c<strong>on</strong>tribute to it.<br />
As curator in a peripheral country, I was observing and expecting the<br />
changes in the internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. <str<strong>on</strong>g>Expanding</str<strong>on</strong>g> our resources and<br />
possibilities, we organized the two biennials (1987,89), and we have also<br />
increased our efforts to communicate with the internati<strong>on</strong>al art world in order<br />
to participate in the expected change.<br />
Although the biennials are still a part of the c<strong>on</strong>temporary art system,<br />
they are not events of more irrportance than the others which are organized<br />
frequently in many metropoles.<br />
They have lost their <strong>on</strong>e-time irrportance,<br />
because art activities are rapidly spread out through the media.<br />
The<br />
mediators of the art .world tra'V(;;l from c:ountcy to country organizing numerous<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s which are favorite show-offs of the multinati<strong>on</strong>al companies.<br />
Biennials are now more touristic and prestigious events, unless they<br />
philosophically or c<strong>on</strong>ceptually c<strong>on</strong>tribute to the development of c<strong>on</strong>temporary<br />
art. Most of the time, they do not offer a platfo:rm for healthy comparis<strong>on</strong>,<br />
but a high platform for art market and other commercial tendencies. Biennials<br />
are nowadays primarily a showroom of the latest trends in the art world.<br />
The<br />
leading actors are not the artists and their works, but the bar<strong>on</strong>s (curators,<br />
museum directors, and gallerists) of the art scene.<br />
Western art (a te:rm created by the Western art mediators), if<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sidered from the 13th century <strong>on</strong>, is a part of world art development.<br />
It<br />
is as unique or as composed as other art fo:rms and styles. Twentieth -century<br />
art is a part of this development, which also bears c<strong>on</strong>cepts, styles,<br />
-80 -
trends, inspirati<strong>on</strong>s c<strong>on</strong>sumed from the Asian, African, and other regi<strong>on</strong>al<br />
arts. Especially, in the sec<strong>on</strong>d half of the 20th-century, the artist swept<br />
out all the boundaries and openly borrowed from any kind of art. The cross<br />
fertilizati<strong>on</strong> has been so intense and likeable, that we must forget about the<br />
te.rms Western/N<strong>on</strong>-Western and we must build new terminologies.<br />
In this case<br />
the curator, the mediator, the dealer must discipline himself, to look at<br />
diverse cultures as part of the 20th-century entity. The mixture in the<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s should be made according to the c<strong>on</strong>cept and the<br />
quality of the artwork, and not according to the old-fashi<strong>on</strong>ed segregati<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
An interesting and appealing internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>, nowadays, will <strong>on</strong>ly<br />
emerge out of the close inspecti<strong>on</strong> of this cross fertilizati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Multicultural diversity is an irrportant fact in the realm of the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>terrporary art. This creates difficulties both for the theoretical works<br />
and for selecti<strong>on</strong>. But, at the same time, it is in the c<strong>on</strong>tent and structure<br />
of the artwork itself.. The coordinates of the multiculturality follow in <strong>on</strong>e<br />
directi<strong>on</strong> (nati<strong>on</strong>al-regi<strong>on</strong>al) and envir<strong>on</strong>mental diversities, in the other<br />
directi<strong>on</strong> nati<strong>on</strong>al-universal art history and traditi<strong>on</strong>. This undeniable<br />
multiculturality must be expressed, and the c<strong>on</strong>cept and aim of the exhibiti<strong>on</strong><br />
should be organized by a committee of curators selected equally from the major<br />
and the peripheral sites who should co:rrmunicate with each other throughout the<br />
whole year.<br />
The exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s should not be staged at already saturated major<br />
sites but in other areas.<br />
A perfect integrati<strong>on</strong> between the clearly defined c<strong>on</strong>cept of the show<br />
and the selecti<strong>on</strong> of the artists and artworks, is the most sought-after<br />
quality of the internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, which should not diminish under<br />
market influences and prejudiced decisi<strong>on</strong>s. The mega shows will c<strong>on</strong>tinue in<br />
-81 -
the future, but the real need of the art public is to look at the artist's<br />
work in depth, to follow his development and change through his work.<br />
The<br />
parallelisms and the coincidental similarities observed in the works of many<br />
artists, specifically in the '80s, require more detailed definiti<strong>on</strong> of their<br />
entire producti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The audience both in the major sites and the periphery is<br />
still to be educated through exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. The prejudices are not yet broken<br />
down.<br />
Al<strong>on</strong>gside the exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, c<strong>on</strong>ferences and seminars are most effective<br />
activities in generating cultural exchanges.<br />
But nothing can be more<br />
effective than a televisi<strong>on</strong> network reserved solely for c<strong>on</strong>temporary art,<br />
spreading around informati<strong>on</strong>, ideas, c<strong>on</strong>cepts, and art news to the world<br />
without making a discriminati<strong>on</strong> between Western and N<strong>on</strong>-Western art.<br />
-82 -
Jean-Hubert Martin<br />
/ Director<br />
MUsee Nati<strong>on</strong>al d'Art Mbderne<br />
Centre Georges Pompidou<br />
Paris, France<br />
There are two words whose literal meaning creates problems in today's<br />
visual arts world: internati<strong>on</strong>al and c<strong>on</strong>temporary.<br />
They have been used most directly in the making of the "Magiciens de la<br />
Terre" exhibiti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
I do not understand how exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s which define<br />
themselves according to these terms can be systematically passed <strong>on</strong> to<br />
n<strong>on</strong>-western cultures. A certain number of art world professi<strong>on</strong>als could not<br />
wait for the recent political developments to implement these simple ideas.<br />
From this point of view, the '60s were much more internati<strong>on</strong>al than the '80s<br />
have been.<br />
Art has always transcended barriers, political <strong>on</strong>es in<br />
particular. This is not a good reas<strong>on</strong>, however, to c<strong>on</strong>demn exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s such<br />
as the Venice Bienniale which is founded up<strong>on</strong> internati<strong>on</strong>al themes inherited<br />
from the 19th century.<br />
In fact, the Venice Bienniale, up till now, gives<br />
countries excluded from the dominant arts circuit a chance to show their work<br />
through exhibits such as "Documenta, " insofar as these countries benefit from<br />
having a pavili<strong>on</strong>.<br />
There are needs other than curiosity of intellectual h<strong>on</strong>esty to promote<br />
an interest in other cultures. After "Magiciens de la Terre," every<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong> organizer nowadays is obliged to define his positi<strong>on</strong> in relati<strong>on</strong> to<br />
other cultures, while before he could in an arrogant manner, state that<br />
"besides ours, no other interesting artistic manifestati<strong>on</strong>s exist."<br />
-83 -
it is this desire to transgress "the forbidden" that led me to organize<br />
"Magiciens de la Terre." The same desire that does not let <strong>on</strong>e put aside<br />
artists of different cultures.<br />
And why d<strong>on</strong>'t we make choices in other cultures as we do in our own<br />
It is this desire to show "tendencies" that again and again has suppressed the<br />
individual eccentricities of Third World artists.<br />
If there exists, outside our own culture, important artistic<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, it is highly desirable to showcase them, regardless of how big or<br />
small the exhibit is.<br />
-84 -
Gerardo MOsquera<br />
Cuarta Bienal de la Habana<br />
Havana, Cuba<br />
"Internati<strong>on</strong>al art, " to a great extent, means <strong>on</strong>ly what is produced in<br />
New York and in very few other hegem<strong>on</strong>ic metropolises, "internati<strong>on</strong>alized" by<br />
the most powerful circuit of museums, galleries, biennials, and publicati<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
If Chicago and even Paris are discriminated against -- what can we expect for<br />
the Third World!<br />
This selective distributi<strong>on</strong> -- in fact a cultural apartheid<br />
-- needs to be democratized to benefit not <strong>on</strong>ly the excluded, but also the<br />
excluding <strong>on</strong>es, and most of all the public who loses the richness of diversity.<br />
A pressure from the public and the artistic community is needed to open<br />
up to the world these greater circuits. And also indispensable is the<br />
creati<strong>on</strong> of new spaces and events, specifically aimed at truly<br />
"internati<strong>on</strong>alizing" the "internati<strong>on</strong>al artistic scene. "<br />
There should be an<br />
atterrpt to form independent, internati<strong>on</strong>al groups of artists, critics,<br />
curators, with private and public funding, to work <strong>on</strong> exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, meetings,<br />
publicati<strong>on</strong>s, and informati<strong>on</strong> exchange.<br />
The cultural differences, far from being an obstacle, may provide a<br />
mutually enlightening pluralism. But for a better understanding, it would be<br />
advisable for there to be development of more sophisticated curatorial work<br />
based <strong>on</strong> a discussi<strong>on</strong> of ideas am<strong>on</strong>g and participati<strong>on</strong> of specialists of the<br />
different regi<strong>on</strong>s of countries, instead of organizing "bazaar" exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
This would also avoid visi<strong>on</strong>s with exotic tendencies, typical from the West<br />
searching for the "unusual." Also of utmost importance is the organizati<strong>on</strong> of<br />
-85 -
symposia, artists' workshops, and meetings of all kinds, simultaneously with<br />
the exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, to encourage dialogue and understanding.<br />
The above refers to c<strong>on</strong>temporary art produced for exhibiti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Traditi<strong>on</strong>al art, whose meanings and purposes differ, poses specific problems,<br />
not yet solved.<br />
But it is precisely c<strong>on</strong>temporary art from the "South" that<br />
needs to be "internati<strong>on</strong>alized, " erasing the visi<strong>on</strong> of the Third World as<br />
traditi<strong>on</strong>al or whose c<strong>on</strong>temporary art is disqualified because it resembles the<br />
art of the (internati<strong>on</strong>al) centers (meaning it is not picturesque or<br />
"primitive" enough), while disregarding its specific c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong>s as<br />
c<strong>on</strong>temporary art.<br />
The real "internati<strong>on</strong>alizati<strong>on</strong>" of the artistic scene cannot be<br />
postp<strong>on</strong>ed, but the efforts towards this goal should not distract Third World<br />
artists from their aim to satisfy the needs of their own situati<strong>on</strong>. I believe<br />
that today' s culture should be more and more local -- serving as a soluti<strong>on</strong> to<br />
local problems ....... and at the same time more intemCitioDeil, that is, with a<br />
knowledge of the whole and an aim for communicati<strong>on</strong> am<strong>on</strong>g all.<br />
-86-
Bernice Murphy<br />
Assistant Director and Chief Curator<br />
Museum of C<strong>on</strong>temporary Art<br />
Sydney, Australia<br />
The theme of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s interests me greatly, but of<br />
course, I take a somewhat different approach from that of curators or<br />
"exhibiti<strong>on</strong> makers," as the Germans call them, working in centers of<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al art, and working out from a centrist approach.<br />
That approach is<br />
impossible to sustain, in my experience, if you attend to c<strong>on</strong>temporary culture<br />
in all its potential f<strong>on</strong>ns, from internati<strong>on</strong>al to local, and respecting both<br />
ends of this spectrum (which means not being c<strong>on</strong>tent with merely<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>alist or merely parochial c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s, but taking a more alert,<br />
exploratory and inquiring attitude to c<strong>on</strong>temporary culture in all of its<br />
productive c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s) .<br />
There are problems in attempting to tie art works and artists into<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>figurati<strong>on</strong>s, when the processes of c<strong>on</strong>stituting work develop<br />
according to dialectical operati<strong>on</strong>s of mind and experience that reach bey<strong>on</strong>d<br />
questi<strong>on</strong>s of nati<strong>on</strong>ality or geographic locati<strong>on</strong>. At times, when c<strong>on</strong>fr<strong>on</strong>ted<br />
with the striking internati<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>s and interactive influences that<br />
may prosper in art, <strong>on</strong>e is tempted to aband<strong>on</strong> the distincti<strong>on</strong>s of nati<strong>on</strong>ality<br />
altogether as too limiting or falsifying.<br />
And yet, in this late-20th-century world that has in recent decades<br />
been arrogantly mythified as a "global village," the more <strong>on</strong>e works in<br />
different parts of the world, even the Western world, the more <strong>on</strong>e may<br />
penetrate the insistently shaping powers of local traditi<strong>on</strong>s, local languages,<br />
local decisi<strong>on</strong>s, and local priorities.<br />
-87 -
We may watch the same satellite news footage <strong>on</strong> televisi<strong>on</strong>, but the<br />
moment this material enters our minds and c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong>s, it enters the field<br />
of restricted, particularizing experience. At the point of entry, or<br />
inserti<strong>on</strong>, into any cultural situati<strong>on</strong>, it is already negotiated through the<br />
first transiti<strong>on</strong> into the field of language, and in that moment aband<strong>on</strong>s its<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al or trans-nati<strong>on</strong>al character and begins the c<strong>on</strong>versi<strong>on</strong>ary passage<br />
into the more particular, regi<strong>on</strong>al, even local. In this <strong>on</strong>going process of<br />
negotiati<strong>on</strong> of meaning, it must also meet the forces of local resistance,<br />
al<strong>on</strong>gside those of local recepti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The discourse of the margins or periphery (which can be treated as <strong>on</strong>e<br />
kind of discourse) is somewhat different from the discourse of the minority.<br />
The discourse of the periphery, as c<strong>on</strong>stituted from the periphery, assumes the<br />
center as a place of surfeit and plenitude. And yet other, differently<br />
resistant discourses arise within and find a transit through the space of<br />
so-called centers of culture ..<br />
Spaces of surfeit and stringency jostle, co-exist, fight for<br />
significati<strong>on</strong>, or fold into <strong>on</strong>e another, at the center, at the periphery, even<br />
in the hinterland or interstices. In fact, the geographical stability of our<br />
speech is often far too static, reflecting an agrarian ec<strong>on</strong>omy of mind that<br />
still shapes our thought, often in c<strong>on</strong>trast to the technological fluidity of<br />
much c<strong>on</strong>terrporary social experience.<br />
So the binary oppositi<strong>on</strong>s raised by the discourse of the margins and<br />
periphery (and even that of the minority) need revisi<strong>on</strong> and resistance in<br />
order to reach a more workable grasp of real circumstances, of the<br />
specificities of both interacti<strong>on</strong> and difference. The problem of<br />
m<strong>on</strong>opolizati<strong>on</strong> and dogmatism of values arising in centers has to do more with<br />
-88 -
the atrophying c<strong>on</strong>figurati<strong>on</strong> of many (but not all) established instituti<strong>on</strong>s,<br />
info:rmati<strong>on</strong> systems, and circulati<strong>on</strong> of judgments within the territory of "the<br />
center," rather than any automatically shared character and existence of<br />
instituti<strong>on</strong>s, texts, or artworks in such territory.<br />
The value of the metropolis as a site to receive, test, accommodate,<br />
and defend difference is often undervalued in the more defiant (sometimes<br />
narrow and arrogant) strains of the discourse of the periphery or regi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The<br />
metropolis, while <strong>on</strong> the <strong>on</strong>e hand being the site of c<strong>on</strong>solidati<strong>on</strong> of values,<br />
is also the likely site for the exchange and negotiati<strong>on</strong> of difference -<br />
while the periphery may be less tolerant of disparity, more obstinate in<br />
refusing the possibilities of divergence.<br />
The binary noti<strong>on</strong>s of cultural process, expressed and recycled<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tinually in the regular oppositi<strong>on</strong>s of such terms as periphery/center,<br />
regi<strong>on</strong>/capital, village/metropolis, east/west, rural/urban, col<strong>on</strong>y/imperial<br />
power, need a radical restructuring -- in fact, to be exploded open -- to<br />
begin to accommodate the more complex c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s of a vast variety of<br />
circumstances in c<strong>on</strong>temporary cultural experience.<br />
The cartography is too<br />
static. The sense of power structures is too stratified and rigid. The<br />
noti<strong>on</strong> of cultural influence and process is too immobilized, canalized and<br />
sanitized in such antinomies.<br />
To our instituti<strong>on</strong>, it is idealogically irrportant to link up with<br />
"internati<strong>on</strong>al" dialogue and activities elsewhere, but also to attend to<br />
issues and c<strong>on</strong>texts that the internati<strong>on</strong>alist world generally does not care<br />
about, unless it can present itself as "exotic " to a European occidental gaze<br />
and its descendant discourses and traditi<strong>on</strong>s. We are developing projects with<br />
groups in Chile, Peru, New Zealand (including Maori artists), China, and<br />
elsewhere.<br />
However, we would never want .to do a "Latin American" show, for<br />
-89 -
instance -- federalizing twenty different countries under a unifying view of<br />
Latin America.<br />
We are also interested in the effects of col<strong>on</strong>ialism <strong>on</strong><br />
indigenous cultures in the Pacific. This gives us a whole range of other<br />
cultural agendas with which to work.<br />
I have to c<strong>on</strong>fess also that I am increasingly impatient with<br />
19th-century cultural c<strong>on</strong>cepts c<strong>on</strong>tinually rec<strong>on</strong>stituted in the form of<br />
"Zeitgeist," "La Grande Parade," "Zeitlos," "Einleuchtung," and so <strong>on</strong>:<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s which keep re-producing a spectator envisaged as without language,<br />
gender, nati<strong>on</strong>ality, history, ethnicity, or any specifying c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s at all.<br />
I can't believe how widely such c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong>s are accepted without more<br />
critical challenge, not <strong>on</strong>ly of what is in such exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s (which, of course,<br />
involve some w<strong>on</strong>derful works, and also remarkable omissi<strong>on</strong>s of other<br />
possibilities), but of the very c<strong>on</strong>structs themselves, the erasing structures<br />
of "unity" under which many internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s are c<strong>on</strong>stituted.<br />
I hope<br />
I d<strong>on</strong>'t present tms too aggressively.. It .. is .just. that thei:'e a+e mqr}y ot11~r<br />
possibilities to open up and work with, and museums are still ignoring so much<br />
of the expanded potential opened up by the theoretical work <strong>on</strong> culture,<br />
history and language since the ' 50s.<br />
I think that there is a point where the exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s start to do a<br />
serious disservice to the meanings and experience of the art they are showing,<br />
and at that point, things need to change.<br />
The ambitious challenges and<br />
subtlety presented by many different kinds of work should not be c<strong>on</strong>tinually<br />
erased in competitive exercises in mis-en-s~e,<br />
in a culture of spectacle<br />
that is increasingly producing an audience of frustrati<strong>on</strong>. That is such a<br />
loss for the potential of art to express difference and particularity of<br />
experience.<br />
-90-
David A. Ross<br />
Director<br />
The Institute of C<strong>on</strong>temporary Art<br />
Bost<strong>on</strong>, Massachusetts, USA<br />
The issue that seems most central to our discussi<strong>on</strong> of the cultural<br />
ramificati<strong>on</strong>s of expanding internati<strong>on</strong>alism is the pivotal noti<strong>on</strong> of<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>alism itself. It is clear that, in a time characterized by global<br />
shifts in populati<strong>on</strong>, radical transformati<strong>on</strong>s of nati<strong>on</strong>al ideological<br />
character, and postcol<strong>on</strong>ial politics, the noti<strong>on</strong> of a "pure" nati<strong>on</strong>al cultural<br />
identity has become especially problematic. Clearly, there is a renewed<br />
interest in reading a new nati<strong>on</strong>alist narrative into the work of individual<br />
artists. But what do we mean by nati<strong>on</strong>alism at this point Racial identity<br />
Cultural pride Nostalgia<br />
It is ir<strong>on</strong>ic that this rec<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong> should occur at a time when the<br />
moral force of the artist is more easily recognizable than that of the state.<br />
The questi<strong>on</strong> follows, then, in whose interest does this new nati<strong>on</strong>alist<br />
narrative functi<strong>on</strong> Can a dialogue about the hierachical nature of "high and<br />
low" art, the relative positi<strong>on</strong>s of First and Third Worlds, or the impact of<br />
recogniti<strong>on</strong> of the self and the other, help us to better understand<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>alism and subsequently c<strong>on</strong>struct a new internati<strong>on</strong>alism Or is<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>alism fated to remain a "feel-good" extensi<strong>on</strong> of the standard<br />
hegem<strong>on</strong>ic modernist enterprise -- a ploy to avoid recognizing the problems<br />
implicit in stale, reductive exercises in comparative cultures And finally,<br />
can a reformed internati<strong>on</strong>alism avoid the sentimentality inherent in the<br />
mythology of the individual versus the nati<strong>on</strong>-state<br />
-91 -
For many artists, the re-emergence of suppressed nati<strong>on</strong>al cultural<br />
identities is the literal signifier of freedom and independence.<br />
As such<br />
a"pure" cultural identity is invested with the passi<strong>on</strong> and c<strong>on</strong>sequentiality of<br />
the hard-w<strong>on</strong> new order.<br />
Operating in the traditi<strong>on</strong>al mode, the nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
culture functi<strong>on</strong>s as flag and forum -- as a narrative of history and promise.<br />
And yet, wrapping art in the flag can be a very dangerous thing indeed.<br />
While<br />
art can give voice to the struggles of a people, or the history of a place, it<br />
can also unwittingly support (and mask) the very c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s supressing<br />
marginalized nati<strong>on</strong>al cultures. While art can veil the state's crisis of<br />
legitimizati<strong>on</strong>, it can simultaneously signify resistance to the dominance of<br />
the state's voice, and the false narrative of state history.<br />
It is easy to romanticize the role of the artist as a politically<br />
potent force aware of his or her role in the progress of nati<strong>on</strong>al and<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al relati<strong>on</strong>s. In this moment when political c<strong>on</strong>tent seems so nruch<br />
more enpowering than an art. of mere individual exp:r:-e$$:L<strong>on</strong> or private<br />
obsessi<strong>on</strong>, we need to be e$pecially wary.<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Expanding</str<strong>on</strong>g> internati<strong>on</strong>alism and the noti<strong>on</strong> of nati<strong>on</strong>alism it embraces<br />
reveals the extreme difference between artists whose work actively engages<br />
their nati<strong>on</strong>al identity in an internati<strong>on</strong>al forum, and those to whom nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
character is largely or totally irrelevant. Not that the nati<strong>on</strong>-states cannot<br />
make use of the myth of the "pure" individual -- in the late 1950s the U.S.<br />
proudly presented Abstract Expressi<strong>on</strong>ism in Eastern Europe to symbolize a free<br />
and open culture. At this time, however, we nrust questi<strong>on</strong> a cultural dialogue<br />
am<strong>on</strong>g nati<strong>on</strong>s which insists <strong>on</strong> a totalizing discourse -- a discourse in which<br />
the individual voice is <strong>on</strong>ly valid when it stands for something else,<br />
something larger and more important than the voice of a single, independent<br />
artist.<br />
-92 -
Art is not a competitive sport, and it should not become an extensi<strong>on</strong><br />
of politics by other means.<br />
To me, it is saddening to see art c<strong>on</strong>tinually<br />
misused in pointless internati<strong>on</strong>al competiti<strong>on</strong>s. But even when the stakes are<br />
more serious -- building internati<strong>on</strong>al understanding or exploring the<br />
complexities of nati<strong>on</strong>al character and civic destiny, art suffers when it is<br />
forced to c<strong>on</strong>form to extraneous agendas.<br />
Art can do these things, though we<br />
distort its functi<strong>on</strong> at our collective loss.<br />
When c<strong>on</strong>sidering potential forums for the new internati<strong>on</strong>alism,<br />
therefore, it should be sufficient to simply c<strong>on</strong>struct opportunities Which<br />
allow the artists' unfettered voice to be clearly heard.<br />
Each artist should<br />
decide the extent to which his or her social c<strong>on</strong>tract should frame or reflect<br />
their work.<br />
At the core of what I would c<strong>on</strong>sider a worthy internati<strong>on</strong>alism<br />
are ideas that boldly embrace difference, str<strong>on</strong>gly dem<strong>on</strong>strate a healthy<br />
disrespect for the overly reverent, and c<strong>on</strong>vey a c<strong>on</strong>cern for truth -- mystical<br />
or othe:rwise.<br />
-93 -
-94 -
Ryszard Stanislawski<br />
Director, Muzeum Sztuki<br />
,.L6d.Z, Poland<br />
I believe that because of their peculiar character, large-scale<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s are am<strong>on</strong>g the characteristic symptoms of the<br />
present. They are the most drastic manifestati<strong>on</strong> of what I would call the<br />
"highway syndrome."<br />
On a highway, there are no obstacles, no change, no<br />
unexpected views, no clear air. The highway is all about overtaking and<br />
keeping to the road.<br />
The highways of art, in other words the hierarchy of prestige, success,<br />
and obedience to the marked-out directi<strong>on</strong>, amount to a race of popularity,<br />
plus adaptability, even at key juncti<strong>on</strong>s where roads diverge in various<br />
directi<strong>on</strong>s at various azimuths.<br />
It is my pers<strong>on</strong>al opini<strong>on</strong> that what topography and art alike know as<br />
"byways" is likely to offer much more surprise and prorrpt sense of c<strong>on</strong>tact<br />
with an envir<strong>on</strong>ment more independent of the system of authorities. Away from<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s at which these authorities are sancti<strong>on</strong>ed, the byways may provide<br />
interesting material for analyzing the credibility of both artists and critics<br />
who have declared themselves in their favor.<br />
I am not speaking <strong>on</strong> behalf of forgotten, naive artists. Moreover, I<br />
am not selling artists active outside the centers as opposed to those with an<br />
established prestige because there is no such oppositi<strong>on</strong> to their work.<br />
What<br />
I want is to point out the losses that culture is likely to suffer if access<br />
to unexpected values is blocked.<br />
These may scatter somewhere in South<br />
America, or Central Europe, or Japan, or elsewhere.<br />
-95 -
I fear that the wealth of c<strong>on</strong>temporary cultures, those within and<br />
without the "Western" frame, may not figure in the 20th-century balance sheet,<br />
thus making it untrustworthy, unless we are given access to it. To prevent<br />
harm-- and what is at stake is the universalism of the culture of our planet<br />
-- we should prepare many surveys in many arrangements (not <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>es<br />
dominated by commercialism and established authorities) so as to turn this<br />
wealth into comm<strong>on</strong> property and make it generally assimilated.<br />
I am not<br />
suggesting giving excessive publicity to the exoticism of cultures known as<br />
marginal.<br />
I am thinking of an opti<strong>on</strong> likely to make us understand the need to<br />
accept values off the main arteries crossing the map.<br />
By "us," I mean those<br />
intent <strong>on</strong> sustaining the favorable climate for alleged regi<strong>on</strong>al discoveries,<br />
like the work of Moscow artists. Geysers of remarkable pers<strong>on</strong>alities spring<br />
heedless of diagrams drawn by experts.<br />
I believe this fact to be of essential inportance to internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
surveys, ··especiallytothem;. As a r~sultr·their.fo.rmula~.maybe .. enriched, not<br />
just broadened geographically.<br />
I c<strong>on</strong>sider these problems worthy of our prompt<br />
discussi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
-96-
"What is Internati<strong>on</strong>al"<br />
by<br />
Vladimir Vajda<br />
General Manager<br />
Festival Ljubljana<br />
Ljubljana, Yugoslavia<br />
We have always thought that for an event to be internati<strong>on</strong>al, it must<br />
comprise work from many countries and, especially for us in Europe,<br />
collaborati<strong>on</strong> with some n<strong>on</strong>-European countries.<br />
Thus, the definiti<strong>on</strong> has been more geographical than not. Actually, it<br />
is <strong>on</strong>ly quite lately with the changes in Eastern Europe, people <strong>on</strong> this side<br />
of the globe have started to think "internati<strong>on</strong>ally" in the philosophical<br />
sense of the word.<br />
political meaning.<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>alism</str<strong>on</strong>g> had in past decades a great deal of<br />
(Do not forget Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968, and<br />
others -- Biafra, Angola, Vietnam.)<br />
'Ihis type of internati<strong>on</strong>al "help"<br />
superseded the friendlier sense <strong>on</strong>e might have of the meaning of<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>alism.<br />
We know that m<strong>on</strong>ey has been always the basis of governing the world.<br />
It has also been an important factor in determining how countries, peoples,<br />
and cultures come to know <strong>on</strong>e another.<br />
Some individual curators have made<br />
significant efforts to widen the spectrum.<br />
But even these efforts have often,<br />
been <strong>on</strong>e-sided.<br />
Biennials have always been of great importance to the envir<strong>on</strong>ment they<br />
are placed in and to their organizers. There has been, however, a problem of<br />
selecti<strong>on</strong> and of presentati<strong>on</strong>. The principle of literal geographical<br />
-97 -
internati<strong>on</strong>alism unfortunately seems to have triumphed over the ideas of those<br />
who understand things or events differently. Maybe those who say that all<br />
biennals have become <strong>on</strong>ly prestigious and self-aggrandizing events are right.<br />
Very rarely, a few lesser known artists from the Third World spring up am<strong>on</strong>g<br />
well-known <strong>on</strong>es from politically and ec<strong>on</strong>omically powerful countries. Of<br />
course, there must be competiti<strong>on</strong>, meaning that am<strong>on</strong>g the best (or already<br />
well accepted) the new <strong>on</strong>es must fight their way to the top. Again, the<br />
selecti<strong>on</strong> of such artists has been difficult in recent decades because of<br />
burdensome political and ec<strong>on</strong>omic restricti<strong>on</strong>s in the East and in the Third<br />
World.<br />
Presentati<strong>on</strong>s of n<strong>on</strong>-Western artists at so-called "solo" exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
may seem "special" or even innovative, but trying to think internati<strong>on</strong>ally, I<br />
believe there is <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>e chance for all of us: we must compete <strong>on</strong> an equal<br />
basis. It is the quality of the work that is important.<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
or presentati<strong>on</strong>s eertainly ··ar€' o.f .. int@rest fo.r. visitors. and for .artists, .but<br />
to present <strong>on</strong>e's best, <strong>on</strong>ly the quality of the artist's work counts and <strong>on</strong>ly<br />
through that and through equal standards will the best artists arise and<br />
obtain internati<strong>on</strong>al positi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
As to staging internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, I should think that galleries<br />
are suitable, but people like to gather elsewhere, too.<br />
organizers mostly work <strong>on</strong> their internati<strong>on</strong>al exchanges.<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
As for the<br />
governmental exchanges, there are normally some "official" and verified (or<br />
sp<strong>on</strong>sored) exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, but there are some exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s that claim an<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al scope that they do not actually have.<br />
Of course, there are well-known art centers in the world that over time<br />
have become internati<strong>on</strong>al venues.<br />
It would seem inappropriate to change<br />
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venues just for the sake of it, but, <strong>on</strong> the other hand, a new type of expo<br />
center for cultural events (as Olympic games of art) might be made possible.<br />
There are a number of festivals (music, drama, etc.) around Europe and the<br />
world, and it would seem natural to c<strong>on</strong>nect the diverse forms of the arts-<br />
including visual arts--at these events.<br />
The combinati<strong>on</strong> of several events <strong>on</strong><br />
several stages of creativity makes the event more popular, more comprehensive,<br />
and even more internati<strong>on</strong>al, both geographically and philosophically.<br />
Mbre effective ways of exchanging c<strong>on</strong>temporary--or classic--events and<br />
works are within our reach.<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al arts events.<br />
It is not necessary to <strong>on</strong>ly emphasize existing<br />
There are numerous regular events in almost every<br />
part of the world (e.g., trade fairs, tourist exchange markets, anniversaries<br />
of world importance) where the arts must play an important, internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
role. Opportunities to combine interesting events from other fields with<br />
large biennals must be sought.<br />
One should not be afraid to go where the<br />
people are..<br />
To underestimate the cultural level of others means to lower<br />
<strong>on</strong>e's own standards.<br />
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SlMWUES CF ROONDTABIE DISCUSSICNS<br />
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MULTICULTURALISM<br />
What Role Does MUlticulturalism Play in Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s Today<br />
Moderator:<br />
Panelists:<br />
Kinshasha Holman C<strong>on</strong>will, USA<br />
Aracy Amaral, Brazil<br />
Guy Brett, Great Britain<br />
N<strong>on</strong>thivathn Chandhanaphalin, Thailand<br />
Bruce Fergus<strong>on</strong>, Canada<br />
Suzanne Ghez, USA<br />
Marina Grzinic, Yugoslavia<br />
Jean-Hubert Martin, France<br />
Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, USA<br />
Catherine de Zeghere, Belgium<br />
The sessi<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> multiculturalism and the role it plays in internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s included a broad discussi<strong>on</strong> of the following major areas: (1)<br />
the meanings of multiculturalism in a world c<strong>on</strong>text; (2) the examinati<strong>on</strong><br />
of noti<strong>on</strong>s of the "mainstream, " the "margin, " "quality, " and other<br />
totalizing c<strong>on</strong>cepts; (3) an explorati<strong>on</strong> of the relati<strong>on</strong>ships of m<strong>on</strong>ey and<br />
power to the organizati<strong>on</strong> of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s; (4) questi<strong>on</strong>ing of<br />
standard practices for organizing, determining, funding, and critiquing<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s; and (5) exhortati<strong>on</strong>s for new models of<br />
cooperati<strong>on</strong> and reciprocity. A summary of discussi<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> the five areas<br />
follows.<br />
The Meanings of Multiculturalism<br />
Early <strong>on</strong> it became clear that the very term "multicultural" had a<br />
different set of meanings in an internati<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>text.<br />
In the United<br />
States, the inclusi<strong>on</strong> of African-American, Latino, Asian-American, and<br />
Native American artists in internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s was c<strong>on</strong>trasted with<br />
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the c<strong>on</strong>cern in canada for the representati<strong>on</strong> of French-speaking artists or<br />
in Belgium for the representati<strong>on</strong> of Flemish artists. The much-discussed<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong> "Magiciens de la Terre" raised other issues. 'While it was<br />
deemed multicultural for its inclusi<strong>on</strong> of African, Asian, and Latin<br />
American artists, it was also criticized for the lack of inclusi<strong>on</strong> of<br />
multicultural artists from the United States.<br />
The "mainstream" and the "margin" and the "quality" issue<br />
As the discussi<strong>on</strong> went deeper, the divisi<strong>on</strong> of mainstream and margin<br />
-- whether accepted or questi<strong>on</strong>ed -- emerged as the accurate descripti<strong>on</strong><br />
of the parameters of the c<strong>on</strong>struct that formed the basis for organizing<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s as we know them.<br />
Western Europe/the United<br />
States (and sometimes Canada) as "center" ~+=:~"Ll~<br />
.M:£!
of other cultures and how such noti<strong>on</strong>s serve to c<strong>on</strong>strain what is deemed<br />
to be acceptable from those cultures in an internati<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>text.<br />
Some<br />
participants assailed the totalizing nature of c<strong>on</strong>cepts like the<br />
mainstream and other dichotomous models as passe and suggested different<br />
models of parallel cultures and multiple "streams."<br />
(The experiences of<br />
multicultural organizati<strong>on</strong>s in the United States as well as those of Latin<br />
American and Eastern European organizati<strong>on</strong>s were cited as models for the<br />
development of alternative critical c<strong>on</strong>cepts and language.)<br />
M<strong>on</strong>ey and Power Matter(s)<br />
Mbst participants felt it impossible to discuss multiculturalism<br />
without examining the role of m<strong>on</strong>ey and power.<br />
One participant asserted<br />
that the issue. of incl1J$i<strong>on</strong> for powerful gount::r::-!~§ .. (i.e., the U.S.,<br />
Germany, France, Japan) is a foreg<strong>on</strong>e c<strong>on</strong>clusi<strong>on</strong> in internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, even when the art from Third World countries may be more<br />
creative. It was further asserted that the very real ec<strong>on</strong>omic and<br />
political barriers that exist in some countries make it difficult if not<br />
impossible for them to organize internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
In a<br />
self-per]etuating cycle, more powerful countries define and organize<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, their decisi<strong>on</strong>s then form the basis for the <strong>on</strong>going<br />
organizati<strong>on</strong> of new exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. The relative visibility of artists and<br />
cultures was also seen as part of this cycle. The artists of less<br />
powerful nati<strong>on</strong>s are rendered invisible by the lack of privilege and<br />
-105-
prestige of their countries/cultures /instituti<strong>on</strong>s. Thus, when power<br />
dictates access, what is irrportant equals what has access equals what is<br />
visible. Alternative models -- from making the Venice Biennale a world<br />
art lottery to developing systems of reciprocity and exchange -- were<br />
suggested as ways to rec<strong>on</strong>cile or mediate current power relati<strong>on</strong>ships.<br />
The Nati<strong>on</strong>al l'v1odel:<br />
An idea whose time has come and g<strong>on</strong>e or a necessary<br />
evil<br />
Whether or not the Venice Biennale becomes a lottery, it was clear<br />
that the nati<strong>on</strong>al model for organizing internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s which it<br />
represents is problematic.<br />
There was no c<strong>on</strong>sensus <strong>on</strong> the legitimacy of<br />
the nati<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>struct. Most found it insufficient, but few were willing<br />
to see it tossed out.<br />
In countries like Brazil,,,such,,,nati<strong>on</strong>ally<br />
determined exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s as the Sao Paulo Bienal -- with all its problems<br />
provides a forum for internati<strong>on</strong>al art that might otherwise not exist.<br />
This year' s Venice Biennale offered an unprecedented opportunity for<br />
Nigerian and Zirnbawean artists to have exposure that is not currently<br />
available <strong>on</strong> the African c<strong>on</strong>tinent.<br />
(That their exhibiti<strong>on</strong> was organized<br />
by an African-American museum in the U.S. for the Italian pavili<strong>on</strong> is yet<br />
another measure of the limits of a strict nati<strong>on</strong>al model) .<br />
On the other<br />
hand, nati<strong>on</strong>al models of organizing exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s lead to c<strong>on</strong>tentious<br />
assurrpti<strong>on</strong>s about the "nati<strong>on</strong>al" character of art of a particular<br />
country.<br />
Such models can homogenize or exoticize art or render the<br />
individual artist invisible. Participants spoke of artists who resist the<br />
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labels "Brazilian" or "Flemish." Others were c<strong>on</strong>cerned about m<strong>on</strong>olithic<br />
noti<strong>on</strong>s of what c<strong>on</strong>stitutes "authentic" art from a particular country and<br />
the c<strong>on</strong>comitant stereo-typing of that art. It was felt by some that given<br />
the diversity of cultures within countries, it is impossible to speak, for<br />
example, of American or Yugoslavian art in an all--encompassing way.<br />
New Models<br />
Surely some of the most lively parts of the discussi<strong>on</strong>, both throughout<br />
the day and at day's end centered <strong>on</strong> new models for addressing<br />
multiculturalism in particular and internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s in general.<br />
Mbst participants felt that existing models could benefit from some new<br />
approaches and alternatives. Key am<strong>on</strong>g the recommendati<strong>on</strong>s were the<br />
following: (1) <strong>on</strong>going dialogue to keep avenues of communicati<strong>on</strong> broad and<br />
open through forums like this c<strong>on</strong>ference; (2) rE;ciprocity and exchange to<br />
break the cycle of Western dominance and allow for both the "import" and<br />
"export" of exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s and ideas; (3) thematic exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s to allow<br />
artists of different nati<strong>on</strong>s to participate outside of the nati<strong>on</strong>al model;<br />
(4) multiple perspectives to move bey<strong>on</strong>d the noti<strong>on</strong>s of the mainstream and<br />
the margin and other dichotomous ideas to new critical language that<br />
embraces parallel cultures and multiple streams.<br />
It is perhaps fitting to end this surrrnary with the analogy of our<br />
colleague from Thailand whose thoughts in symbol and in substance<br />
characterize the goodwill and optimism that were hallmarks of the day.<br />
He<br />
spoke of a garden with many flowers, in many colors and forms, of<br />
diversity in harm<strong>on</strong>y, with each flower being allowed to blossom.<br />
His<br />
artful imagery left us with a visi<strong>on</strong> of an expanded internati<strong>on</strong>alism that<br />
is both a challenge and an inspirati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
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THE OTHER<br />
How do we represent others and how do we represent ourselves<br />
to others<br />
Moderator:<br />
Panelists:<br />
Catherine David, France<br />
Rasheed Araeen, Great Britain<br />
Piedad de Ballesteros, Colombia<br />
Homi Bhabha, Great Britain<br />
Chris Derc<strong>on</strong>, The Netherlands<br />
Mark Francis, Great Britain/USA<br />
Gary Garrels, USA<br />
Michael Kirrmelman, USA<br />
Moharrmed Melehi, Morocco<br />
Bernice Murphy, Australia<br />
Moira Roth, USA<br />
Bruno Cora, Italy<br />
In such an internati<strong>on</strong>al and open c<strong>on</strong>text, including so many different<br />
participants coming from such different countries and experiences (artist,<br />
art critic, instituti<strong>on</strong> directors, curators), it was very difficult and<br />
ambitious to discuss the idea and the realities of "The Other." It was at<br />
first necessary to precisely define issues and to escape prec<strong>on</strong>ceived<br />
ideas and corrm<strong>on</strong>place attitudes encouraged by the dominant ideology of the<br />
"global village" and the pretended universal "human rights."<br />
In that respect the brilliant paper given the day before by Homi<br />
Bhabha was a perfect introducti<strong>on</strong> to the debates and made clear some very<br />
ambiguous or frustrating points about what we can c<strong>on</strong>sider as an<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al strategy of the "corrm<strong>on</strong> good" which systematically ignores<br />
c<strong>on</strong>flicts, injustice, and alterity. As he pointed out:<br />
"Despite the<br />
asymmetrical relati<strong>on</strong>s of geopolitical power, and the appropriati<strong>on</strong> or<br />
annihilati<strong>on</strong> of sites of cultural otherness, we seek a kind of redemptive,<br />
representative corrm<strong>on</strong>ality."<br />
-109-
At first the roundtable was dedicated to the presentati<strong>on</strong> of the<br />
participants, each <strong>on</strong>e trying to synthetize his cultural background and<br />
current preoccupati<strong>on</strong>s. Especially complex and significant were the<br />
experiences and points of view developed by Rasheed Araeen (Pakistani<br />
artist living and working in L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>), Homi Bhabha (Indo-British scholar<br />
living and teaching in Great Britain), Bernice MUrphy (Australian curator<br />
working for a l<strong>on</strong>g time with Aboriginal people and so-called cultural<br />
minorities), and Piedad de Ballesteros (Colombian curator insisting <strong>on</strong> the<br />
emergency of restoring a positive image of Colombian culture now<br />
tragically reduced to political violence, M:=dellin cartel, and drug war) •<br />
Impatient, as many of us, with the multiplicati<strong>on</strong> of "internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s" and the globalizing visi<strong>on</strong> they imply, de Ballesteros<br />
proposed a methodological reflecti<strong>on</strong> and a new attenti<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> unexpected<br />
cultural issues and c<strong>on</strong>texts created by diasporic c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s as well as by<br />
nee-nati<strong>on</strong>alistic <strong>on</strong>es. As she pointed out:<br />
"The binary noti<strong>on</strong>s of<br />
cultural process, expressed and recycled c<strong>on</strong>tinually in the regular<br />
oppositi<strong>on</strong>s of such tenns as periphery/center, regi<strong>on</strong>/capital,<br />
village/metropolis, east/west, rural/urban, col<strong>on</strong>y/imperial power, need a<br />
radical restructuring -- in fact, to be exploded open -- to begin to<br />
accomodate the more complex c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s of a vast variety of circumstances<br />
in c<strong>on</strong>temporary cultural experiences."<br />
-110-
At that point Araeen criticized the persistent clich~s<br />
and<br />
misunderstandings which are still governing the choices of exhibiti<strong>on</strong><br />
organizers and critics; he menti<strong>on</strong>ed "The Other Story," an exhibiti<strong>on</strong> he<br />
organized for the Hayward Gallery in L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> last spring which showed<br />
postwar works by artists of the ex-Comm<strong>on</strong>wealth area, as an example of a<br />
selecti<strong>on</strong> based <strong>on</strong> folkloristic and neo-col<strong>on</strong>ial criteria and the<br />
inability of the critic to accept "modern" fo:r:ms and discourses coming<br />
from Third World or n<strong>on</strong>-European areas.<br />
I tried to pursue this aspect of<br />
the discussi<strong>on</strong> by introducing a debate <strong>on</strong> the "Magiciens de la Terre"<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong> organized at the Centre Georges Pompidou by Jean-Hubert Martin<br />
and Mark Francis last year.<br />
Mark Francis stressed the new c<strong>on</strong>text created in the museum world and<br />
practices by the show and the unP.voidcit)le pragmatism of the choices. He<br />
spoke of the juxtapositi<strong>on</strong> of works in an open world characterized by the<br />
more or less pacific coexistence or c<strong>on</strong>fusi<strong>on</strong> of many different traditi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
superficially mixed (or annihilated) by the so-called post-modernity.<br />
He<br />
also underlined the perhaps <strong>on</strong>ly unquesti<strong>on</strong>ably positive aspect of the<br />
show:<br />
the choices were made entirely without diplomatic or nati<strong>on</strong>alistic<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerns.<br />
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Chris Derc<strong>on</strong> (Director of Witte de With, a new c<strong>on</strong>temporary<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s space in Rotterdam) , Gary Garrels<br />
(Director of Programs at<br />
the Dia Art Foundati<strong>on</strong> in New York) , and Moira Roth (involved with artists<br />
in the U.S. West Coast area) enlarged the debate by menti<strong>on</strong>ing their<br />
experiences or projects with artists coming from n<strong>on</strong>-occidental countries<br />
or local communities.<br />
At this point in the discussi<strong>on</strong> it became clear that the c<strong>on</strong>sciousness<br />
and the res}ect of "The Other" (and the others) was closely tied with the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sciousness and the difficult relati<strong>on</strong>s we had with ourselves (if we<br />
remember Rimbaud: "Je est un autre"). Discussing the issues of modern<br />
identity (and alterity) , Bhabha insisted <strong>on</strong> the very important less<strong>on</strong>s of<br />
French philosophers ( eS}eciall y the <strong>on</strong>tology of E. I..evinas) and<br />
dec<strong>on</strong>structi vist theoreticians (J. Derrida) who made us less secure and<br />
c<strong>on</strong>fident in the unity and solidity of our self and more c<strong>on</strong>scious of our<br />
unceasing c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong> in the relati<strong>on</strong> with the other. Difference and<br />
identity are far more complex than the already difficult differences of<br />
culture, race, class, and sex.<br />
Far from any naive or easy c<strong>on</strong>sensual<br />
soluti<strong>on</strong>, I would like to quote again Bhabha:<br />
"Culture is a painful<br />
process of becoming: as much an uncomfortable disturbing practice of<br />
survival and supplementarity, between art and politics, past and present,<br />
the public and the private, race and sexuality, the known and the<br />
numinous, as its resplendent being is a moment of pleasure, enlightenment,<br />
or liberati<strong>on</strong>."<br />
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INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS TODAY<br />
What c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> do internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s make to<br />
today's c<strong>on</strong>temporary art scene<br />
Moderator:<br />
Panelists:<br />
Lynn Gumpert, USA<br />
Laszlo Beke, Hungary<br />
Lynne Cooke, Great Britain<br />
Helen Escobedo, M2xico<br />
Daws<strong>on</strong> MUnjeri, Zimbabwe<br />
Fumio Nanjo, Japan<br />
Lars Nittve, Sweden<br />
Maria Elena Ramos, Venezuela<br />
Tom Sokolowski, USA<br />
Ryszard Stanislawski, Poland<br />
The discussi<strong>on</strong> opened with a questi<strong>on</strong> as to how internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s are organized.<br />
One very traditi<strong>on</strong>al approach has been to send<br />
a curator to a foreign country -- and often, culture -- to select a show<br />
based <strong>on</strong> research c<strong>on</strong>ducted during <strong>on</strong>e or two visits. Usually these<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s are organized through official c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>s, i.e. government<br />
agencies.<br />
One alternative was addressed by Tom Sokolowski who briefly<br />
talked about his involvement with "Against Nature," an exarrple of a<br />
"team-curated" exhibiti<strong>on</strong>, which drew together American and Japanese<br />
curators to jointly organize an exhibiti<strong>on</strong> of c<strong>on</strong>temporary Japanese<br />
artists for the U.S.<br />
This project took four years of traveling back and<br />
forth between the U.S. and Japan.<br />
They also decided to focus <strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>e<br />
aspect of the current scene rather than a survey, in this case, younger<br />
artists who were coming to grips with the c<strong>on</strong>temporary mixture of the East<br />
and West today in Jap~.<br />
Fumio Nanjo noted that this project began when<br />
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he was still at the Japan Foundati<strong>on</strong> where he organized the initial visit<br />
of a group of American museum directors to Japan.<br />
He suggested that often<br />
official visits are necessary, but, hopefully, through other c<strong>on</strong>tacts,<br />
foreign curators can get access to the unofficial scene.<br />
Discussi<strong>on</strong> and<br />
dialogue between curators is crucial. It was also noted that this<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong> is now circulating outside the c<strong>on</strong>text of grand exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s,<br />
such as the Venice Biennale, an important c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong> allowing freedom<br />
from internati<strong>on</strong>al political c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong>s and without the danger of<br />
forcing the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> to become neutral so as not to offend any<strong>on</strong>e.<br />
Lars<br />
Nittve stressed that a bi-nati<strong>on</strong>al or team approach is important to<br />
provide the framework, and not have the show appear over simplified or<br />
just exotic. MUnjeri, using the example of the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> of Zimbabwe art<br />
in Holland, added that it is impossible to escape the noti<strong>on</strong> of "them/us,"<br />
especially with such. cross-cultural ventures, but that a bi-nati<strong>on</strong>al team<br />
approach and two-way dialogue can hopefully arrive at acceptable areas of<br />
c<strong>on</strong>vergence.<br />
In this particular case, every effort was made to show the<br />
c<strong>on</strong>temporary Zimbabwe art in a manner that approximated how it was<br />
intended to be seen.<br />
Laszlo Beke then addressed an inevitable c<strong>on</strong>flict facing all<br />
curators: the desire to promote the art of their country intemati<strong>on</strong>all y<br />
and also show the most interesting and "best" internati<strong>on</strong>al art at home,<br />
and how those decisi<strong>on</strong>s are made.<br />
Lynne Cooke raised the questi<strong>on</strong> of how<br />
relevant large surveys are at this particular time of an over abundance of<br />
art fairs and art magazines, as well as exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. She reiterated the<br />
crucial questi<strong>on</strong> of determining which artists are even c<strong>on</strong>sidered for<br />
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internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s and the necessity of presenting <strong>on</strong>e aspect that<br />
marks a c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> to an <strong>on</strong>going debate, keeping in mind both the local<br />
and broader, internati<strong>on</strong>al audiences.<br />
She indicated that, to take another<br />
view, she now feels that when talking to internati<strong>on</strong>al visitors about<br />
British art, via the British Council, she advocates being partisan,<br />
presenting a clear picture of what she thinks is the most interesting, in<br />
the hopes that others will do likewise. Ryszard Stanislawski questi<strong>on</strong>ed<br />
the very relevance of the terms "nati<strong>on</strong>al" and "internati<strong>on</strong>al," noting<br />
that most of these distincti<strong>on</strong>s are artificial, and citing, for example,<br />
the divisi<strong>on</strong>s used to delineate the participants in this c<strong>on</strong>ference, and<br />
noting as well the irrelevance of the term "Eastern Europe. "<br />
All<br />
decisi<strong>on</strong>s of whom to include in an exhibiti<strong>on</strong> or in a collecti<strong>on</strong>, he<br />
notes, are "critical" decisi<strong>on</strong>s. He also observed a lack of criticality,<br />
in the midst of a very comnercial climate, since it is always the same<br />
so-called "internati<strong>on</strong>al" artists that are represented in all the museums<br />
around the world.<br />
Lars Nittve pointed out that it is err<strong>on</strong>eous to just blame the art<br />
market for the homogeneous view of internati<strong>on</strong>al art that now dominates.<br />
He brought up the noti<strong>on</strong> of center and periphery, which the art market<br />
reflects, and which has existed for at least a century. He observes a<br />
loosening of or loss of center that is now occurring, al<strong>on</strong>g with an<br />
increased possibility for local or regi<strong>on</strong>al dialects, as it were, to exist<br />
within the internati<strong>on</strong>al art world.<br />
He is interested now particularly in<br />
art that operates in those gaps.<br />
Helen Escobedo raised the questi<strong>on</strong> of<br />
what can happen in the future, what type of exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s could be<br />
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developed, since the big, world expositi<strong>on</strong>s like the Venice Biennale, will<br />
probably c<strong>on</strong>tinue.<br />
Discussi<strong>on</strong> ensued, again, about the necessity or<br />
importance of a focus for thematic, rather than broader, inclusive<br />
surveys.<br />
Daws<strong>on</strong> Munjeri discussed an annual exhibiti<strong>on</strong> at the Nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Gallery in Zimbabwe, where usually <strong>on</strong>ly the best-known artists are shown,<br />
and of the importance, especially in internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, to present<br />
the unknown.<br />
Discussi<strong>on</strong> then turned to noti<strong>on</strong>s of "quality." Nanjo observed that<br />
this tenn is not used in Japan.<br />
Addressing the criticism of neo-col<strong>on</strong>ism<br />
leveled at last summer' s "J:.1agiciens de la Terre" at the Centre Pornpidou,<br />
Nan jo voiced his opini<strong>on</strong> that this was a French exhibiti<strong>on</strong>, organized by a<br />
French instituti<strong>on</strong>, using French funding, and which was true to their<br />
point of view.<br />
Hopefully, other shows can counter some of the assumpti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
raised by differing points of view .... In the Venice. Biennale, however,<br />
there is no dialogue between the countries.<br />
Stanislawski discussed the<br />
bi-nati<strong>on</strong>al approach used for an exhibiti<strong>on</strong> of Polish art shown at the<br />
Centre Pornpidou.<br />
Yet, how does <strong>on</strong>e get out of the problem of just<br />
presenting nati<strong>on</strong>al shows under the guise of bi-nati<strong>on</strong>al approaches<br />
MUnjeri discussed an experimental, collaborative effort for 1991 by<br />
nine countries of the South African regi<strong>on</strong> to present a thematic<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>. Escobedo menti<strong>on</strong>ed another similar atterrpt, called "Esprit de<br />
lieu"' which took place in canada, in which multi-disciplinary artists<br />
came together to resp<strong>on</strong>d to that particular site. What is important, she<br />
stressed, is the idea of an <strong>on</strong>going dialogue.<br />
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Discussi<strong>on</strong> then returned to the noti<strong>on</strong> of criteria and the hidden<br />
agendas behind internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. Sokolowski stressed that a<br />
crucial comp<strong>on</strong>ent, for him, of c<strong>on</strong>temporary exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s is that they<br />
should address the moment.<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerns, for example, AIDS.<br />
They should define areas and issues of comm<strong>on</strong><br />
Too often, he noted, it seems more about<br />
certain curators claiming that "they got there first," or the idea of<br />
"discovering" new talent. He prefers "glamourous mistakes" to "safe<br />
successes," since <strong>on</strong>e can learn so much from them.<br />
Cooke agreed, citing<br />
also the Munster "Projekte" of site-specific projects, since it and<br />
"Magiciens" established curatorial agendas which have to be reworked over<br />
and over again from different perspectives.<br />
In both these cases, there<br />
was inevitably a Eurocentric perspective which has to be acknowledged.<br />
Munjeri and Nittve also observed that a principal resp<strong>on</strong>sibility of<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong> organizers is to rec<strong>on</strong>cile how they will represent any given<br />
theme, and to acknowledge their point of departure and their goals. The<br />
now-fashi<strong>on</strong>able stance of looking at n<strong>on</strong>-occidental art is also, Nittve<br />
pointed out, coming from a Eurocentric point of view.<br />
All of sudden,<br />
Europe and and the so-called Western world realize that they are no l<strong>on</strong>ger<br />
at the center and are affected by cultures that are not occidental.<br />
The discussi<strong>on</strong> then turned to the questi<strong>on</strong> of defining who the<br />
audience is for internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s and whether it is limited to the<br />
very small internati<strong>on</strong>al art community.<br />
Nittve asserted that it usually<br />
is at least dual: the local community who is attracted to a "hot" show<br />
and the itinerant, c<strong>on</strong>tenporary art tourists, who add to the glamour and<br />
decide if it is a success or not. Cooke pointed out a third audience who<br />
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didn't see a show, but knows it through the catalogue, an audience that<br />
grows over time.<br />
Nanjo and Munjeri also noted the difficulties and<br />
realities of budgets.<br />
For example, third world countries have a Im.lch more<br />
difficult time organizing such internati<strong>on</strong>al extravaganzas and not many<br />
people will get to see them.<br />
Having unilaterally agreed to publishing a<br />
Im.llti-lingual catalogue is in itself a very expensive prospect. Who funds<br />
these internati<strong>on</strong>al cooperative effort Maria Elena Ramos outlined her<br />
attempts to organize a multi-disciplinary exhibiti<strong>on</strong> which deals with the<br />
influence of occidental culture <strong>on</strong> Japanese art.<br />
Sokolowski returned to the idea of the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> catalogue, and the<br />
current issue of censorship for the U.S., which revolves around noti<strong>on</strong>s of<br />
gender and sexuality. He posited a potential "obscenity" of catalogues,<br />
the proliferati<strong>on</strong> of them, for example, at the Venice Biennale.<br />
They are<br />
very beautiful; with lots of eolor""plates, but are they, .. he asked., always<br />
necessary Often, he observed, they are repetitious, and the m<strong>on</strong>ey for<br />
them could be better spent organizing internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. He<br />
discussed the c<strong>on</strong>terrporary Indian art exhibiti<strong>on</strong> he organized which<br />
received very little critical resp<strong>on</strong>se.<br />
What could he have put <strong>on</strong> the<br />
walls to orient the viewer One very facile resp<strong>on</strong>se was that the art<br />
looked derivative of Western art -- a problem for all n<strong>on</strong>-Western artists<br />
using the accepted "internati<strong>on</strong>al" art vocabulary which has been defined<br />
by and limited to Europe and North America.<br />
Nittve posited that, for him,<br />
the "derivative" was actually the most interesting aspect of c<strong>on</strong>temporary<br />
art, and the most pertinent questi<strong>on</strong> in terms of global languages,<br />
especially in light of the unificati<strong>on</strong> of Europe.<br />
It is similar yet<br />
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different, and it is precisely that gap that is most interesting. Swedish<br />
art, for exarrple, has been derivative for most of the 20th century, having<br />
been close to the center but with a different culture.<br />
Beke, noting the circularity and theoretical nature of the<br />
discussi<strong>on</strong>, proposed a practical game of each sending a work of art via<br />
the mail, and then traveling the assembled objects to different nu.1seums.<br />
Cooke pointed out that c<strong>on</strong>ceptual art was internati<strong>on</strong>al in a way that no<br />
other movement of 20th-century art was.<br />
In the '90s she noted, we are not<br />
discussing "internati<strong>on</strong>alism" but rather "nu.1lticulturalism."<br />
In the '60s,<br />
there was the noti<strong>on</strong> that everybody could play the game or was c<strong>on</strong>sidered<br />
inhibited or prejudiced. Once playing, it was assumed that they would not<br />
be bringing al<strong>on</strong>g cultural baggage.<br />
Beke reiterated, in resp<strong>on</strong>se, that it<br />
is still his fundamental belief that the meaning of objects change as they<br />
travel.. Still, the realities of funding remain.<br />
Nittve noted that it is now the policy of the Swedish government to<br />
send out Swedish art to places where it is least expected, but where there<br />
might be trade or ec<strong>on</strong>omic c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
This is not appreciated by the<br />
artists since they feel that the intent of their work is not understood.<br />
However, what is not known is if it is an interesting experience for the<br />
recipient, the viewer.<br />
Beke asked what, in Nittve' s opini<strong>on</strong>, was the aim<br />
of the Swedish artists. Was it to show their work in as many c<strong>on</strong>texts as<br />
possible, or <strong>on</strong>ly in the "best," i.e., most prestigious c<strong>on</strong>texts Nittve<br />
countered that many of the Swedish artists he has talked with tend to work<br />
in an odd way, al<strong>on</strong>g the border line of language.<br />
They hope to find<br />
some<strong>on</strong>e who understands and with whom they can communicate.<br />
The chances<br />
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for this are better in their own culture. Escobedo noted that the main<br />
goal of artists, generally speaking, is to co:rrmunicate.<br />
How the art work<br />
is manipulated by a government is another questi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Gumpert noted that, throughout the discussi<strong>on</strong>, there had been a<br />
shifting back and forth between the ideal and real, what was desired and<br />
what was practical. Sokolowski noted that, for example, in Jenny Holzer's<br />
presentati<strong>on</strong> in the American pavili<strong>on</strong>, the very sumptuous materials used<br />
reflected that the funding needed for it was available. We have to look,<br />
he observed, at both the packaging and its c<strong>on</strong>tents. Cooke noted that in<br />
this case, it is a woman artist who could get it all together to present<br />
such a persuasive and technological presentati<strong>on</strong>, and that underlaying all<br />
the comments about the United States and excessive funding was perhaps<br />
unformulated, subc<strong>on</strong>scious amazement that, again, it was accomplished by a<br />
woman artist who is doing precisely .what women. are nQt~IUE~.Cll}t<br />
tq {)e cioing.<br />
How does <strong>on</strong>e create a demand, Escobedo, asked for informati<strong>on</strong> about<br />
art from Latin America<br />
How internati<strong>on</strong>al, coming back to the<br />
practicalities, Gumpert asked, can we all be How much can we travel<br />
New centers, Escobedo, countered, are needed.<br />
Stanislawski observed that<br />
the Venice Biennale is not of interest to most Venetians.<br />
After the<br />
opening, there is very little attendance.<br />
The thousands of tourists who<br />
come, he noted, do not attend. The discussi<strong>on</strong> ended with the perennial<br />
questi<strong>on</strong> of audiences and marketing.<br />
What then, again, is the hidden<br />
agenda of the exhibiti<strong>on</strong> organizer; what are their goals; who are they<br />
trying to reach These questi<strong>on</strong>s, Cooke noted, are not applicable <strong>on</strong>ly to<br />
the visual arts, but all forms of c<strong>on</strong>terrporary art practices. To what<br />
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extent, Nittve asked, do the artists themselves think of the audience when<br />
they make their work.<br />
Should we be c<strong>on</strong>cerned about the lack of mass<br />
audience for art exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, he asked.<br />
And the worth of the art work,<br />
Cooke warned, cannot be measured by the numbers attending. Nan jo<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cluded the discussi<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> a more positive note, w<strong>on</strong>dering if an<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al fund could be developed that would be potentially available<br />
for any country that needed it to stage internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
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INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS AND THE HOST COUNTRY<br />
How can internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s be made more effective<br />
for the host country, particularly when they occur<br />
outside major western centers<br />
Moderator:<br />
Panelists:<br />
Paulo Herkenhoff, Brazil<br />
Rosemary Andrade, Swaziland<br />
Nemesio Antunez, Chile<br />
David Elliott, Great Britain<br />
Claude Gosselin, Canada<br />
Jorge Helft, Argentina<br />
Katalyn Neray, Hungary<br />
Felix Padilla, Philippines<br />
Cesar Trasobares, USA<br />
Vladimir Vajda, Yugoslavia<br />
Paula Latos-Valier, Australia<br />
Patricio Munoz Vega, Ecuador<br />
Either a tree or a televisi<strong>on</strong> network might be the new space needed<br />
for art to reach its audience, according to the present cultural standards<br />
of a particular society. Each host country is unique and should be<br />
treated as such, for expanding inteJ:;n~ti<strong>on</strong>alism should not mean the<br />
destructi<strong>on</strong> of diversity. In Africa, for instance, a tree might be an<br />
important space for the direct c<strong>on</strong>tact between the artists, a work of art<br />
under its shadow, and the community.<br />
The group chose to reflect <strong>on</strong> pragmatic aspects, deciding that other<br />
groups were dealing with some more c<strong>on</strong>ceptual aspects of the expanding<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>alism. The participants chose to look at the different<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s in regard to the role of the host countries, and<br />
to c<strong>on</strong>sider the basic questi<strong>on</strong> of how internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s be made<br />
more effective for the host country.<br />
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The internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s should address the local need for<br />
c<strong>on</strong>temporary art. However, each host country should begin by clarifying<br />
its needs.<br />
Local needs should be broadly seen as those of the general<br />
public as well as those specific to artists, curators, and historians.<br />
They should be understood as a correct inserti<strong>on</strong> into the c<strong>on</strong>cept of such<br />
shows.<br />
And then, there is always room for an unexpected enriching<br />
dialogue.<br />
But they have to be stated case by case, because the dialogue<br />
is more crucial in certain areas where it does not happen naturally.<br />
Host countries should be viewed without any paternalism. What are<br />
their own resp<strong>on</strong>sibilities in a process of expanding internati<strong>on</strong>alism that<br />
necessarily generates and calls for mutual resp<strong>on</strong>sibilities<br />
Host countries have the task of preparing themselves for this<br />
functi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
They should neither be passive nor proceed without an<br />
understanein9 · of. things. The first step is tQ QE;Y§:l,Qp working know ledge<br />
both of the internati<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>temporary art movements and of the local<br />
needs.<br />
This is a prerequisite for establishing a capacity to choose or to<br />
influence the choices of exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s to be received or organized.<br />
This is<br />
true for both biennials staged by the country and shows traveling to it.<br />
Host countries should make efforts to develop less fragile<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>-organizing instituti<strong>on</strong>s with greater stability in their<br />
organizati<strong>on</strong>al process, professi<strong>on</strong>al performance, and technical capacity.<br />
C<strong>on</strong>tinuity is not the mere repetiti<strong>on</strong> of events. A biennial should not be<br />
treated as an isolated event in time, but rather as a c<strong>on</strong>tinuous process<br />
of knowledge and <strong>on</strong>going dialogue with the internati<strong>on</strong>al art scene.<br />
This<br />
noti<strong>on</strong> should be at the very heart of the instituti<strong>on</strong>s, ensuring their<br />
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stability. However, in many cases, trustees do not duly perform their<br />
tasks as in some other countries. Very often, government either lacks the<br />
respect for professi<strong>on</strong>al curatorial work and even for art, or is unable to<br />
correctly detect true local needs, rather acting under political or<br />
diplomatic compromises.<br />
Moreover, the technical handling of art has<br />
universal standards that are expected from any country, but cannot always<br />
be fulfilled.<br />
In a world that seeks integrati<strong>on</strong>, the internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, and<br />
curators and instituti<strong>on</strong>s involved with them as well, have the task of<br />
helping to overcome c<strong>on</strong>finement of artists, the public, specific social<br />
groups, regi<strong>on</strong>s, countries, and even c<strong>on</strong>tinents.<br />
Internal col<strong>on</strong>ialism,<br />
that so often occurs within many countries, is also to be challenged. A<br />
deep understanding of the existing forms of c<strong>on</strong>finement is necessary to<br />
overcome them..<br />
There are many barriers whose impact c<strong>on</strong>sequences have led<br />
to a sense of c<strong>on</strong>finement:<br />
geography, distance, and isolati<strong>on</strong>; history<br />
and marginalizati<strong>on</strong>; ideologies and political regimes; exploitati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
poverty, and the lack of funds for educati<strong>on</strong> and culture, etc.<br />
The present challenge of fully absorbing the Eastern European<br />
countries into this expanding internati<strong>on</strong>alism, should not interrupt the<br />
previous dialogue am<strong>on</strong>g other regi<strong>on</strong>s of the world, especially regarding<br />
the so-called Third World.<br />
Third World countries face a crucial challenge<br />
in dealing with their biennial shows.<br />
On the <strong>on</strong>e hand, they face the high<br />
costs and complexity of preparing work for exhibiti<strong>on</strong>, and the difficulty<br />
of grasping an overview of c<strong>on</strong>temporary internati<strong>on</strong>al producti<strong>on</strong>. On the<br />
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other hand, such exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s are their major c<strong>on</strong>tact with internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
art and, therefore, their suspensi<strong>on</strong> or l<strong>on</strong>ger intervals between would<br />
increase their isolati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Such Third World biennials were born as a sign of modernity and they<br />
are an answer to the need to keep abreast of world artistic producti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
They also allow for an internal look at <strong>on</strong>e's own art. They are a<br />
showcase for the nati<strong>on</strong>al producti<strong>on</strong>, as they c<strong>on</strong>stitute a special moment<br />
of internati<strong>on</strong>al exposure.<br />
These biennials require an enormous community<br />
effort and involvement.<br />
However, it is necessary to further develop<br />
efficient organizati<strong>on</strong> for such events so that they may resp<strong>on</strong>d to the<br />
present needs of the local artistic community and the public in keeping<br />
with internati<strong>on</strong>al dynamics and perspectives. The aspect of frequency (is<br />
a biennial event adequate) should be put <strong>on</strong> the agenda for future<br />
discussi<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
The irrpact of a biennial has several positive aspects.<br />
It enriches<br />
the debate, either through influences or dialogues am<strong>on</strong>g artists. The<br />
general public has access to the art of other countries. Even the<br />
artistic community of neighboring countries profit from these<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s. Therefore, the host countries should increasingly take this<br />
latter, regi<strong>on</strong>al aspect into c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong>. There is also a need for the<br />
development of other types of thematic exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, clearly determining<br />
first their objectives. Biennials should not become bigger and bigger, as<br />
they will never cover all the issues, but other formats of exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
should be developed to address these subjects and current c<strong>on</strong>cerns.<br />
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Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s al<strong>on</strong>e might not be enough any l<strong>on</strong>ger since at some levels<br />
they become <strong>on</strong>ly a reference point. The universal need to enlarge the<br />
audience for art also brings with it the assumpti<strong>on</strong> that exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s have<br />
a resp<strong>on</strong>sibility to provide the public with educati<strong>on</strong> and informati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
This is necessary in order to develop an understanding of art and a<br />
critical eye.<br />
Each day it becomes more essential to the fulfillment of a<br />
higher quality art/community relati<strong>on</strong>ship that educati<strong>on</strong>al materials<br />
exist. Eve.ry effort is needed to make art more accessible, as art might<br />
be a c<strong>on</strong>fr<strong>on</strong>tati<strong>on</strong> with the new, but also can be linked with other aspects<br />
of life. It is urgent also to encourage cooperati<strong>on</strong> between the<br />
municipality and the envir<strong>on</strong>mental or scientific community to avoid being<br />
just a sanctum.<br />
Art should not be isolated from other forms of cultural manifestati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
in its search for new audiences.<br />
The need for a str<strong>on</strong>ger presence of art<br />
in the media, in additi<strong>on</strong> to the specialized art magazines, should be<br />
stressed. The large educati<strong>on</strong>al role of televisi<strong>on</strong> is also critical with<br />
its potential to efficiently reach large parts of the populati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
However, televisi<strong>on</strong> should deal with art as a symbolic universe and not<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly as a journalistic fact.<br />
From any point of view, and especially for the host country, art is<br />
more than seeing.<br />
The internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s should be an opportunity<br />
to develop critical interpretati<strong>on</strong> and knowledge, so that art may become a<br />
true educati<strong>on</strong> for liberty and equality.<br />
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There is a need to establish a dialogue between curators of different<br />
countries so that the preparati<strong>on</strong> of exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s is collaborative and<br />
correctly aimed to the local audience.<br />
Of course, it is important that<br />
foreign curators study the art of the n<strong>on</strong>-Western countries, but this<br />
should not exclude the involvement of local curators in these countries.<br />
Otherwise we will see a m<strong>on</strong>opoly <strong>on</strong> curatorial work that excludes<br />
n<strong>on</strong>-Western curators. This is occurring as part of a worldwide trend to<br />
open up space for showing the art of n<strong>on</strong>-Western countries, namely through<br />
the many recent exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s of Eastern European and Latin America art.<br />
But in these instances, instituti<strong>on</strong>s seem more open to saying that<br />
n<strong>on</strong>-Western countries produce art, than that they can curate their own<br />
art. Again, there is no need for paternalism, but rather the exchange and<br />
c<strong>on</strong>fr<strong>on</strong>ting of curatorial ideas. The rna jor countries should open up<br />
opportunities for training curators .. from host .n<strong>on</strong>:-::'We~tern ~Q91JI1tr~es,<br />
otherwise, theirs will remain a voiceless art.<br />
Certain internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, involving art from all over the<br />
world, might be <strong>on</strong>ly a disguised way of reinforcing the centers of the art<br />
world and the statute of the marginal areas. This is true <strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>ceptual<br />
levels, as well as <strong>on</strong> the aforementi<strong>on</strong>ed political level of the m<strong>on</strong>opoly<br />
of the curatorial work, and even of the circulati<strong>on</strong> of ideas.<br />
How to make ideas spread around the world An exhibiti<strong>on</strong> would reach<br />
a universal audience if its catalogue is made available to the libraries<br />
of the main art instituti<strong>on</strong>s <strong>on</strong> all c<strong>on</strong>tinents. How can an exhibiti<strong>on</strong><br />
really be internati<strong>on</strong>al if its catalogue does not even circulate<br />
properly In the Third World libraries are the major source of<br />
informati<strong>on</strong> about internati<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>temporary art available to the public.<br />
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Many n<strong>on</strong>-Western countries are c<strong>on</strong>fined and limited to the exclusive<br />
role of being a host and not an active participant in shaping the event.<br />
They remain as if they were still the "jungle, " in the Hegelian sense of a<br />
place with no history, and not as an ecological sanctuary.<br />
Writing<br />
history, including the process of curatoring exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, is an instrument<br />
of power in the art system.<br />
Sometimes the art of those n<strong>on</strong>-Western<br />
countries is excluded from some internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s because they are<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sidered marginal to history (i.e., they have not been treated in texts,<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, and collecti<strong>on</strong>s) .<br />
In a world of inequalities, it is true<br />
that marginality feeds marginality.<br />
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NEW FORUMS<br />
How can we address the need for an<br />
expanded internati<strong>on</strong>al forum<br />
Moderator:<br />
Panelists:<br />
Milena Kalinovska, USA<br />
Emmanuel Arinze, Nigeria<br />
Anth<strong>on</strong>y B<strong>on</strong>d, Australia<br />
Kellie J<strong>on</strong>es, USA<br />
Ulli Lindmayr, Austria<br />
Beral Madra, Turkey<br />
Thomas M2sser, USA<br />
Roald Nasgaard, Canada<br />
David Ross, USA<br />
Anda Rottenberg, Poland<br />
This panel of curators and critics aimed to answer what kind of new<br />
forums, in the c<strong>on</strong>text of expanding internati<strong>on</strong>alism, would be effective<br />
and benefit a broad variety of artists from a number of different<br />
backgrounds and countries. We understood that we were brought together<br />
precisely because our breadth of experiences, according to which part of<br />
the world we have worked in and that what we have been individually<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerned with would differ. Yet, the corrplex interests of our small<br />
group perhaps reflects to some extent the complexity of issues that are<br />
associated with the current understanding of what c<strong>on</strong>temporacy<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s--sometimes labeled global--entail. We indeed<br />
talked predominantly about exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s since they are where c<strong>on</strong>temporacy<br />
art is made public and validated.<br />
It has also been clear to us that the<br />
questi<strong>on</strong> of the "Other" and its role in internati<strong>on</strong>al shows, vecy much<br />
debated recently and particularly addressed in Western Europe since the<br />
sec<strong>on</strong>d part of the '80s, had motivated the U.S. organizers of this<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ference.<br />
The noti<strong>on</strong> of the "Other" thus presided over our discussi<strong>on</strong><br />
as it progressed.<br />
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We also kept in mind and touched <strong>on</strong> the fact that political factors,<br />
for instance, current encouraging changes in the global situati<strong>on</strong>, namely<br />
in South Africa or Eastern Europe, as well as wide ec<strong>on</strong>omic imbalances<br />
between highly developed and developing countries, play a role in<br />
determining the fluctuating c<strong>on</strong>cept of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s and their<br />
locati<strong>on</strong>. While artists from new situati<strong>on</strong>s will be entering and helping<br />
to re-shape the nature of these shows, the larger part of the world will<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tinue to be left out of these dialogues.<br />
* * * * * * *<br />
"... the art market system, the Biennial system, exists in a way that<br />
even if there is no more art, the system would invent art ..• And this is<br />
not a nice thing at all. We are so Im.lch c<strong>on</strong>nected with our Western<br />
Civilizati<strong>on</strong> system because it is linked to our . infq:rmati<strong>on</strong> system, and we<br />
have to break it." Jean-Christophe Ammann.<br />
"As the best, and worst, shows of the past 30 m<strong>on</strong>ths attest,<br />
authoritative curatorial statements are required not <strong>on</strong>ly to make sense of<br />
the plethora of work currently produced but to engage the audience with<br />
significant issues or questi<strong>on</strong>s instead of pandering to a desire for<br />
entertainment." Lynne Cooke<br />
These two quotati<strong>on</strong>s were am<strong>on</strong>g those that o:pened our debate.<br />
The<br />
first is from the BBC "Kaleidoscope" program reviewing the "Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s Now" c<strong>on</strong>ference held at the Riverside Studios in L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> in<br />
1985. The sec<strong>on</strong>d quotati<strong>on</strong> is from an essay "Exhibiti<strong>on</strong> Tracking: The<br />
Late I 80s" written for the carnegie Internati<strong>on</strong>al catalogue in 1988.<br />
-132-
These voices fairly well illustrate c<strong>on</strong>cerns representative of the<br />
initiating side of the c<strong>on</strong>ference. What they pinpoint is that those<br />
working in dominant post-industrial and postmodern societies are<br />
dissatisfied with the current state of affairs in general. On the <strong>on</strong>e<br />
hand, the feeling of exhausti<strong>on</strong> and, <strong>on</strong> the other hand, hope that the old<br />
world is disappearing, is what activated our discussi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In this c<strong>on</strong>text we addressed:<br />
I. The curators' role, nati<strong>on</strong>al, bi-nati<strong>on</strong>al, thematic, issue-based,<br />
small- and large-scale internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s and programs, as well as<br />
artists' residencies.<br />
oWe agreed that the positi<strong>on</strong> of the curator, who determines the c<strong>on</strong>text<br />
and selecti<strong>on</strong> process of the exhibiti<strong>on</strong>, is critical. What kind of a<br />
curator should be in charge Should there be a curator from the<br />
initiating country or should the choice of the cr_it§±"i§. for the<br />
selecti<strong>on</strong> of artists be made by a curator from a country from which<br />
the work originates The prerequisite which we agreed <strong>on</strong> was that the<br />
curator (not a committee, though a collaborati<strong>on</strong> between several<br />
curators was seen possible) should be free from any kind of state<br />
policies. The divorce should be clear so that an independent curator<br />
can deal with the work effectively and c<strong>on</strong>textually.<br />
o Nati<strong>on</strong>al, bi-nati<strong>on</strong>al, or thematic exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s were perceived as<br />
dated. Especially "export"-oriented nati<strong>on</strong>al shows were seen as<br />
incapable of corrmunicating the identity of the artists and in their<br />
extreme may be racist. Their "packaging" tends to misrepresent.<br />
Yet<br />
some nati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s around a specific burning topic, for<br />
-133-
instance censorship in the arts in the U.S., can create opportunities<br />
for artists and shed light <strong>on</strong> issues argued in their c<strong>on</strong>text and of<br />
interest elsewhere.<br />
o Large-scale internati<strong>on</strong>al shows, such as Venice Biennial, are indeed<br />
problematic.<br />
The Venice Biennial, in particular, through its pavili<strong>on</strong><br />
structure is based <strong>on</strong> a false c<strong>on</strong>cept of nati<strong>on</strong>al art and lacks any<br />
other unifying c<strong>on</strong>cept.<br />
It is an "Olympic Games of Art" involving<br />
bureaucrats and governments.<br />
Furthermore, it is rooted in a<br />
19th-century c<strong>on</strong>cept of internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
It reflects the<br />
political and ec<strong>on</strong>omic power structure, meaning that to varying<br />
degrees those without power are not heard and those without m<strong>on</strong>ey are<br />
not seen.<br />
o Smaller-scale, issue-based internati<strong>on</strong>al group shows were c<strong>on</strong>sidered<br />
of interest. The questi<strong>on</strong>, rather~<br />
was what" were the resow::-ces<br />
available to curators for selecting artists for these exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s if<br />
they or their countries are not actively visible <strong>on</strong> an internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
art circuit. In this c<strong>on</strong>text artists' residencies and other relevant<br />
programs, for curators, too, were felt to be productive.<br />
II. A specific set of problems inherent to the countries with<br />
multi -cultural dimensi<strong>on</strong>s, with short "c<strong>on</strong>tercporary" traditi<strong>on</strong>s, and with<br />
limited exposure to art from abroad and at home.<br />
o How can artists of Asian, HiSPanic, and black American backgrounds,<br />
for example, be internati<strong>on</strong>ally recognized in larger situati<strong>on</strong>s, such<br />
as in the U.S. What are their chances of being included in visible<br />
-134-
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s both at home and when shown abroad Would touring<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>al group or biennial exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s based <strong>on</strong> regi<strong>on</strong>al/local<br />
interests offer a soluti<strong>on</strong> of some kind Creati<strong>on</strong> of yet another<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong> in an already highly politicized art world<br />
did not seem to be <strong>on</strong>e of the soluti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
o What work should be presented in countries that have a limited<br />
exposure to work from outside Questi<strong>on</strong>s c<strong>on</strong>cerning c<strong>on</strong>text, the<br />
absence of knowledge, and a clearly articulated aim were discussed in<br />
the same breath as the need to understand the audiences.<br />
o How do we select artists for productive internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s Is<br />
quality a valid criteria or is there some other intellectual discourse<br />
more effective here<br />
o The reality of expenses and time involved in selecti<strong>on</strong> of a work and<br />
its eventual ... p:r:esentati<strong>on</strong> is another major i$S}Je !. WJ}~y~;-.EC1YS for<br />
the exposure of work will also indirectly determine what will be shown<br />
and where.<br />
III. New forums that, <strong>on</strong> the <strong>on</strong>e hand, would open doors to the "Other"<br />
and, <strong>on</strong> the other hand, utilize existing resources to create meaningful<br />
opportunities for the artists and meaningful experiences for a variety of<br />
audiences.<br />
The following c<strong>on</strong>cepts appeared at the top of the list when we<br />
c<strong>on</strong>sidered a productive east-west-north-south (rather than just<br />
north-west) dialogue:<br />
artists' residencies, "laboratory" shows, and<br />
focused major internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
-135-
o Internati<strong>on</strong>al artists' residencies involve a l<strong>on</strong>ger-term commitment <strong>on</strong><br />
behalf of the host and present for artists rare opportunities. They<br />
may have the possibility of spending a period of time in a fresh<br />
envir<strong>on</strong>ment that may help them to examine their work anew as well as<br />
to work uninterruptedly.<br />
They may be invited to develop a project for<br />
a particular space or a community.<br />
Face-to-face communicati<strong>on</strong>s with<br />
colleagues elsewhere, pers<strong>on</strong>al relati<strong>on</strong>ships, and also participati<strong>on</strong><br />
in new circumstances are all partly resp<strong>on</strong>sible for changing cultural<br />
situati<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
o "Laboratory" shows (smaller projects) in internati<strong>on</strong>ally oriented<br />
programs such as the ICAs, Kunstverein, Kunsthalle, other museums or<br />
situati<strong>on</strong>s outside of museums also make sense.<br />
Sometimes taking the<br />
form of · site-speci,fic ,shews ·sma,ller in scale, they, .. are .. ~highly. t.apical,<br />
c<strong>on</strong>centrated, and dynamically varied. They are known to have given<br />
impulse to some of the most talked about or influential large-scale<br />
exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s, such as ":Magiciens de la Terre." It is here where ideas<br />
are allowed to grow and where artists' decisi<strong>on</strong>s matter.<br />
o We seemed to agree <strong>on</strong> a focused internati<strong>on</strong>al exhibiti<strong>on</strong> that would<br />
take into account the diversity of situati<strong>on</strong>s and that would be<br />
selected for a particular country <strong>on</strong> the basis of a particular need.<br />
We talked about sensitivity to history, envir<strong>on</strong>ment, and the interests<br />
of the artists and audiences.<br />
We liked the fact that, if necessary,<br />
such an exhibiti<strong>on</strong> can make use of those resources offered to it by a<br />
particular situati<strong>on</strong>; it could resp<strong>on</strong>d to the cultural heritage of a<br />
-136-
place.<br />
To make creative use of exhibiting possibilities outside of<br />
established or known forms, such as historical or other relevant sites,<br />
was coupled with a desire to make a difference to the cultural scene<br />
wherever it may be.<br />
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-138-
PARTICIPANTS<br />
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-140-
I. AFRICA<br />
Morocco<br />
Mohammed M=lehi<br />
Directeur des Arts<br />
Ministere de la Culture<br />
Rabat, Morocco<br />
tel. 21 27 66554<br />
fax 21 27 68814<br />
Nigeria<br />
Emmanuel Arinze<br />
Director<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Commissi<strong>on</strong> for MUseums and M<strong>on</strong>uments<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al M..lseum<br />
P.M.B. 12556<br />
Onikan Lagos, Nigeria<br />
tel. 234-1-632-844<br />
Swaziland<br />
Rosemary Andrade<br />
Swaziland Nati<strong>on</strong>al MUseum<br />
P.O. Box 100<br />
Lobaffiba, Swaziland<br />
tel. 268-611-78/9<br />
Zimbabwe<br />
Daws<strong>on</strong> Mun.jeri<br />
Deputy Executive Director<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al MUseums and M<strong>on</strong>uments<br />
P.O. Box 8540 causeway<br />
Harare, Zimbabwe<br />
tel. 263-707-202<br />
II. ASIA/PACIFIC<br />
Australia<br />
Anth<strong>on</strong>y B<strong>on</strong>d<br />
Curator of C<strong>on</strong>temporary Art<br />
Art Gallery of New South Wales<br />
Art Gallery Road, Domain<br />
Sydney, New South Wales<br />
Australia 2000<br />
tel. 61 2 225 1700<br />
fax. 61 2 221 6226<br />
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Paula Latos-Valier<br />
Director<br />
Art Gallery of Western Australia<br />
Perth Cultural Centre, Perth 600<br />
Western Australia<br />
tel. 61-9-328-7233<br />
fax. 61-9-328-6353<br />
Bernice Murphy<br />
Chief Curator<br />
Museum of C<strong>on</strong>temporary Art<br />
Circular Quay West<br />
P. 0. Box R1286<br />
Sydney 2001<br />
tel. 61-2-252-4033<br />
Japan<br />
Fumio Nanjo<br />
Nanjo & Associates<br />
30-8 Sarugakucho Twin Building<br />
Daikanyama, Shibuya-ku<br />
Tokyo 150, Japan<br />
tel. 81-3-780-0491<br />
fax 81-3-780-0753<br />
Philippines<br />
Felix Padilla<br />
Director<br />
C<strong>on</strong>terrporary Arts Museum of the Philippines<br />
Fourth Floor, Cultural Center<br />
Roxas Blvd.<br />
:tv:etromanila, Philippines<br />
tel. 832-1125, ext. 227<br />
Thailand<br />
N<strong>on</strong>thi vathn Chandhanaphalin<br />
Director<br />
Silpakorn University Art Gallery<br />
Bangkok 10200, Thailand<br />
tel. 66-2-223-8556<br />
fax 66-2-225-7258<br />
III. MIDDLE EAST/EASTERN EUROPE<br />
Hungary<br />
Laszlo Beke<br />
Curator<br />
Hungarian Nati<strong>on</strong>al Gallery<br />
4250 Buda}est, P .0. Box 34<br />
Hungary<br />
tel. 36-1-175-8989<br />
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Katalyn Neray<br />
Venice Commissi<strong>on</strong>er and Director<br />
Palace of Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s/MUcsarnok<br />
P.O. Box 35<br />
140 6 Budapest, Hungary<br />
tel. 36-1-424-145<br />
Poland<br />
Anda Rottenberg<br />
Ministry of Kultur Sztuki<br />
Krakowskie Przedscie 15/17<br />
00-950 Warszawa, Poland<br />
tel. 48 22 26 00 58<br />
Ryszard Stanislawski<br />
Director<br />
MUseum Sztuki, Lodz<br />
ul. Wieckowskiego 36,<br />
90-734 LOdZ, Poland<br />
Turkey<br />
Beral Madra<br />
Director<br />
Galeri Bf:-..1<br />
Akkavak Sokak 1/1<br />
80200 Nisantas<br />
Istanbul, Turkey<br />
tel. 90-1-131-1023<br />
fax .• (same)<br />
Yugoslavia<br />
Marina Grzinic<br />
Cultural Secretary for Slovenia<br />
Marksisticni Center<br />
M::: CKZKS<br />
Beethovna 2<br />
Ljubljana 6100, Yugoslavia<br />
tel. 38-61-210-036<br />
fax 38-61-215-855<br />
home: Cesnikova 12<br />
Ljubljana 61000<br />
or: Slovenian Esthetic Society<br />
Sazu<br />
Novi TRG 4<br />
Ljubljana 6100<br />
Vladimir Vajda<br />
Director<br />
Festival Ljubljana<br />
Trg rancoske revolucije 1-2<br />
Ljubljana, Gaspersiceva 7<br />
Yugoslavia<br />
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IV.<br />
NORTH AMERICA<br />
Canada<br />
Man<strong>on</strong> Blanchette<br />
Chief Curator<br />
MUsee d'art c<strong>on</strong>temporain de MOntreal<br />
Cite du Havre<br />
MOntreal, Quebec<br />
H3C 3R4 Canada<br />
tel. 514-873-2878<br />
Bruce Fergus<strong>on</strong><br />
Independent curator and critic<br />
Apt. 4S<br />
12 East 12th Street<br />
New York, New York 10003<br />
tel. 212-645-8850<br />
Claude Gosselin<br />
Director<br />
Centre Internati<strong>on</strong>al D'Art<br />
C<strong>on</strong>temporain de MOntreal<br />
C.P. 760 Place du Pare<br />
:M<strong>on</strong>treal H2W 2P3, Quebec<br />
tel. 514-288-0811<br />
fax. 514-288-5021<br />
Dr. Roald Nasgaard<br />
Chief Curator<br />
Art Gallery of Ontario<br />
317 Dundas Street West<br />
MST 1G4 Tor<strong>on</strong>to<br />
tel. 416-979-6627<br />
~ico<br />
Helen Escobedo<br />
Sculptor<br />
Av. San Jer<strong>on</strong>imo 162-A<br />
~ico D.F., 20 01010<br />
~ico<br />
tel. 905-548-3290<br />
United States<br />
Kinshasha Holman C<strong>on</strong>will (moderator)<br />
Executive Director<br />
Studio Museum in Harlem<br />
144 West 125th Street<br />
New York, New York 10026<br />
tel. 212-864-4500<br />
fax. 212-666-5753<br />
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Mark Francis<br />
Curator of C<strong>on</strong>temporary Art<br />
Carnegie Museum of Art<br />
4400 Forbes Avenue<br />
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213<br />
tel. 412-622-3273<br />
fax. 412-622-3112<br />
Gary Garrels<br />
Director of Programs<br />
Dia Art Foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
155 Mercer Street<br />
New York, New York 10012<br />
tel. 212 431 9232<br />
Suzanne Ghez<br />
Director<br />
The Renaissance Society<br />
The University of Chicago<br />
5811 S. Ellis Avenue<br />
Chicago, Illinois 60637<br />
tel. 312 702 8670<br />
fax. 312-702-9669<br />
Lynn Gufn.pert (moderator)<br />
Independent Curator<br />
151 West 28th Street, Apt. 4E<br />
New York, New York 10001<br />
teL .. 212-563-7893<br />
fax 212-643-0069<br />
<strong>Mary</strong> <strong>Jane</strong> <strong>Jacob</strong><br />
Independent Curator<br />
707 West Junior Terrace<br />
Apartment 10<br />
Chicago, IL 60613<br />
tel. 312-348-3353<br />
fax 312-348-0647<br />
Kellie J<strong>on</strong>es<br />
Independent Curator<br />
39 East 17th Street #2J<br />
Brooklyn, New York 11226<br />
tel. 718-826-0061<br />
Milena Kalinovska (moderator)<br />
Independent Curator<br />
905 French Street NW<br />
Washingt<strong>on</strong>, D.C. 20001<br />
tel. 202-332-3585<br />
fax. 202-898-0445<br />
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Michael Kirrmelman<br />
Critic<br />
New York Times<br />
229 West 43rd Street<br />
New York, New York 10036<br />
tel. 212-556-1234<br />
Thomas Messer<br />
Director Emeritus<br />
Solom<strong>on</strong> R. Guggenheim Foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
527 Madis<strong>on</strong> Avenue<br />
New York, New York 10022-4301<br />
tel. 212-371-6683<br />
David Ross<br />
Director<br />
Whitney Museum of American Art<br />
945 Madis<strong>on</strong> Avenue<br />
New York, New York, 10021<br />
tel. 212-570-3600<br />
fax 212-570-1807<br />
Moira Roth<br />
Professor<br />
Art Department<br />
Mills College<br />
5000 MacArthur Blvd.<br />
Oakland, california 94613<br />
tel .. 415-430-2117<br />
Thomas Sokolowski<br />
Director<br />
Grey Art Gallery<br />
New York University<br />
33 Washingt<strong>on</strong> Place<br />
New York, New York 10003<br />
tel. 212 998 6780<br />
Cesar Trasobares<br />
Independent Curator<br />
1214 SW 12 Court<br />
Miami, Florida 33135<br />
tel. 305-856-5239<br />
Tomas Ybarra-Frausto<br />
Associate Director for Arts & Humanities<br />
Rockefeller Foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
1133 Avenue of the Americas<br />
New York, New York 10036<br />
tel. 212-869-8500<br />
fax. 212-764-3468<br />
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V. lATIN AMERICA<br />
Argentina<br />
Jorge Helft<br />
Director<br />
Fundaci<strong>on</strong> Antorchas<br />
Chile 300<br />
1098 Buenos Aires, Argentina<br />
tel. 54-1-331-9905<br />
fax 54-1-331-5673<br />
home: Defensa 1364<br />
1143 Buenos Aires, Argentina<br />
tel. 54-1-334-7157<br />
Brazil<br />
Aracy Amaral<br />
Art critic<br />
Almeda Jau, 901 - ap. 5<br />
Sao Paulo 01420 SP, Brazil<br />
tel. 55-11-287-51780<br />
Paulo Estellita Herkenhoff Filho (moderator)<br />
Curator<br />
Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo<br />
Av. Paulista 1578<br />
Sao Paulo, Brazil<br />
tel. 55-11-251-5644<br />
Chile<br />
Nemesio Antunez<br />
Director<br />
Museum of Fine Arts<br />
Bellas Arts Parque Forstal<br />
home: carlos Casanueva No. 0354<br />
Santiago, Chile<br />
tel.56-2-232-0341<br />
Colombia<br />
Piedad de Ballesteros<br />
Director of Plastic Arts<br />
Colcultura<br />
Calle 8 No. 6-97,<br />
Bogota D. E. , Colombia<br />
tel. 57-1-242-20-35<br />
Ecuador<br />
Patricio Munoz Vega<br />
President<br />
Bienal Intemaci<strong>on</strong>al de pintura<br />
Cuenca, Ecuador<br />
tel. 593-7-831-778<br />
Paucarbamba 4-88<br />
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Venezuela<br />
Maria Elena Ramos<br />
Director<br />
Museo de Bellas Artes<br />
Plaza Mbrelos Mbrfi DS<br />
Los Cadeoa, Caracas 1050<br />
Venezuela<br />
tel.58-2-571-01-69 I 571-21-19 I 573-40-35<br />
VI.<br />
WES'IERN EUROPE<br />
Austria<br />
Ulli Lindmayr<br />
Independent curator<br />
A-1070 Wien<br />
Schotten feldgasse 4014<br />
Austria<br />
tel. 43-222-931-9933<br />
Belgium<br />
Catherine de Zegher<br />
Kanaal Art Foundati<strong>on</strong><br />
Erasmus Laan 32<br />
8500 Kortrijk<br />
Belgium<br />
tel. 32-56-22-45-63<br />
tel. (weekend) 32-56-20-38-44<br />
fax 32-56-22-69-50<br />
England<br />
Rasheed Araeen<br />
Editor, Third Text<br />
120 Greencroft Gardens<br />
L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> NWG 3PJ<br />
tel. 44-71-435-3748<br />
Homi Bhabha<br />
Critic<br />
20 Highbury Crescent<br />
L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> NS lRX<br />
England<br />
tel. 44-71-226-2216; 44-71-609-4437<br />
Guy Brett<br />
Critic and Independent Curator<br />
38 Archbishops Place<br />
L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> SW2 2AJ<br />
England<br />
tel. 44-81 674 8416<br />
fax 44-71-240-5958<br />
-148-
Lynne Cooke<br />
Art Critic<br />
42 Brecknock Road<br />
L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> N7<br />
England<br />
tel. 44-71-607-3553<br />
David Elliott<br />
Director<br />
M..lseurn of Modem Art<br />
30 Pembroke Street<br />
OX1 1BP<br />
England<br />
tel. 44-865-722-733<br />
fax. 44-865-722-573<br />
France<br />
Catherine David (moderator)<br />
Curator<br />
Jeu de Paume<br />
20, rue Royale<br />
75000 Paris<br />
France<br />
Tel. 33-1-4260-6000; 4543-1861<br />
fax. 33-1-4260-3905<br />
Jean-Hubert Martin<br />
Director<br />
Mls~ Nati<strong>on</strong>al d'Art M::xieme<br />
Rue Beaubourg<br />
19, rue Renard<br />
75007 Paris<br />
France<br />
tel. 33-1-4277-1233<br />
fax. 33-1-4277-2949<br />
Germany<br />
Kasper Koenig<br />
Director<br />
Portikus<br />
Sch<strong>on</strong>e Aussicht 2<br />
D-6000 Frankfurt M[<br />
Federal Republic of Germany<br />
tel. 49-69-60-500-830<br />
fax 49-605-008-66<br />
Italy<br />
Bruno Cora<br />
Art critic and curator for the<br />
Inc<strong>on</strong>tri Internazi<strong>on</strong>ali d'arte<br />
Via Val d' Ala 36<br />
Roma 00141, Italy<br />
tel. 39-6-679-8006/810-3384<br />
-149-
Netherlands<br />
Chris Derc<strong>on</strong><br />
Director<br />
Center for C<strong>on</strong>temporary Art<br />
Witte de With Street<br />
3012 Br Rotterdam<br />
The Nether lands<br />
tel. 31-10-411-0144<br />
fax 31-10-411-7924<br />
Sweden<br />
Lars Nittve<br />
Director<br />
Rooseum<br />
Box 6186<br />
S-20011 Malmo,<br />
Sweden<br />
tel. 46-40-121-716<br />
fax 46-40-304-561<br />
-150-
Invited Participants Unable to Attend<br />
Ms. Leila Al-Attar<br />
Director General of Culture and Arts<br />
Saddam Art Center<br />
Ministry of Culture and Informati<strong>on</strong><br />
Baghdad, Iraq<br />
Carmen Alborch<br />
Director<br />
IVAM Centre Julio G<strong>on</strong>zalez<br />
Avda Carrpanar 32<br />
46015 Valencia, Spain<br />
Ebrahim Alkazi<br />
Chairman<br />
The Center for Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
C<strong>on</strong>terrporary Arts<br />
724 5th Avenue<br />
New York, NY 10019<br />
Ms. Roshan Alkazi<br />
Director<br />
Art Heritage Galery<br />
Tri veni Kala Sangom<br />
209 Tansen Marg<br />
New Delhi 110.001<br />
India<br />
Jean-Christophe Ammarm<br />
Director<br />
Museum fur :M:x:lern Kunst<br />
Schaumainkai 35<br />
6000 Frankfurt<br />
Germany<br />
Wieslaw Borowski<br />
Galeria Foksal<br />
ul. Foksal 1/4<br />
Warsaw, Poland<br />
Michael Brens<strong>on</strong><br />
New York Times Culture Department<br />
229 W. 43rd Street<br />
New York, NY 10036<br />
-151-
Omar Bwana<br />
P.O. Box 40658<br />
Nairobi, Kenya<br />
Germano Celant<br />
Curator<br />
Guggenheim Museum<br />
1071 5th Avenue<br />
New York, NY 10128<br />
E.S. Challi<br />
Executive Secretary<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Arts Council<br />
P.O. Box 4779<br />
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania<br />
Maria de Corral<br />
Director<br />
Sala des Exposici<strong>on</strong>es<br />
Fundaci<strong>on</strong> Caja des Pensi<strong>on</strong>es<br />
Serrano, 60<br />
28001 Madrid, Spain<br />
Ms. Mircea Dinescu<br />
The Writer's Uni<strong>on</strong><br />
Calea Victoriei 115<br />
Bucharest<br />
Runa.nia<br />
Gary DuFour<br />
Curator<br />
Vancouver Art Gallery<br />
750 Hornby Street, Vancouver BC<br />
V62 2H7 Canada<br />
Jean-Louis Froment<br />
Directeur du CAPC - M.lsee d'Art C<strong>on</strong>tenporain<br />
Entrepot Laine<br />
rue Foy<br />
33000 Bordeaux<br />
Rudi Fuchs<br />
Director<br />
Haags Gemeentemuseum<br />
Stadhauderslaan 41<br />
P .0. Box 72<br />
2517 HU Den Haag<br />
Netherlands<br />
-152-
Christina Galvez Guzzy<br />
Director<br />
Rufino Tamayo Museum<br />
Paseo de la Reforma y Gandhi<br />
Bosque de Chapultepec<br />
C.P. 11580 Mexico, D.F.<br />
camen Gimenez<br />
Curator<br />
Guggenheim Museum<br />
1071 5th Avenue<br />
New York, NY 10128<br />
'v<br />
Guillermo Gomez-Peria<br />
852 Eighth Avenue<br />
San Diego, CA 92101<br />
Nikolai N. Gubenko<br />
Minister of Culture<br />
Ministry of Culture<br />
ul. Kuybyfheva 10<br />
Moscow, U.S.S.R.<br />
Nikolai N. Gubenko<br />
Minister of Culture<br />
c/o Alexsandr Potemkin<br />
Cultural Attache<br />
1125 16th Street NW<br />
Washingt<strong>on</strong>, OC 20036<br />
Ms. Grazia Gunn<br />
Director<br />
Australian Centre for C<strong>on</strong>terrporary Art<br />
Dallas Brooks Drive<br />
The Domain, South Yarra<br />
Victoria 3141, Australia<br />
Willard Holmes<br />
Director<br />
Vancouver Art Gallery<br />
750 Hornby Street<br />
Vancouver BC<br />
V62 2H7 Canada<br />
Jan Hoet<br />
Director<br />
Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst<br />
Citadel park<br />
9000 Ghent<br />
-153-
Director<br />
Taipei Fine Arts Museum<br />
181 Chung Shan N. Road Sec. 3<br />
Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C.<br />
Ousmane Sow Huchard<br />
Comisar for Overseas Art Exhibiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
8A Rue Camot<br />
Dakar, Senegal<br />
Mr. Syed Arrmad Jamal<br />
Director<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Art Gallery<br />
1 Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin<br />
50050 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia<br />
Angel Kalenberg<br />
Director<br />
Museo Naci<strong>on</strong>al de Artes Plasticas<br />
Parque Rodo<br />
M<strong>on</strong>tevideo, Uruguay<br />
Mrs. Helen Obiagelli Kerri<br />
Chief curator<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Commissi<strong>on</strong> for Museums and M<strong>on</strong>uments<br />
P.M.B. 12556<br />
Onikan, Lagos, Nigeria<br />
<strong>Jacob</strong> Klintowitz<br />
Curator for the San Paulo Bienal<br />
Bienal Office<br />
Parque Ibirapuera CEP 04098<br />
San Paulo, Brazil<br />
Ingrid Klussmann<br />
Coordinator of the Juannio Festival<br />
16 Calle 5-30<br />
Z<strong>on</strong>a 1<br />
Guatemala City, Guatemala<br />
Shinji Kohmoto<br />
Curator<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Museum of Modem Art<br />
Okazaki Endhoji<br />
Sayo-Ku<br />
Kyoto 606, Japan<br />
Thomas Krens<br />
Director<br />
Solom<strong>on</strong> R. Guggenheim Museum<br />
1071 5th Avenue<br />
New York, NY 10128<br />
-154-
Susanne Landau<br />
Curator<br />
The Israel Museum<br />
P.O. Box 1299<br />
Jerusalem 91012<br />
James Lingwood<br />
Curator<br />
ICA<br />
The Mall<br />
12 Carlt<strong>on</strong> House Terrace<br />
L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> SW1Y SAH<br />
England<br />
Ms. Usha Malik<br />
Program Director<br />
Indian Council for Cultural Affairs<br />
Azad Bhawan<br />
Indraprastha Estate<br />
New Delhi 110 002<br />
India<br />
Declin MCG<strong>on</strong>agle<br />
Director<br />
Irish Museum of Modern Art<br />
Dublin, Ireland<br />
.... Jose. Mindlin<br />
Director-Presidente<br />
Metal Leve S.A. Industria e comercio<br />
Rua Brasilia lue 535<br />
Santo Amaro 04746<br />
Sao Paulo, Brazil<br />
Gerardo Mosquera<br />
Animas 359 No. 2<br />
La Habana 2, Cuba<br />
Paul Nakitare<br />
Director of Culture<br />
Ministry of Culture and Social Services<br />
P.O. Box 67374<br />
Nairobi, Kenya<br />
Dr. Ahmed Nawar<br />
Chairman of Ministry of Culture<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Center for the Plastic Arts<br />
Planetarium Building<br />
Gezira Fairgrounds, Cairo<br />
-155-
Mrs. Tisa Ng<br />
Deputy Director, Festival of Arts<br />
Ministry of Community Development<br />
512 Thoms<strong>on</strong> Road<br />
15th Storey, MCD Building<br />
Singapore 1129<br />
Al Nodal<br />
General Manager<br />
Cultural Affairs Department<br />
200 N. Spring Street<br />
Room 1500, City Hall<br />
Los Angeles, CA 90012<br />
Julie Okupa<br />
Assistant Director<br />
Center for Black and African Arts and Civilizati<strong>on</strong><br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Theatre<br />
Onikan Lagos, Nigeria<br />
Kyung-Sung Lee<br />
Director<br />
The Nati<strong>on</strong>al Museum of C<strong>on</strong>tenporary Art<br />
San 54-1<br />
Makgye D<strong>on</strong>g<br />
Kwach<strong>on</strong>-Si, Kyungki-Do<br />
171-11/Seoul, South Korea<br />
Cyril Rogers<br />
Director<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Gallery of Zimbabwe<br />
Julius Nyerere Way<br />
Harare, Zimbabwe<br />
Mr. Jerzy Ryba<br />
Visual Arts Department<br />
Ministrie Kultur e Sztuki<br />
Krakowskie Przedscie 1517<br />
Warsaw, Poland<br />
Mr. Jiri Setlik<br />
Lopatecka 7<br />
147 OOPrague 4<br />
Czechoslovakia<br />
Linda Shearer<br />
Director<br />
Williams College M..lseum of Art<br />
:Main Street<br />
Williamstown, MA 01267<br />
-156-
Alexandre Yakimovich<br />
Salvador Aliende Street 7-59<br />
Moscow 125252<br />
-158-