We seem to be at the end of globalization. With seismic political shifts, a certain era of contemporary art has also come to a close. In previous decades, contemporary art sought to unify a world society whose aesthetics, markets, and institutions would slowly converge upon a shared set of values. Soon, it may take on a new purpose and vision.#globalization
In this text, I will attempt to forecast what the world of contemporary art might look like beyond the 2020s and after the end of globalization. In particular, I will draw upon a conversation with the artist Hito Steyerl for Art in the Age of Average. The new AI-thoritarians at Akademie der Bildenden Künste München as well as several other artists, writers and thinkers over the past few years.#art
As an historical category, contemporary art begins in the mid-1970s with the emergence of new media art. In its broad philosophy, contemporary art follows the teleological arc of new communications technologies; steady progress towards an increasingly interconnected and open model of society. This historical period coincides with the political order of neoliberalism, similarly beginning in the 1970s and ending in the 2020s. The era is defined by these overlapping visions for a world society, their many contradictions and points of alignment.#art, #history, #neoliberal, #liberalism
Seeing Contemporary Art
In hindsight, participation in the global system of contemporary art, as defined by its markets, institutions and reputable publications, signaled a city or nation’s arrival to the advanced world. During this period, a broad discursive network of biennials and museums of contemporary art cropped up in regions that had achieved a sufficient level of development and capital accumulation. Terms like “biennialization” became part of the common vernacular.#art, #exhibition
Participation in the networks of contemporary art also implicitly signaled a region’s openness to international finance. In this environment, foreign investors could pursue their economic goals without fear of expropriation. While it’s not written into the bylaws of any museum, no country with a respected biennial is going to nationalize its copper reserves.#finance
More questionably, the presence of contemporary art also implied a general trend toward liberalization in both politics and social values. During this period of globalization (and in particular from 1989 to 2024), contemporary art carried with it a deep seated assumption toward the steady expansion of western-style liberalism. While it was rarely stated outright, many of us thought that social change could begin at the arts institution and slowly diffuse throughout the rest of society. Art had a strong optimism about its potential to unify mankind.#liberalism
Viewed in this way, contemporary art served as a bellwether of neoliberal globalization. Now, rather than arriving at the “end of history”, as Francis Fukuyama suggested, we must speculate about what comes next.#art, #neoliberal
Exiting Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a political and philosophical project whose origins extend back to Europe in the 1940s. Since that time, neoliberals have envisioned a global and borderless society linked by free markets.#neoliberal
Toward these global ends, neoliberals sought to erect an international legal framework that upheld individual private property rights above the sovereign authority of states. In the grand designs of these theorists, the slow extension of property rights was seen as a way to incrementally link a world society that guaranteed the free movement of capital. Today, shifts in economic policy and increased geopolitical tensions have fractured these once planetary aspirations into distinct and separate blocs.#neoliberal, #economics, #capital
While the legal notion of private property has penetrated deeply into most societies, the steady expansion of civil liberties or individual freedoms has been far less successful. We are now seeing a rejection of liberal universalisms and the emergence of alternative frameworks for what may constitute political rights.#universalism
Similarly, we are beginning to see a divergence in hemispherical art markets. Chinese collectors are now purchasing less American art than in years previous. The invasion of Ukraine has raised significant barriers to moving capital between Russia and the United States. Tariffs have re-shored the fabrication of artworks back to the territories in which they will be exhibited and/or sold.#art, #art market
In the previous model, an artist’s career was measured by their presence within a global network of museums and biennials. (Various websites even calculate reputational ranks based on such metrics.) In this new multipolar order, artists will primarily exhibit or sell their work within one sphere and will be far less likely to appear in others.#globalization
Additionally, we can observe hard laws and soft rules that set the parameters of acceptable expression within each zone; legally enshrined decency laws in Russia, explicit state censorship in China and private divestment in the United States, each represent a local limit to artistic freedom. #civil rights
Instead of a global convergence upon a shared set of values, these developments indicate that there are growing forms of value that have become non-transferable between blocs. The aesthetic, financial, and philosophical values expressed within the institutions of each sphere are becoming more distinct and separate.#universalism
The Great Firewall of Culture
When compared to 20th century Cold War divisions, today’s ideological differences appear rather small. We no longer see a clash of grand narratives and political-economic models. Instead, we see a growing convergence; powerful executive authority invested in an individual leader who rules over a large territory of specialized economic zones (or, as Americans prefer to call them, “states”).#history, #Cold War
At the same time, class has once again returned as a valid and acceptable way of understanding the world—but with significant limitations to its universal scope. Today, we see few discussions about an international proletariat and much more talk about competition between American and Chinese workers. Under multipolarity, class divisions have become bound in national collaboration; workers and capitalists in America compete against workers and capitalists in China.#universalism, #multipolar, #capitalism
“Friend-shoring” describes the withdrawal of certain forms of production from geopolitical competitors (particularly silicon chips and green energy) and their relocation to allied or vassal states. Losing access to these essential goods now poses a steep risk to national security. As a result, tariffs and military alliances will now divide up consumer markets and cultural spheres.#economics
This new paradigm of friend-shoring will shape cultural institutions and their curatorial programs. As a practical matter, artworks function as both discursive and financial objects. They are often rare and expensive to produce. Their monetary value is tied to both their physical materials as well as their cultural and historical significance. In the previous globalized model, capital and culture was allowed to freely move across national borders. But for artworks to function as discursive objects, it necessarily means that these financial assets be allowed to move across state lines with relative freedom. In this way, the multipolar model will obstruct the free flow of ideas and culture when it prevents expensive artworks from moving between zones.#multipolar, #globalization, #art
In the near future, artists might choose to produce their works within an exhibition’s local or friend-shored zone. However, it seems unlikely that competing blocs will valorize the capital investments of other spheres. American artists won’t be casting bronze with Chinese fabricators anytime soon. We might see the slow emergence of “art green zones”; linked networks of fabricators, institutions, and auction houses, nested under the respective tariff regimes and military umbrellas of the world hegemons.#universalism, #globalization, #art
The new model of geopolitics might install a curatorial firewall. Already, decency laws within Russia prevent the exhibition of certain canonical American artworks, specifically those that include queer themes or imagery. The value of such works, discursively, aesthetically and financially, cannot be bridged between these spheres. As more artworks reach similar legal and economic blockades, a hemispherical cleavage will emerge in which professional accolades, cultural capital and prices all become distinct and non-transferable.#universalism, #art
What To Do About It
In the past few years, I’ve seen more than a few artists voluntarily self-censor or choose to withdraw their artworks from problematic contexts or from exhibitions that take place under governments with whom they personally disagree. I worry that these principled gestures might belie a deeper lack of confidence in art’s ability to communicate across spheres. I wonder if artists themselves may have lost faith in contemporary art as a form of discursive exchange. If we believe in the potential of art as discourse, it may be incumbent upon us to participate in contested spaces. Otherwise, we cede cultural institutions to our opposition and further empower our political opponents. We should not forget that within each sphere, there are individuals actively working to transform values from within institutions.#artist, #institutions, #discourse
Art is a unique social space. It allows for forms of cultural exchange that may be impossible or prohibited in other spheres. It is not something from which we should easily retreat or surrender. Globalization, as we have known it, may be over. Whatever comes next might be worse. Yet the project of shaping a universal society, organized by human values, is ever present and ongoing. I believe that art will play an integral role in this process.#art, #globalization
