“Mega-Exhibitions and the Antinomies of a Transnational Global Form” by Okwui Enwezor vs. “The Globalization of the False: A Response to Okwui Enwezor” by George Baker

“Mega-Exhibitions and the Antinomies of a Transnational Global Form” by Okwui Enwezor vs. “The Globalization of the False: A Response to Okwui Enwezor” by George Baker

by | 13 Jun 2007 | Art History

“Mega-Exhibitions and the Antimonies of a Transnational Global Form” by Okwui Enwezor vs. “The Globalization of the False: A Response to Okwui Enwezor” by George Baker

Theorist and curator Okwui Enwezor, who had written and published this paper on the emerging globalization of the art market and its relationship for better and worse to capitalism as the universally dominant system of commerce, repurposed and edited his original piece to accommodate a tandem presentation at Columbia University’s 2002 Sawyer Seminar. Presenting an opposing and decidedly more personal address was art critic George Baker.

Anolis carolinensis, green anole

Anolis carolinensis, green anole

Anolis carolinensis, the green anole, Florida’s only native anole species, May 2007

Enwezor allows that the so-called globalization of the art market is not seen be a positive by all ((“Mega-Exhibitions and the Antimonies of a Transnational Global Form” by Okwui Enwezor. 4)), but proposes, basically, that the world globalization be associated not just with the economic hegemony of the very wealthy individuals and institutions who collect and purchase art objects and support their creation but with a true internationalization of the art world. In this new and improved postmodernist art world, the old canon of art stars and art history would implode what would now occur would be the “broadening … of international participation across a range of cultural, social, and political spheres. ((ibid., 4))”
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“One Place After Another: Notes on Site Specificity” by Miwon Kwon

by | 1 Jun 2007 | Art History

“One Place After Another: Notes on Site Specificity” by Miwon Kwon reprinted in Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985 edited by Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung.

Architectural theorist, occasional curator, and UCLA professor of contemporary art history Miwon Kwon dissects the meaning of the word “place” as it pertains to art in public places and the changing role of the installation-maker in “One Place After Another: Notes on Site Specificity.” This essay which originally appeared in the influential journal October in 1997 was such a success in the critical theory community that Kwon published a book-length updated edition in 2002.

Kwon makes several points though her primary thesis is simply that site-specific art has changed greatly since the so-to-speak groundbreaking days of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty and smaller but no less controversial pieces such as Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc ((“One Place After Another: Notes on Site Specificity” by Miwon Kwon reprinted in Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985 edited by Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung. (Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Malden, Masachusetts, 2005). 32)) along with notions of commerce and integrity.
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