Globalization and Mixing in the Visual Arts

Abstract

While there has been an increasing amount of research into globalization since the 1990s, empirical sociological studies in this area remain all too scarce. By analysing specific cases in contemporary visual art, this article shows that the widespread art world discourse on globalization, mixing and the abolition of borders is to a large extent based on illusion. By objectifying the positions occupied by different countries in the field of art, the article brings to light a marked hierarchy that reveals that, beyond the development of international exchanges, the art world still has a clearly defined centre comprising a small number of western countries, among which the US and Germany are pre-eminent, and a vast periphery, comprising all the other states. The specific example empirically analysed here leads to a reconsideration of earlier studies of cultural globalization, most of which are essentially abstract. keywords: art ✦ art market ✦ globalization ✦ institutions ✦ internationalization Since the end of the 1960s, the international art trade has to a large extent been integrated into a world market, the very heart of which (Moulin, 2000) is constituted by international exchanges, and the main contemporary art institutions, 1 including museums and art centres, have been part of a vast international network.The various actors on this scene often state that they consider geographical boundaries and nationalities, including those of the artists, to be of no significance. Such a notion, which no doubt one would always find to be the majority view in the world of contemporary art (which by essence seems so obviously international, since, today, validation by space, by geographical distance, has replaced the validation by time,

Cultural Globalization and Arts Journalism: The International Orientation of Arts and Culture Coverage in Dutch, French, German, and U.S. Newspapers, 1955 to 2005

“…The global diversity of cultural coverage has increased, but attention to peripheral or non-Western countries is only a small part of the internationalization of cultural coverage. This finding, which is consistent with other empirical research (Biltereyst and Meers 2000;Johnston and Baumann 2007;Quemin 2006), underscores the enduring imbalance in international cultural exchanges. International coverage of the arts is largely confined to a select group of countries-what we may call the core and the semi-periphery of the cultural world system-while domestic culture remains important in all four countries.…”

“…French culture, on the other hand, has become less prominent, although Paris is still a leading center for some cultural forms (Scott 1997). The Netherlands occupies a semi-peripheral position in the international cultural arena (Heilbron 1995), while Germany has not been in a central position since before World War II (Sassoon 2006), except perhaps in classical music (Applegate and Potter 2002) and the visual arts (Quemin 2006). These observations are consistent with our data on the centrality of these countries' cultural production (see Appendix, Table A2).…”

Reputation, Status Networks, and the Art Market

“…The wide timeframe and the inclusion of international artists in Dutch museum exhibitions still allowed for an analysis of artists' prestige, but it should be kept in mind this was seen from a Northern-European viewpoint. Although there is no reason to doubt our conclusions based on this research's national setting (e.g., with empirical research focusing on France (White and White 1965;Quemin 2006), the United States of America (Alexander 1996;DiMaggio 1996), and Germany (Beckert and Rössel 2013) using similar singular contexts), an international comparison of artistic status and reputation would offer a deeper understanding of how national contexts and their institutions affect artistic prestige. A possible avenue for further research could inquire into the effects of artists' nationalities, museum inclusion, and reputation building.…”

Lagos Art World: The Emergence of an Artistic Hub on the Global Art Periphery

“…Fashionable phenomena such as “globalization,” mixing and cultural relativism and the tremendous opening to other world cultures, touted in the world of contemporary art in recent years, are to a large extent illusory….Although artistic events have spread around the globe, this has not led to a displacement of the most important zones or even to any real sharing between center and periphery. (Quemin 2006:546)…”