Art History: BVA 312 - 15/10/2019 (Notes from book: Globalisation and Contemporary Art.)
What is globalization (Harris, 2011) (pg 3)
- Higher education is itself an ever more globalizing business – though the migration of students to universities to study all subjects continues to flow massively from east and south towards northern and western institutions, though the latter category includes universities in Melbourne and Cape town as much as in London, Madrid, and Los Angeles.
- New terminology for human migration. Mixing different races together.
- Technology is one of the aspects that escalate the happening of globalization.
- YouTube, social media, telephone, spreads information across the world. EXP: Michael Jackson’s death and wake, we might call it – is a “cultural” facet.
The two economies of world art (Harris, Globalization and contemporary art, 2011)
- Definition of world art (pg180):
Most striking of all is the globalization of the art market, with the dealers and collectors in contemporary art operating across national boundaries, combined with a remarkably centralized secondary market coordinated internationally by the world’s two leading auction houses which now operate in multiple locations.
- Free or equal? pg 186
** Art theorist: Julian Stallabrass, Boris Groys
Discuss the contemporary art world works in terms of a single variable: respectively, freedom and equality.
Stallabrass noted, the economy of art closely reflects the economy of finance capital nut it also continually displays the signs of its freedom … [showing] that such freedom, and free critique, can be nurtured by the instrumental system of capitalism.
Groys: To this he juxtaposes an account of autonomy of art in terms not of freedom but equality.
He also stated: the seemingly inscrutable functioning of the art world can be interpreted as the ongoing attempt to realize that equilibrium where every image is equal to every other. It therefore “favors anything that establishes or maintains the balance of power and tends to exclude or try to outweigh anything that distorts this balance.”
The author, Malcolm Bull, commented, although Stallabrass and Groys both focus on single variables – it appears that the validity of their claims is likely to depend not upon the distribution of freedom or equality within the art world as a while, but rather on the relationship of the attention economy (where freedom and equality are supposedly manifest) to the art market. [Incorporate this idea into my essay, contemporary art world symbolized freedom and equality]
Groys that the art world as a whole resists the economy because the attention economy equalizes inequalities created by the art market itself. [was thinking to incorporate only on Groys’ theory, but after deeply thinking about the statement Bull stated, it proves that both of Groys’ and Stallabrass’ ideas were the same.] pg 187
The art market in transition, the global economic crisis, and the rise of Asia. (Harris, Globalization and Contemporary Art, 2011)
- Focuses on the rise of Asia. (Shift in the economy, reflecting the art world)
- First world hegemony turning to the power rising second and third world country.
Pg 450: … This tower is not a mere transatlantic edifice, with its foundations in New York and London, but a building with foot in: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Moscow, Abu-Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Seoul, Taipei, and Singapore; in fact comprising of people of whom Wolfe in1987 described as coming from the third world, but to which we would now refer to as coming from transitional and emerging economies.
… We are now according to Bourriaud, in the age of altermodernism - at a point at which the context in which art is shown. The economic, political and art worlds at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century are very different from those imagined by Fukuyama at the end of the twentieth century. **Highlighted Fukuyama. (An author that discusses life after the twentieth century.)
Pg 453: If the global art was valued at 43 billion euros in 2006 – up 50% from 2003 - shared between Europe (44%) and the United States (46%), the real growth after this period has been in contemporary art, and in particular, Chinese contemporary art, which by 2007 had the second-largest share of contemporary art market. The story of the market from 2002 to 2006 was growth across the three major categories: Old Master, Moderns and contemporary. The story of the art market from 2006 to the end of 2008 has been one exceptionally rapid growth for contemporary art from emerging economies.
Pg 454: A geographical shift in the art market away from the traditional centers was noted by Art Economics (2008) as early as 2002 – 3, with EU sales falling 13%, France and the United Kingdom losing 15% and 18% respectively, Switzerland declining by 34%, and the United States by 21%. In contrast, markets outside Europe and America gained 4%. This trend continued in the bull market during 2004 – 6. The US market grew by 60% and EU 38% but emerging markets managed 78%. The growth was felt particularly in China.
Pg 456: the Art world is a conservative environment with deep-seated vested interests, both economic and cultural.
Why the secondary market is hard to entre Asia (This topic seems to be irrelevant towards my questioning towards my essay.).
- I wanted to focus on a region rather than individual artists.
Pg 457 (Art economics): The Asian market has, over the last fifteen years, formed a structure that shifted the market. … Beijing is unlikely to replace London and New York as the art market capital for political, legal, and economic reasons. But China is certainly offering an alternative to the western hegemony. ** Looks set to become the cultural center of East and parts of Southeast Asia. Hong Kong, 3rd largest trading center for art and antiques. (Other points talks about Chinese art in the market)
Pg 460: Culture has become a more and more important source of national cohesion and creativity and a factor of growing significance in the competition in overall national strength. (Importance of culture)
Pg 461: Asia’s art and antique, suggest that global art market will experience a paradigm shift.
Works Cited
Harris, J. (2011). Globalization and contemporary art . In M. Bull, The two economies of world art (pp. 179-190). West sussex : Wiley-Blackwell .
Harris, J. (2011). Globalization and Contemporary Art. In I. Robertson, The art market in transition, the global economic crisis, and the rise of asia (pp. 449-463). West sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
Harris, J. (2011). Globalization and Contemporary Art . West sussex: Wiley-Blackwell .
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