04 Feb 2010

springerin 1/10: Globalism. Out now!

Going global. This dimension of thought has become an established component of contemporary discourse recently, irrespective of the artistic or cultural scenarios to which it refers. In this context, globality, globalisation and globalism form a vague cluster of overlapping ideas, and it is rare for any attention to be paid to the clear distinctions that actually need to be drawn between these notions.

This edition concentrates on these prerequisites and questions by taking a closer look at the potential of globalism when it is given a positive twist. This exploration hinges on regional clusters and spheres of influence, and sheds light on the particular ways in which these are configured within the broader political context, as well as in specific local settings. One way in to the topic involves turning an analytical spotlight on particular art-world centres in the Asian and Maghreb world: Keiko Sei and Toni Maraini for example look in detail at the art scenes in Thailand and Morocco, also with a view to teasing out how local artists on the spot grapple with the phantasmagorias concealed within global promises. The opportunities and shortcomings, hopes and disappointments of the globalist approach in discourse are also addressed in essays by Erden Kosova and Nancy Adajania. Whereas Kosova considers the outlandish positioning of contemporary Turkish art in the midst of a flurry of nationalist, anti-capitalist and globalist claims, Adajania argues that fundamentally rewriting cultural geographies is crucial: rather than advocating a simple inversion of former centre-periphery models, she calls instead for fragmentation structured around multiple poles, and urges us to move towards »critical transregionality«.

It would be fair to say that one of the subtexts that appears frequently in many of the essays collected here is the idea of globalism asserted as an active, shaping force vis-à-vis increasingly rigid power structures around the globe, a process often experienced as utterly inevitable. Brian Holmes emphasises in his essay that the economic and financial crisis means it is not at all straightforward to overcome these ever more rigid structures and turns his attention once again to the cultural foundations of economic globalisation. Anna Schneider seeks to locate a counter-model to this fatal dynamic in the »maritime turn « in contemporary notions of culture – a fluid, variable, yet simultaneously historical and material basis for worldwide relations rooted in the notion of exchange.

A congress in Vienna (Mumok, from February 19-20) focussing on the topic of globalism will look into these matters in greater detail. At the congress contributors to this edition will engage in a dialogue with a number of artists and theoreticians. Debates at the congress will concentrate on the leitmotif of the prospects for a »united« critical force rooted in nodes around the world, and consider how viable this might be.


Net Section

Rahma Khazam on expanded sonic practices
Franz Thalmair on the artist group Ubermorgen.com, created in Vienna in 1999
Nat Muller on the exhibition 'Feedforward - The Angel of History'
Nicole Brenez on the independent french DVD-Label Lowave
Naoko Kaltschmidt on the filmaker and artist Jack Smith
Christian Höller on the composer and musician Cornelius Cardew
Rachel Mader on the project 'Digital Art Collection/Store'

Main Section

Brian Holmes on global finance and precarious destinies
Image Gallery: Zoe Leonard, Analogue, (2009).
Nancy Adajania on the possibilities of globalism to re-stage the world
Keiko Sei on withdrawal symptoms in the artistic mind, taking the case of Thailand
Image Gallery: Hans Nevidal, Eva Ursprung, Blind Spot Niger Delta, (2009).
Toni Maraini on art in a global world: the Moroccan case
Erden Kosova a critical view on contemporary art in Turkey
Anna Schneider turning away from territorial perspectives as a chance for globalism
Jochen Becker on the film 'Man tänker sitt' of Henrik Hellström

Artscribe

Critical reviews of new publications as well as exhibitions in Berlin, Bristol, Graz, Klagenfurt, Lausanne, Ljubljana, New York, West Bank/Palestine, Vilnius, Vienna, Utrecht