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Globalisation
Tuesday 11 November 2008 - 8 p.m.
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Today’s world is being constantly redefined by the process of globalisation in politics, world economy, media and communication, as well as in the realm of culture and the visual arts. Curators, art critics and artists travel around the world non-stop. Nourished by art galleries and museums which operate internationally, as well as by numerous biennial and triennial exhibitions, an increasingly global art world has emerged.
What is the effect of these developments on art itself? Do increased mobility and intercultural exchange lead to a ‘global art vernacular’, a new mainstream in which differences in aesthetic appearance or thematic content have been reduced to a minimum, regardless of the geographical or cultural provenance of a work of art? Furthermore, what is the significance of global and local contexts, of such concepts as national and international, particularly in the curatorial lay-out of biennials where international artists are creating site-specific works? And what about critical counter-movements: can art provide an effective platform for these alternative voices?

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Speakers
Julian Stallabrass (UK) is Reader in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. He is the author of Art Incorporated (2004), Internet Art: The Online Clash Between Culture and Commerce (2003); High Art Lite: British Art in the 1990s (1999), and regularly writes for publications such as Tate Etc., Art Monthly and New Statesman.
Hou Hanru (CHN/FR/US), director of Exhibitions and Public Programs, Chair of Exhibition and Museum Studies, San Francisco Art Institute, Hou Hanru is an internationally renowned curator and art critic. He is best known for his critical engagement with the effects of globalization on migration, urbanization and modernization in developing countries, as well as with the international redistribution of labor. He curated a number of exhibitions that addressed these issues: Cities on the Move (1997-1999), Z.O.U. Zone of Urgency (Venice Biennale, 2003), Not Only Possible, But Also Necessary – Optimism in the Age of Global War, the 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007) and Trans(ient) City and Global Multitude (Luxembourg 2007, European Capital of Culture)

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Moderator
Deborah Cherry (UK) is Chair of the Modern Art Department at the University of Amsterdam and editor of Art History magazine.
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