Art under Neoliberalism

Cutting Edge of the Contemporary: KNUST, Accra, and the Ghanaian Contemporary Art Movement

The use of everyday objects as art materials has evolved into a contemporary phenomenon in Africa, deeply rooted in specific contexts and possessing global relevance. Despite limited scholarly attention, existing discussions tend to revolve around individual artists or particular mediums. Many discourses are associated with either the prevailing universalist perspective that views the trend as Western avant-garde derivation or the reductionist narrative that attributes it merely to local material scarcity. There exists a critical need to investigate historical genealogies and explore the theoretical frameworks essential for comprehending this phenomenon. Through a combination of visual analysis, fieldwork and interviews, this thesis conducts an in-depth examination of the use of found materials in Zimbabwe, exploring its historiography, mechanism, impact, and visual achievements. This thesis situates the investigation in postcolonial Harare, the city that profoundly shaped the evolution of the phenomenon of using found materials. Regarding timeframe, this thesis examines contemporary Zimbabwean artists’ practices, with a special emphasis on the period following the Redefinitions movement in the early 2000s. However, it also explores the pioneering material innovations of Tapfuma Gutsa and Keston Beaton, as well as analyses the importance of the Pachipamwe workshop between the 1980s and 1990s. Among the artists, it highlights those who consistently engage with found materials and delve into their interactions with urban spaces in their practices. With the city as the analytical framework, this thesis draws on debates centring on contemporary African art and theories about materiality and urban studies. Approaching found materials as the materiality of both art and the city, it reveals a convergence of various interrelated artistic practices in Harare. The multidimensional relationships are manifested in the artistic processes, where the collection of materials, the creation of artworks, and collaboration with diverse urban groups, are intricately linked to urban spaces in Harare. By unfolding this process and emphasising the labour of artists, this thesis transcends conventional perceptions of artworks as mere visual objects, revealing the societal and spatial interactions inherent in artistic practices involving found materials. This thesis also explores the visual and semantical interactions between art and the city, centring on a curated array of artworks which is not merely a visual representation or reflection of the city but also provides critical thoughts on and dialogues with the city, as well as (re)imaginations and aspirations of the urban landscape. The relationship between art and the city is further deepened through iii artistic practices, extending beyond the creation of artworks and involving art infrastructure building in Harare. This thesis conceptualises artists’ practices of working with found material as restless imagination, a term drawn from the name of the city, which refers to “no one sleeps” in the Shona language. The restlessness embedded in its naming has characterised the city in various dimensions and across time, with the haunting colonial legacy, ongoing urban crises, ubiquitous movements and the ordinary people’s unwavering efforts for liberation and survival. Artists residing in postcolonial Harare also adopt and cultivate restlessness as a working strategy not only to cope with but also to transgress such conditions. The evolution of found materials has been unfolded through a continuous process of restless imagination and innovative manoeuvres, which are embodied in the continual re-imagination of the convention of art materials, the expressive capacities of specific materials, and a commitment to labour throughout the transformative process. This open-ended though productive process of exploration perpetuates and extends to the re-imagination and reclaiming of urban spaces, transforming them into artistic spaces that foster artistic creation and the reproduction of artists and imaginations. This thesis argues the potential framing and comprehension of Harare city as the site of restless imagination pursued, embodied and materialised by artists through their artwork and engagement with urban spaces. Contemporary Zimbabwean artists have redefined their artistic practices, interacting with the materiality of everyday urban life, urban matters, urban spaces, and urban communities, and, concurrently, the relationship between art and city, art and society. By doing so, they open up space for possibilities to refashion the restless city, negotiate urban citizenship, and recreate themselves as agentive subjects in postcolonial Harare. It could be argued that artists, as urban citizens, akin to other residents grappling with everyday life in the city, also exercise their arts of citizenship through their creative innovations in artistic expression and practices. Therefore, this thesis not only delves into the contextualisation of artistic practices in Harare but also contributes to broader discussions on everyday practices in African cities through the lens of art.

ABSTRACTThe following editorial sets out the context for this special edition of the Journal of Visual Art Practice by situating contemporary Chinese art and its critical engagement with society and politics — both within and outside the People's Republic of China and Taiwan — in relation to a wider history of modernist, postmodernist and contemporary visual art theory and practice. It also outlines the particular social, economic, cultural and political conditions in relation to which contemporary art is produced and received within the PRC and Taiwan as well as differences between localized Chinese and international perspectives on the critical significance of contemporary Chinese art.

Percorsi di gender performance: fotografia tra arte e moda dagli anni Novanta ad oggi

Aim of the Study: Pakistan has a rich historical background in textiles, which serves as a fundamental component of its cultural heritage. However, textiles are no longer restricted to upholstery and apparel in the contemporary era. These indigenous materials are being integrated into modern-era art practices and utilised in various innovative methods. During the 20th century, numerous artists began to incorporate textile materials and techniques into their work, creatively combining them with their art practices. The goal is to investigate the innovative incorporation of these methodologies into painting, sculpture, and installation art, thereby pushing the boundaries of both artistic mediums. Methodology: This study employs a qualitative research methodology. This exploratory study examines the creative fusion of conventional textile materials and techniques in the work of contemporary Pakistani artists, with a particular focus on how modern artists employ these techniques to produce artworks that reflect the vibrant culture of Pakistan. Few contemporary artists are selected as a case study, for example, Masuma Halai Khawaja, Mussarat Arif, Imrana Tanveer, Mariam Hina Hasnain, Khadim Ali, and Imran Qureshi. Findings: This study examines the integration of textiles and fine arts, also analyzing the impact of this fusion on both genres. Conclusion: This study concludes that modern artists in Pakistan have begun to explore textile media and methods in their artworks, fostering creativity and showcasing both traditional textile craft art and the emerging artistic landscape of Pakistan. This promotes the innovative use of Pakistan's textile craft techniques and fine arts both nationally and worldwide, conveying a favourable image.

It is difficult to imagine a theme more relevant to contemporary concerns than that of this conference.1 The imagining of worlds within the World is a topic that has concerned me for some time, to the extent of nominating it in recent publications as one that is at the core of contemporary art, as it is of current being-in-the-world, and thus definitive of our contemporaneity. For example, I conclude a recent article, 'The State of Art History: Contemporary Art', with the following remarks:Placemaking, world picturing and connectivity are the most common concerns of artists these days because they are the substance of contemporary being. Increasingly, they override residual distinctions based on style, mode, medium and ideology. They are present in all art that is truly contemporary. Distinguishing, precisely, this presence in each artwork is the most important challenge to an art criticism that would be adequate to the demands of contemporaneity. Tracing the currency of each artwork within the larger forces that are shaping this present is the task of contemporary art history.2These are, I know, bold claims, but I am encouraged in pursuing them because I know them to be accurate pointers to the main (but of course not the only) concerns of contemporary artists. They are also a straightforward-if rather summary-description of the enterprise of many art critics, historians and theorists of visual cultures working throughout the world today.The second issue of the journal World Art is devoted to contemporary art. I have contributed an essay that attempts to answer the question: Can we say that contemporary art is-perhaps for the first time in history-truly an art of the world? I argue along the following lines:As biennales have for decades attested, art now comes from the whole world, from a growing accumulation of art-producing localities that no longer depend on the approval of a metropolitan centre and are, to an unprecedented degree, connected to each other in a multiplicity of ways, not least regionally and globally. Geopolitical change has shifted the world picture from presumptions about the inevitability of modernisation and the universality of EuroAmerican values to recognition of the coexistence of difference, of disjunctive diversity, as characteristic of our contemporary condition. Contemporary life draws increasing numbers of artists to imagine the world-here understood as comprising a number of contemporaneous 'natures': the natural world, built environments ('second nature'), virtual space ('third nature'), and lived interiority ('human nature')-as a highly differentiated yet inevitably connected whole. In this sense, from what we might call a planetary perspective, contemporary art may be becoming an art for the world-for the world as it is now, and as it might be.3My essay is accompanied by an insightful commentary by Marsha Meskimmon that adds much depth to my raw intuitions about the affective dimensions of the kinds of coeval ethics called for in contemporary conditions: the world 'as it might be'. Ian McLean has also contributed an important essay that ties, in his unique way, the world to Australian perceptions of it.Two ideas from within the passage I have just quoted attract attention as being key topics of relevance to this conference. For over 50 years now, a world historical shift from EuroAmerican hegemony to a declining dominance within an increasingly differentiated world geopolitical and economic order has been underway-recently, at an accelerating pace. It has found expression in art, I suggest, as a shift from various kinds of practices oriented for, against or at oblique angles to modernisation (not all of which are modernisi) to practices that arise out of contemporary conditions. I will return in my conclusion to some implications for art historical writing of this world-wide shifting from modern to contemporary art.Worlds-Within-The-WorldI want to focus the main part of my remarks on the kinds of worlds that are envisaged in the passage I just quoted. …

Contributors

The Shape of Desire

As a species of hunter and gatherer, we as humans are driven to collect things that we can use to sustain our lives, but once the intrinsic need of this process is met, animals of all sorts will collect objects for other purposes. To the contemporary artist, this innate sense of object envy or the desire to collect has become a driving force behind much contemporary art practice and is firmly posited in art theory. Patterns are emerging within collecting processes that have become templates for unique styles of representation, be they conceptual or practical. This research probes beneath the surface of artistic practice in relation to collected object inclusive artistic practice in the search for a model to explain the phenomena which has become more prevalent over the past century. The historical discourse of object collecting, classification and display from the Medieval Reliquary, cabinets of curiosities, early museums and the modern and contemporary museological frameworks of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries forms the basis of this research. It is hypothesized that this historic continuum of collection processes has generated culturally and socially influenced object interaction behaviours that underpin the manner in which humans collect, classify and display objects. These historically informed behaviours have, over the span of history, resulted in a set of codified practices of collecting, classification and display. These practices, which have been repeated over the course of object collecting history, appear to have been adapted and incorporated into contemporary visual arts practice in those instances where artists engage with collected objects. To investigate the resonances of characteristic practices of historic collection processes that can be observed in contemporary collected object inclusive artistic practice, a series of researcher generated theoretic paradigms titled the Butterfly Pin Constructs, has been developed. The Butterfly Pin Constructs consist of five individual constructs that represent key elements of collecting, classification and display which have persisted and evolved since the Medieval period. These theoretic representations provide a platform upon which to discuss collected object inclusive artistic practice and the impact of the legacy of collection processes upon this contemporary phenomenon. This research utilises interview data from four Australian sample artists and the visual analysis of a number of their works of art to interrogate the framework of the Butterfly Pin Constructs and the role they may fulfil within the creative process. The Butterfly Pin Constructs, as embodiments of key characteristics of historic collection processes, are the central framework upon which an understanding of the phenomena of collected object inclusive practice can be positioned. As such, the interview responses and works of art of the late Tom Risley, Donna Marcus, Patrick Hall and Glen Skien, each of whom engage in collected object inclusive artistic practice, offer a sample set of this artistic phenomenon upon which to assess the validity of this theoretic model as offering an alternate paradigm to examine collected object inclusive artistic practice.

Bridging the Gap between Modern and Contemporary Arab Art and Arab People Dina Lutfi Abstract The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the lack of exposure Arabs have to modern and contemporary art that is being created in their region specifically, and to underline the factors that contribute to Arab people’s disjuncture from artistic production in their respective countries. Additionally, the paper will also highlight the ways in which Arabs may begin to gain awareness and knowledge about the artistic production that is taking place within their own societies, especially modern and contemporary art, which also needs support within K-12 and university educational institutions, and in the public sphere. It is imperative that art criticism, art history, and art education are reinforced and incorporated as a way of closely looking at Arab art critically, and understanding the dynamics of Arab societies and cultures through visual, written, and verbal communication. I recommend that change could take place gradually by familiarizing societies with Arab art through education, scholarship on modern and contemporary Arab art, and establishing art-viewing spaces that serve as platforms for dialogues and discourses on Arab art. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/ijaah.v7n1a2

This monograph is devoted to explore the theoretical and practical dimensions of intermediality and transregional communication in art, highlighting their evolution, transformation, and impact on global culture and interaction. The theoretical foundations of intermediality are analyzed, emphasizing the integration of various media forms and their impact on contemporary art and cultural phenomena. The study examines the origins and current state of transregional communication, assessing its importance for the development of global relations, cultural integration, economic and political cooperation. The monograph synthesizes historical perspectives with contemporary trends, including media theory, cultural studies, and art history, to provide a deeper understanding of these concepts. It emphasizes important points, such as the intermediality of visual and literary texts and the transformative impact of interregional exchanges on artistic practices and social structures. This study is an important resource for scholars and practitioners in the fields of media studies, cultural analysis, and art history, as it offers theoretical foundations and practical approaches for future research. Ting Wen, born in September 1982, is an associate professor and currently a full-time teacher at the Art College of Minzu Normal University of Xingyi in Guizhou Province, China. She obtained her PhD from Nanjing University, with research interests in ethnic arts and culture, art criticism, and art theory. In the past five years, she chaired two provincial-level projects, one municipal-level project, and three university-level projects. Besides, she participated in two projects on National Social Science Fund. Her publications included a translated book “Selected Late Writings of Greenberg”, a monograph “Strategies for Cultivating and Enhancing Aesthetic Abilities of College Students”, and more than 30 academic papers, among which 7 papers were included in core journals. The papers of “Riegl and Wolfflin in the Perspective of Formalist Art History” and “Cultural Sociological Analysis of the Modern Art System” were included in Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI, a Chinese database for core journals), and “Analysis of Gaeml Architectural Culture Characteristics Based on Drum Tower” were included in ISTP.

The article is devoted to the problem of updating the system of aesthetic categories, which is due to radical shifts in artistic practice, the formation of a new perception of works of art, and theestablishment of special relationships with them. The need for a scientific and practical discussion of modern approaches to the problem of the aesthetic as a basic category of artistic space is emphasized against the background of thoughts about the loss of aesthetic resources in contemporary art. The article recalls the main law of artistic form as the basis of any art product, namely, the obligatory coincidence of the internal (immaterial, spiritual) with the external (material objective embodiment). If this does not happen, then it is necessary to investigate what is happening with the artistic form itself and, accordingly, with its aesthetic assessments, which in turn exacerbates the problem of the aesthetic. If it has been deformed or is disappearing altogether as a phenomenon of art today, then it is necessary to determine the contours of its transformations. Against the background of the analysis of scientific sources, in particular the well-known work of V. Tatarkevych, it is proven that it is necessary to bring the modern concept of the aesthetic into line with its historical content. It is noted that the aesthetic remains a branch of human expression of one’s own personal world, which is in various relations with the surrounding world, and it is these relations that differ from those recorded by traditional aesthetics. Examples of digital art by S. Riabchenko, foreign and Ukrainian architecture, and painting by D. Saville are provided to demonstrate the need to expand traditional aesthetic assessments and conceptual frameworks, preserving the nature of the aesthetic as a meaningful, selfless pleasure-type artistic contemplation. Studies that address the aesthetic perception of the 20th-21st centuries, as well as the concept of anti-aesthetics, which contributes to a clearer separation of works of art from “non-art,” are analyzed to demonstrate the presence of renewing trends in modern aesthetics and art criticism. A position is expressed that demonstrates the relevance of defining the category of aesthetics in the modern world, but with the need for its clarification.

Contributors

This paper aims to highlight the interplay of technology and cybernetics within conceptual art. Just as Lucy Lippard has illustrated the influence of information theory within 1960s conceptual art, this paper traces the technological discourses within conceptual art through to contemporary digital art—specifically, establishing a correlation between Katherine Hayles's mapping of first-, second- and third-wave cybernetic narratives and, respectively, 1960s–1970s conceptual art, 1970s–1990s video art and new media art. Technology is shown to have a major influence on conceptual art, but one often based on historical, social and cybernetic narratives. This paper echoes Krzystof Ziarek's call for a Heideggerian poiesis and Adorno/Blanchotnian “nonpower” within conceptual art and advocates Ziarek's notion of “powerfree” artistic practices within new media and transgenic art.

This research investigates the economic considerations associated with the utilisation of recycled materials, particularly plastic waste, within contemporary art practices in Malaysia. As artists increasingly adopt sustainable approaches by incorporating recycled materials into their creative processes, understanding economic factors—such as cost, availability, and creative potential—becomes paramount. Employing an explanatory and quantitative methodology, the study utilised an online survey featuring a 5-point Likert scale to collect data from 84 participants, comprising art practitioners, professional artists, and emerging artists. A random stratified sampling method ensured a representative sample encompassing varying levels of experience within the artistic community. The data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with bootstrapping, alongside Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA), to evaluate the significance, importance, and performance of various factors influencing the adoption of recycled materials in art. The findings reveal that while cost and material availability substantially impact artistic decision-making, the creative potential inherent in the use of recycled materials emerges as a key driver of innovation and sustainability within the art sector. Community engagement and exploratory practices were identified as pivotal elements in fostering the successful integration of recycled materials into artistic projects, although economic challenges persist as a notable barrier for many artists. This study provides a nuanced understanding of the ways in which economic considerations shape sustainable art practices, offering valuable insights into how the art industry can more effectively support and promote environmentally conscious creative endeavours. By highlighting the intersection of economic factors and sustainability, the research contributes to the broader discourse on advancing eco-friendly practices within contemporary art.