Opening: Fri., 16 September, 2011, 7 pm at the ZKM_Foyer, on view through 5 February, 2012.

Globalization as a phase in the geo-political transformation of the world is at the same time a transformation of art – of the conditions of its production, and possibilities of its diffusion and dissemination and presence. At the same time, artists, and above all the institutions of art – large-scale exhibitions, museums, the art market – are faced with questions as to the extent to which the concept »global« can and must be thought – and how this reflects back on its own methods of working. By means of documentary materials and artistic approaches, the exhibition »The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds after 1989« will examine the way in which globalization, both with its pervasive mechanisms of the market and its utopias of networking and generosity, impacts upon the various spheres of artistic production and reception.

This critical analysis of the key institutions and dispositives of the art world seeks to illustrate the manner in which globalization has both shaped and itself become a theme in artistic production that intentionally creates and reviews its own conditions and parameters. With »The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds after 1989« the ZKM | Karlsruhe, as a utopian »factory« and work place in the best sense of the meaning, itself plans to thematize these conditions, which also influence everyday life beyond the art world: to make the museum itself a site of contemporaneity – a place in which local experiences of time subvert the unity of the new »universal time«.

The conception and design of the exhibition forms part of the research project »Global Art and the Museum« (GAM), co-initiated by Hans Belting and Peter Weibel at the ZKM in 2006.

Over the past two years, a network of protagonists and key institutions within the global art scene was established, which was then consolidated and extended by way of several seminars and conferences in both Karlsruhe and abroad. The ensuing discourse, captured in two publications and an extensive Website, thus constitutes the thematic framework of the exhibition, and through experimental implementation in “The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds after 1989” is then reflected back into the GAM project. This academic, experimental examination of the art system, also remains decisive for the exhibition itself. Thus, the exhibition’s self-reflective dimension becomes one of its fundamental features, as underscored by a specially organized residency program and the work on art mediation. To this end, more than twelve international artists have been invited to discuss the issues surrounding »The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds after 1989«, and to help throw critical light on the exhibition’s concepts. This critical discussion will take place in a particular place within the exhibition by the setting up of a »studio« in which visitors, mediators and artists realize artistic-educative projects, workshops and temporary presentations, and thus together help shape and co-author »The Global Contemporary«. Lastly, the critical, scholarly discourse initiated at the inception of the GAM project will be pursued throughout the course of the exhibition before being published in a comprehensive catalog.

Exhibition Themes:
Today, all attempts to cover the process of globalization in its entirety can only ever provide a snapshot-like depiction of a temporary state. To account for this situation, the project »The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds after 1989« singles out various thematic fields, such as: ‘The Global Turn. 1989 and its Consequences’, ‘Contemporaneity’, ‘Visual Worlds. Art and the Migration of Pictures’ and ’Art history. The End of a Canon’ ‘Strategies of Representation in Art, Art and Politics, The Art Market or Identities in the Art System. The artistic, as well as the documentary analyses and presentations of these thematic fields are to be understood as pro tempore views of a whole in a state of continual movement, thus facilitating the critical reflective discussion of its own perspectives.

Participating Artsts (among others):
Bani Abidi, AES Group, Halim Al-Karim, Halil Altindere, Francis Alÿs, Rasheed Araeen, Kader Attia, Yto Barrada, Richard Bell, Guy Ben-Ner, Tamy Ben-Tor, Ursula Biemann, Michael Bielicky & Kamilla B. Richter, Zander Blom, Santiago Borja, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Ondrej Brody & Kristofer Paetau, Erik Bünger, Roberto Cabot, Anetta Mona Chisa & Lucia Tkacova, Chto delat?, Mansour Ciss Kanakassy & Baruch Gottlieb & Christian Hanussek, Com&Com, Minerva Cuevas, Neil Cummings & Marysia Lewandowska, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Manthia Diawara, Ala Ebtekar, Nezaket Ekici, Yara El-Sherbini, Elmgreen & Dragset, Erika & Javier, Doug Fishbone, Brendan Fernandes, Meschac Gaba, Thierry Geoffroy, Ghana Think Tank, Matthias Gommel, Josh Greene with Yangzi, Anawana Haloba Hobøl, Hong Hao, Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Mona Hatoum, Antonia Hirsch, Pieter Hugo, Ashley Hunt, Melanie Jackson, Christian Jankowski, Anna Jermolaewa, Jin Shi, JJ XI & Cai Yuan, Jompet, Martin Kippenberger, Agung Kurniawan, Surasi Kusolwong, Will Kwan, Moshekwa Langa, Ben Lewis, Liu Ding, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, James Luna, Pooneh Maghazehe, Tirzo Martha, Gabriele di Matteo, Miao Xiaochun, Mirza/Butler, Nástio Mosquito, Krisna Murti, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Ni Haifeng, NSK State, Eko Nugroho, Mattias Olofsson, Adrian Paci, Leila Pazooki, Pavel Pepperstein, Pinky Show, Tadej Pogacar, Elodie Pong, Nusra Latifa Quereshi, Raqs Media Collective, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Navin Rawanchaikul, RYBN, Ho-Yeol Ryu, Ruth Sacks, Chéri Samba, John Smith, Sean Snyder, Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau, SOSka group, Michael Stevenson, Hito Steyerl, Mladen Stilinovic, Jens M. Stober, Jim Supangkat, Superflex, Stephanie Syjuco, Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Tintin Wulia, The Xijing Men, Xu Bing, Zhou Tiehai

http://on1.zkm.de

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