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The spectre of the many: globalisation, subjectivity and the return of
the political in art.
by Zanny Begg [Sydney]
Summary: In the wake of Seattle, Genoa
and other manifestations of the global justice movement, there has been
increasing interest in mass subjectivity (or the multitude). Within the visual
arts this has been registered through the return of "the political":
from Documenta11 to the upcoming Sydney Biennale there has been an increasing
interest in, and demand for, "political exhibitions". Is this just
another big theme which fulfils the programming needs of the major institutions
– or can exhibitions actually engender a connection between the visual and the
social?
This paper will look at ways in which visual artists have created
moments of dissensus in our understanding of Empire by examining the
work of several visual artists who have critically engaged with the process of
globalisation: What is to be Done? ( Russia), Squatspace (Australia), Oliver
Ressler (Austria) and Contra File (Brazil). I will explore attempts by these
artists to create new social subjects by evoking a world which is not (yet).
CV:
Zanny Begg is a Sydney based
conceptual artist and theorist. She has exhibited widely in Australia and was
included in the Third Asia Pacific Cultural Forum in Taipei. Her writings have
been published in Third Text , borderlands, Moscow Art Magazine and she is the editor of the National
Association for the Visual Arts Quarterly. She is a researcher for the
Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics, Sydney, and curated an exhibition on
critical responses to globalisation in September 2005. She is active in the
global justice movement and is currently writing her PhD (Art Theory) on art,
globalisation and new social subjects.
E-mail: [email protected]