The Globalization of Art

Description: Cembalest on the roving international exhibits.

Transcript:  Well, I think the main thing is that the art world is increasingly international. There are artists who are working in centers that were previously considered outside the art world, places like Pakistan, India. They might have another house in London, or they might have another studio in Paris, but they are still living in these places, and we’re seeing now, I mean there is huge boom in China as everyone knows, there is going to be a boom in India people imagine. There is collectors communities surging in all these places, in Russia, the Middle East, China, India there’s interest not only in the art that is coming out of their own countries, but in western art.

Question: How are the roving international art fairs changing art criticism?

Transcript:  Well there are so many biennials now that no one can go to all of them, if you do, that’s your job, you go to the biennials. There has been some criticism that the biennials, which are kind of posited as this way to get the art, interact with the city, the local city, and the populous of the city. To me it’s questionable whether or not that happens and how much it happens. I still feel that a lot of them are basically curated in a way that is directed more at their colleagues who are going to the other biennials then to the populous of Istanbul or Havana or wherever it is that they are doing these shows. I feel they are speaking to each other in lot of occasions. It’s very hard to write a review of a show that has 200 artists in any case. This is case with Venice, this is the case with Documenta, which at least have general theme. You get to these biennials which also have themes, you really have to find a way that of point of views that not just a list. It’s very hard. 

Question: How are artists responding the global art network?

Transcript: Well, I think what you are seeing more is artists trying to respond to this global network of art fairs, because the other thing we’ve seen every year, there were more art fairs, every capital has to have an art fair, and there has been a lot of commentary on how artists are trying to produce for the fairs, which is actually different work. The work that they are going to produce for these biennials is they are going to find some fabulous historic location and make a site specific work for the location that’s going to exist and find that period of time. It might not even be for sale. Because there are such turnover at the fairs and because there are such a large percentage of business being done at the fairs by a lot of galleries, there are artists were feeling pressured to produce the kind of work that can be shown and sold in the fairs, which occur every five minutes.

Question: How do you compare European and American tastes and trends in art?

Transcript: I think historically in the last 40 years, I would say that certainly conceptual art has been much more widely accepted in Europe than in United States. There are certain artists, for example Joseph Kosuth who is a very major conceptual artist, who has a much bigger carrier in Europe than he has in United States. The same thing is true with Laurence Weiner who just had the show at the Whitney. He’s huge in Europe.

Question: What are the hot regions to watch?

Transcript: I think again everyone’s watching China. Everyone’s watching India. Certainly Russia and the Middle East, in terms of the markets, we’re watching too.

Recorded on: 1/14/08