Contemporary Art: 1989 to the Present

The contemporary art world has expanded exponentially—in both size and complexity—over the last two decades, leading to a general uncertainty as to what matters and why. Contemporary Art: 1989 to the Present provides an unparalleled resource for students, artists, scholars, and art enthusiasts who are eager to navigate today’s art world. It is the first collection of its kind to bring together fresh perspectives from leading international art historians, critics, curators, and artists for a comprehensive discussion of what contemporary art is today. Divided into fourteen thematic clusters, each section presents three essays that offer a kaleidoscope of lively and expert viewpoints on each topic. Topics include globalization, formalism, technology, participation, agency, biennials, activism, fundamentalism, judgment, markets, and art schools, and scholarship. These clusters organize material in distinct and overlapping ways, allowing readers to customize their approach to their needs.  With up–to–date research concerns as well as more enduring topics, this text will provoke lively discussion regarding contemporary art, its study, and its historiography. Contemporary Art: 1989 to the Present provides a much–needed examination of the unique contemporary situation, and an encapsulation of a complex intellectual zeitgeist.

Contributors ix INTRODUCTION 1 Alexander Dumbadze and Suzanne Hudson 1 THE CONTEMPORARY AND GLOBALIZATION 5 Worlds Apart: Contemporary Art, Globalization, and the Rise of Biennials 7 Tim Griffin “Our” Contemporaneity? 17 Terry Smith The Historicity of the Contemporary is Now! 28 Jean–Philippe Antoine 2 ART AFTER MODERNISM AND POSTMODERNISM 37 Elite Art in an Age of Populism 39 Julian Stallabrass “Of Adversity we Live!” 50 Monica Amor Making it Work: Artists and Contemporary Art in China 60 Pauline J. Yao 3 FORMALISM 70 Form Struggles 72 Jan Verwoert Formalism Redefined 84 Anne Ellegood The World in Plain View: Form in the Service of the Global 95 Joan Kee 4 MEDIUM SPECIFICITY 105 The (Re)Animation of Medium Specificity in Contemporary Art 107 Sabeth Buchmann Medium Aspecificity/Autopoietic Form 117 Irene V. Small Specificity 126 Richard Shiff 5 ART AND TECHNOLOGY 137 Test Sites: Fabrication 139 Michelle Kuo Inhabiting the Technosphere: Art and Technology Beyond Technical Invention 149 Ina Blom Conceptual Art 2.0 159 David Joselit 6 BIENNIALS 169 In Defense of Biennials 171 Massimiliano Gioni Curating in Heterogeneous Worlds 178 Geeta Kapur Biennial Culture and the Aesthetics of Experience 192 Caroline A. Jones 7 PARTICIPATION 202 Participation 204 Liam Gillick and Maria Lind The Ripple Effect: “Participation” as an Expanded Field 214 Johanna Burton Publicity and Complicity in Contemporary Art 224 Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy 8 ACTIVISM 232 Activism 234 Andrea Giunta Knit Dissent 245 Julia Bryan–Wilson Light from a Distant Star: A Meditation on Art, Agency, and Politics 254 Raqs Media Collective 9 AGENCY 265 Participation in Art: 10 Theses 267 Juliane Rebentisch Fusions of Powers: Four Models of Agency in the Field of Contemporary Art, Ranked Unapologetically in Order of Preference 277 Tirdad Zolghadr Life Full of Holes: Contemporary Art and Bare Life 287 T. J. Demos 10 THE RISE OF FUNDAMENTALISM 298 Monotheism à la Mode 300 Sven Lütticken Freedom’s Just Another Word 311 Terri Weissman On the Frontline: The Politics of Terrorism in Contemporary Pakistani Art 322 Atteqa Ali 11 JUDGMENT 331 Judgment’s Troubled Objects 333 João Ribas A Producer’s Journal, or Judgment A Go–Go 346 Frank Smigiel After Criticism 357 Lane Relyea 12 MARKETS 367 Globalization and Commercialization of the Art Market 369 Olav Velthuis Three Perspectives on the Market 379 Mihai Pop, Sylvia Kouvali, and Andrea Rosen Untitled 388 Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri 13 ART SCHOOLS AND THE ACADEMY 406 Lifelong Learning 408 Katy Siegel Art without Institutions 420 Anton Vidokle Will the Academy Become a Monster? 429 Pi Li 14 SCHOLARSHIP 436 Our Literal Speed 438 Our Literal Speed Globalization, Art History, and the Specter of Difference 447 Chika Okeke–Agulu The Academic Condition of Contemporary Art 457 Carrie Lambert–Beatty Index 467

Alexander Dumbadze is assistant professor of contemporary art at George Washington University. He is president of the Society of Contemporary Art Historians and a cofounder of the Contemporary Art Think Tank. He has written essays for a number of international exhibition catalogues, and is a recipient of the Creative Capital| Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.  His book Bas Jan Ader: Death is Elsewhere is forthcoming in 2013. Suzanne Hudson is assistant professor of contemporary art at the University of Southern California. She is president emeritus and chair of the executive committee of the Society of Contemporary Art Historians and a cofounder of the Contemporary Art Think Tank. In addition to her work as an art historian, she is an active critic whose work has appeared in international exhibition catalogues and such publications as Parkett, Flash Art, and Art Journal; she is a regular contributor to Artforum. In 2009 she published Robert Ryman: Used Paint, and Painting Now is forthcoming in 2013.

“Summing Up: Recommended. Upper–division undergraduates and above.”  ( Choice , 1 August 2013)