That contemporary art, by means of biennials,
neo-museum institutions and financial markets,
has currently become a global phenomenon
is a given. Much less of a given is that the
paradigm “Art,” as it has become established
through its modernist legacy, is affiliated with
a multiplication of visions, with a latitude of
different and interlocking histories and with
transversal and diverse contexts.
Within the contemporary artistic scene, one
has the impression that “being equal” means
nothing more than adhering to the same Art
institution. To emancipate oneself thus means
belonging to Art as to a same world, sharing
an already established world that, as such,
can only infinitely reproduce that which is
already implicit within it. Despite everything,
our model of art continues to be very similar
to that of an institution capable of determining
the integration of minorities as a majoritarian
measure (in their identity, their unity) or their
exclusion.
With a degree of skepticism towards both
globalization effects and the latest premises of
the so-called de-globalization, the anthology
Utopian Display attempts to bring together
curatorial experiences that have matured over
the past thirty years in various geopolitical
contexts – from Africa to China, from India to
Latin America, from the Middle East through
to the post-Soviet areas. The authors, all
from different generations, are amongst the
most important and experimental voices of
contemporary, curatorial research.
