Contemporary Art in the Conflicts of Globalization

Contemporary Art in the Conflicts of Globalization presents an authoritative introductory guide to the emergence, development, and meanings of contemporary art around the world from the era of twentieth-century western colonialism to the crises and conflicts of globalization over the last three decades.

Examining contemporary art’s connections to and breaks from modern art in the last century, the study offers an innovative account of its artists’ formation during the era of decolonization after 1945 and the Cold War. Through a series of complementary analytic perspectives, the book considers the cultural politics of the global art world, its patterns of inclusion and exclusion, and charts contemporary art’s relations to feminist, anti-racist, and climate change activisms (among others) as these have both mutated and interconnected since the 1990s. More than 50 illustrations are included and are the basis for the book’s empirical and theoretically informed study.

The book is designed for both students and general readers and will be of great value for all who see contemporary art and global cultures as a contested ground of creativity and social significance, within which transformative progressive change may be achieved for the whole world and all its peoples.