“Major exhibitions or curated projects initiated in different places around the world have variously convened a shared present across distance through art. We will reflect on the implications for selected artworks at the moment of public engagement: how do these conjure with or disrupt the idea of international, cross-cultural, global, planetary – or another understanding of – contemporaneity?
On this course we will discuss the “extreme internationalism” of Conceptual art shows since the late 1960s, and the “global contemporary” framing of survey exhibitions – notably art biennials – since the late 1980s. We will consider the roles played by concepts such as national representation, multiculturalism and anti-imperial nationalism. We will analyse how numerous factors – for example: artist networks, curatorial agency, installation serendipity, national backing, educational experience and cultural identity – may affect visibility, especially when exhibiting “at large” rather than “at home” (however many places may be counted as “home”). Visibility afar, or critical engagement in a distant locality, will be prioritised above successful commercial access to new art markets, when thinking about exhibiting abroad.”