Trans*localities and Frontier Zones: Place, identity and exhibition-making in the era of the Global Contemporary

Abstract

This thesis examines questions of place-making and identity formation in Contemporary Art and their influence on artistic and exhibition practice in the early twenty-first century, framed in terms of the author’s own curatorial practice and research. This includes global considerations of decolonisation, cultural displacement, migration, translocality and environmental disruption, examined from diverse perspectives, including the transnational imaginary of a Global South. Chapter 1 sets out the contextual framing for the research, guided by curatorial values of locality, identity, discursivity and affectivity, and it suggests some evaluative principles framed in terms of viewer experience. It is followed by a Curatorial Case Study for the exhibition SOUTH. Chapter 2 provides an art-historical contextualisation for the research, and it investigates the emerging structures and forms of the Global Contemporary through a history of recent exhibitions. Chapter 3 examines discourses on locality, identity and affectivity, and is focussed on theoretical positions affecting exhibition practice, across a range of related disciplines, encompassing art history and theory; critical theory; anthropology; spatial, social and cultural histories; and aspects of contemporary economics and politics. Chapter 4 is focussed on curatorial and exhibition practice across numerous sites and exhibition platforms worldwide, with an emphasis on major museums and recurrent international exhibition platforms such as biennials and triennials. It investigates diverse deterritorialised and precarious forms of art and ‘non-art’ practice, and the challenges faced by curators in presenting such practices in contemporary exhibitions. It concludes with a reflection on socially-engaged practice. Chapter 5 provides detailed analysis of two exhibitions studied as part of field research in Europe and the Middle East, according to the curatorial values outlined. Chapter 6 explores emerging trends and possible future developments for exhibition practice, and it suggests some sightlines to the future for the independent art sector. This is followed by a second Curatorial Case Study – for the exhibition platform The Museum of Dissensus – addressing issues arising from the research. Conclusion summarises key research arguments and findings.