Daniel Birnbaum, as seen in the previous post is a well known curator and was a speaker at TEDGlobal in 2009. Birnbaums talk was very influential on the future of the art world and who is powering it. He makes an interesting statement about the previous art audience. People still associate the bohemian lifestyles with artists but it that is not necessarily true for the artists audience. Art acquisition has become a cultural phenomena. People spend money at auctions on prominent pieces because they can and feel as if it elevates them in the social realm. The art world is moving global with powerhouses in Europe, the United States and China. There are millions of dollars being spent on art because it has become apart of our lifestyle. The record for an auction house sold piece of work is Alberto Giacometti's L'homme Que Marche 1 which sold for $103.7 million in 2010.

It is also not always correct to think that there are only two types of people in the art world - the poor artist and the wealthy collector. There is the middle person, the admirer. There are many large scale festivals that are taking place all of the world and Birnbaum references to the biennales, specifically the Venice Biennale which he is most known for curating. Birnbaum also notes that people are coming from all over the world to not only participate in the festival but also appreciate the pieces. People are beginning to become more comfortable with art and appreciate it more, even if they don't have an art background.



Reference:
http://blog.ted.com/2009/07/24/daniel_birnbaum/

It's Not Just in Europe

This is a very interesting interview with Swedish philosopher, Daniel Birnbaum, and his view on the global impact of art.

It is interesting to note that art is just not in Europe or New York City as we have thought for many years. There is speculation that India might be the next location for the "art boom" as China has currently taken the lead. Artists don't have to be in one of these major cultural centers to be successful. The idea is that artists can make art anywhere and it can be a hit with groups of people all over the world.

China's Impact in the Art Market

As many people know, Sotheby's is one of the world's largest and well known auction houses. As I have previously stated in other posts, another facet of globalization and the arts is the art market itself. For many years, the focal point of the art market has been in the United States and Europe. However, this "point" is gravitating more so towards China.

I found this remarkable video that really puts this movement into perspective. William Ruprecht, president and CEO of Sotheby's, stated that in 2007 only four percent of their annual transactions were from China. In four years, that percentage has increased to 35 percent. There has never been an increase this large in the history of Sotheby's. These numbers are making China the world's largest art market with "over 4 billion dollars worth of Chinese paintings that have been sold in Beijing," states Ruprecht. Ruprechet also mentions a "duopoly." This is an economic model in which there are two producers in a market, in this case Sotheby's and Christie's. It is interesting because now, three of the worlds major art auction houses are located in China rather than the US and Europe. The growth and movement can be understood through globalization in general and the role that China has played in all aspects of globalization. China is one of the most powerful countries in the world where there are people who have millions in disposable income that can be spent in the art market.

Reference:
"The Rise of China in the Art Market: An excerpt from a conversation between William Ruprecht, president and CEO of Sotheby's and Yale SOM Dean Edward A. Snyder." Video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzD13uZatpo

How Globalization Affects the Artist

As we think about globalization in art, we must take into account how it affects the artist as an individual. In order for the arts to progress or for movements to evolve, there have to be artists to push the industry in that direction. A way to look at how globalization is affecting the artist, is to look at the anthropology of the people and influences of the artist themselves. Some examples would be photographers who captured the lives of people in Afghanistan post-9/11 and in the gulf after the devastation caused by the earthquakes in Haiti. There is a virtual gallery through the New Yorker that collectively looks at art created by Haitians after the earthquake and their response to their situation leading up to their presidential elections.

Globalization in art can really be examined through a cultural lens. A lot of artists do take an anthropological view on their pieces of work. We can use art to understand how another culture works and find a connection to them. I remember a show that I saw in Copenhagen, Denmark three years ago at the Lousiana Museum of Art and the artist captured the life of lower class individuals in the southern region of America. Being a southern native, it was interesting to see that I was in another hemisphere and an artist was capturing the daily lives of those people from near where I grew up. This is globalization because we are sharing different cultures with people all over the world.

References:

Globalization and the Artist, Duke University Center for International Studies
http://ducis.jhfc.duke.edu/arts/gata/

"Art After the Quake" The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/online/2010/09/06/haiti_art_20100906#slide=15

Contemporary Art in Globalization

There are different genres of art to categorize time periods. Of those genres, Contemporary art is more influenced by globalization. In a series by the Tate Modern in London, they have found globalization in terms of culture and economics to be a factor in contemporary art. This is mainly because as the world becomes more globalized, so does the art industry in terms of how and where art is shown. Globalization is evident in contemporary arts because the topic of globalization is highly fueled by politics and economics. Many artists have distinct feelings towards these topics and best express those feelings in a visual manner. This series that was offered seven years ago at the Tate offers selected reading to help people gain a better understanding of what exactly globalization entails. I found this interesting because one of the chosen readings is Joseph Steiglitz's Globalization and its Discontents, which focuses a lot on the negative aspects of globalization, as I am reading chapters from this book for my class I am taking on globalization. I feel that globalization is good for art because it is broadening the industry but can also see the negative aspects that some artists are trying to convey. All in all, positive or negative, art is a good source for making people around the world more aware of what is going on both politically and economically. 

Link to series at the Tate Modern:

Contemporary Art and Globalisation

The Power of Art

You may ask how can an inanimate object, like art, have power? Art is an expressive language which can be used to break language barriers. Art can also be used as an escape. The artist has the power to pull the viewer from their ordinary world and place them in an imaginary world. 


Much like music, art is universal. A globalizing effect of art is that it can be a source of interaction for people all over the world. While we all may not understand each others languages, we can all understand the purpose of a visual imagery. A British graffiti artist by the name of Banksy is proving to the world that art can have power. Over the years, Banksy has gained a lot of attention and not just in the UK but all over the world for his graffiti that he uses to portray feelings in relation to current world issues. 

We can't do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.

Banksy, Wall and Peace 

 Banksy likes to focus on issues that are affecting large groups of people, two topics of choice are greed and poverty. These two topics directly relate to globalization because that is a problem that many countries are facing in regards to their economical issues. If you look back in history at countries such as Jamaica and Brazil, their citizens faced poverty on a large scale because their country's economy was failing and then the IMF decided to help them. However, when the IMF stepped in,  citizens still could not afford the proper standard of living. Some view capitalism as a means of improving economic stability, however in some cases, it does more harm than good. 

Like globalization, there are positive and negative aspects in art. Artists such as Banksy tend to focus on the negative to create awareness while others tend to focus more on the positive to help whisk the view away from all the problems they are facing, forget about them and relax. When I think about being whisked away, I tend to think of my favorite artist, Monet. 

Water Lillies, Claude Monet (French) 1914-1926
Photo courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art

Monet was an impressionist who can be best recognized for his landscapes. I can remember looking at Monet's Water Lilly's for the first time, sitting on a bench in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and feeling as if I had actually stepped into the Japanese garden at Giverny. Whenever I tend to get a little bogged down, I remember that painting and I let it take me out of my busy world for a few minutes. Art is expressive. Another way it is used to express feelings can be examined through the children that survived Hurricane Katrina. Children use the drawings to help them cope with the disaster and remember what makes them feel safe. Children who were victims in the Pacific tsunamis do the same thing to cope with their feelings. It is amazing to see how art is perceived across the globe and how it provides the same unifying feeling of an escape from the past and present. 

Globalization Creating Careers in the Arts World

Globalization in the art world is quite beneficial. There are different types of people in this "community" - you have the artists themselves and those that appreciate the arts. Globalization is making the arts a more internationally accepted medium. It provides not only passion but careers. As an Art History major, the future of available jobs in the art world is a topic I pay close attention to. Globalization is allowing the arts to expand on an international level. For starters, this benefits the artist because it allows them to gain more collectors on a much wider scale. Plus, for an artist to have representation world wide signifies that they are quite accomplished. While artists should look at their career as a business, they need people who have an eye and appreciation for talent to help them progress in their field; therefore, this is creating more jobs for those who have the appreciation and the ability to build the arts community. Over the past few years, jobs in the arts have faced major financial cuts. A faculty scholar at Georgetown University made a really great outline of how globalization is affecting the arts. As I talked about in my last post, globalization in the arts allows for international relationships to build among museums and galleries. Through art fairs and auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's, art trades and sales are increasing. Just how technology is globalizing on an international basis, so are the arts.

This link provides a clear explanation of the globalization of the arts:
Globalization and the Contemporary Art World