1 Piotr Piotrowski

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Piotr Piotrowski

From Global to Alter-Globalist A rt History

1

DOI: I0.i83i8/td.20i5.en.i.8

D oes Global A rt H istory Exist?

K itty Z ijlm a n s b eg in s h e r sh o rt b u t co n d e n sed pro- g ram m atic article w ith the fo llo w in g w o rd s: “Clearly, art h istory is not glob al”2. A fter m aking th is categorical statem en t, the author p resen ts over a dozen p o in ts o f her a rt-h isto ric al research program m e w h ich could be the response to the pro cesses takin g place in the world, in cluding the glob al d im en sion o f art culture. I w ill not sum m arise it here but I w ould like to note that, partially, it has a “level-h ead ed ” character. Her p rim ary postulate to m ake it an “intercultural” project is com patible w ith the m ain stream literature w hich has b een in creasingly published in the recen t years. Som e o f her m ore interesting

1 T h e p re s e n t a rtic le is an e x te n d e d ve rsio n o f th e p ap e r p re s e n te d at th e M eth o d o lo gica l S e m in a r o rg a n ise d by th e A rt H istorian s A sso - cia tio n in N ieb o ró w on O c to b e r 25-27, 2 0 12 . I w ou ld like to th an k Prof.

M aria P op rzęck a fo r th e c o n s e n t to th is p u b lication w h ic h p re c e d e s re le a sin g th e v o lu m e o f m a te ria ls from th e Se m in a r. A lso, I w ou ld like to th an k p a rtic ip a n ts o f a se m in a r I c o n d u c te d in th e 2 0 12/20 13 w in te r s e m e s t e r e n title d G lobal A rt H istory a t th e W arsaw U niversity w ith in th e "m o d ern u n ive rsity " p ro je c t, fo r stim u la tin g d isc u ssio n s.

2 K itty Z ijlm an s, An Intercultu ra l P erspective in A rt History: Beyond Oth- erin g and A p pro p ria tio n in Is A rt H istory Global, e d . Ja m e s Elkins (N ew York: R o u tle d g e , 2007), 289.

Piotr Piotrowski - p ro fe sso r in the Institute o f History o f A rt a t th e A dam M ickiew icz U niversity in Poznań. D irector o f IHS UAM (1999-2008) and th e N atio n al M useum in W arsaw (2009-2010). V isiting p rofessor in inter alia th e Bard C ollege, U SA (2001), th e H ebrew U niversity in Jeru salem (2003) and th e H u m boldt U niversity o f Berlin (2011-2012). A u thor o f a dozen or so books, including Znaczenia m odernizm u and Awangarda w cieniu Jałty (2005; English ed. 2009, received th e Jan D ługosz Award and th e Prime M inister's A ward). His m o st re c en t books include Agorafilia (2010; English ed.

2012) and M uzeum krytyczne (2011).

W inner o f th e Igor Zabel Aw ard for Culture and Theory (Barcelona, 2010).

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PIOTR PI OTROWSKI FROM GLOB AL TO ALT ER- GL O BAL IST ART HISTORY 113

id eas are shared b y m an y other authors, for exam ple the con cept th at the glob al art h isto ry studies should reject the W est-cen tred dom ination o f the form al analysis and focus m ore on the “m aterial” one. W hat is w orth under- lining, Z ijlm ans ends her concise text w ith a question w h ether th is is going to w ork3, even though tw o years later, in the article included in the anthology co-ed ited b y her, she seem ed to have no doubts that this w a s going to work.

She m akes an assum ption that art and art history/art criticism are a part o f an

“art system ” w hich, being a “function” of a given social form ation, is character - ised by “self-ob servation ” and “self-d escription ”. Precisely in th is m atter, the discourse produced b y art h istory plays the role o f a regulator and creator of the above-m entioned system . The current trend to accept peripheral creation as a subject o f art criticism and art h isto ry is a sym ptom o f the art system 's glo b alisatio n . H ow ever, Z ijlm an s does n o t sp e cify h o w (!) th is is done but declares that this (!) is w hat happens, and she considers it a starting point for global art history4. The question asked earlier seem s even m ore fundam ental to the project w hich is called here “glob al art h isto ry”.

Undoubtedly, w hat w e currently observe is not only globalisation in term s o f the econom y and politics, the Em pire o f som e kind, but also som ething w e could call global art - outstretched betw een the w orld m arket, the financial superpow er o f corporations and art collectors on the one hand, and creation w orking for the C ou n ter-E m p ire5 called the “M ultitude” (w ith the unfortu- nate Polish tran slation as “rzesza”) b y M ich ael Hardt and A nton io N egri. In the end, Je ff K oons' global art is o f a different nature than A rtur Ż m ije w sk is artistic output. It is also natu ral th at - as it often h appen ed in h isto ry - it is co n tem p o rary a rt w h ich provokes h isto rical question s and th us shapes art history. A lthou gh there is a debate on the chronology6 and condition o f

3 Z ijlm an s, An In te rcu ltu ra lP erspective, 298.

4 K itty Zijlm ans, The D iscourse on C ontem porary A rt and the Globalization in World A rt Studies: Ex- ploring C oncepts and Approaches, ed. K itty Zijlm ans, W ilfried van D am m e (A m sterd am : Valiz, 2008), 13 5 -15 0 . S p ea k in g o f th e a rtistic s y s te m , th e au th or refers to th e fo llow ing p ublication s:

Niklas Luhm ann, Soziale System e: G rundriss ein er a llgem einen Theorie (Frankfurt am Main:

S u hrkam p, 1984); Nikla Luhm ann, D ie Kunst der G esellschaft (Frankurt am Main: Su hrkam p, 1995).

5 M ich ael H ardt, A n ton io N egri, E m pire (C am b rid g e: H arvard U n ive rsity P re ss, 20 01). On th e tra n sla tio n o f th e w ord "M u ltitu d e ” w h ic h is a lso th e title o f o n e p a rt o f H ardt and N eg ri's tril- o g y (Im perium , M ultitude [the bo ok h as n ot b e e n p u b lish ed in Polish y e t], R zecz-pospolita), cf.

Praktyka Teoretyczna [an o n ym o u s te am ], Introd uction in M ich ael H ardt, A n ton io N egri R zecz

pospolita, tra n s. Praktyka Teoretyczna (Kraków : H a!art, 2 0 12), 48.

6 G e n erally sp e a k in g , s o m e re se a rc h e rs sign al e arlier h isto ry o f g lo b a lisa tio n , a t le a s t goin g b a ck to th e c a p ita listic bo om in th e early m o d e rn p eriod: P e te r S loterd ijk, In the W orld Interior o f Capital: Towards a P h ilosoph ical Theory o f G lobalization, tra n s. W. H oban, (C am b rid g e: Pol- ity P re ss 20 13), Im m anuel W allerstein , W orld-System s Analysis: An Introd uction (Duke Univer-

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globalisation, or even the global character o f culture, and every ye a r there are m ore pub lication s d iscu ssin g glob al art and its h isto ry as w e ll as attem pts to build global art h istory as a scientific discipline, I still have an im pression that K itty Z ijlm ans' question quoted at the beginn ing o f this article rem ains valid. Even Jam es Elkins, w ho is considered to be an expert in this field, does not give a satisfacto ry answ er to the question about w h a t glob al art history should look like. H is argum ent is reduced to a postulate that w e should n e u - tralise W estern instrum ents and refer to local texts w h ich m ay provide both knowledge and tools o f research7. Nonetheless, som e scholars criticise him for applying them as stable m atrices rather than treating them as real, often het- erogeneous, h istorical sources, addition ally enveloped w ith often equivocal interpretations8. If w e w ish to draw any specific conclusions, they w ill rather be negative - w e kn ow w hat global art history should not be.

Hans Belting gives a fairly convincing answ er to this question, suggesting th at glob al art h isto ry should n o t be asso ciated w ith the W orld A rt Studies w hich focus m ore on studying un iversally understood w orld artistic heritage rather th an the h isto rical and g eograph ical m ean in g o f artistic creation. It is also neither h isto ry o f global art, b ein g quite a n e w phenom enon, nor an

“extension” o f today's W estern art history to areas w hich have been neglected and ignored so far, nam ely the so-called Global South (form erly referred to as the Third World), and being a part o f contem porary, global art culture because this w ould m ean the continuation o f the hegem onic strategy o f universalistic, m odernistic, W estern art history. Belting has no doubts that global art, differ

ent from m odern and until, recently, contem porary, so-called postm odernist art in term s o f quality, is a challenge to art h isto ry and, to a certain extent, con firm s his earlier th eses con cerning the breach o f a discipline paradigm

s ity P re ss, 2005). In ou r field o f re se a rc h , th e y are jo in ed by T h o m a s D aC o sta K au fm an n w h o d isp u te s w ith Fredric Ja m e s o n , A rt a nd G lobalization, e d . Ja m e s Elkins e t al. (P en n sylvan ia: The P e n n sylvan ia S t a t e U n ive rsity P re ss, 2010): T h o m a s D aC o sta K au fm a n n 's v ie w s on p a g e s: 13, 3 7-3 9; Fred eric Ja m e s o n 's v ie w s on p a g e s: 13 - 1 5 . C f. a lso T h o m a s D aC o sta K au fm an n , Toward a G eography o f A rt (C h icago: T h e U n ive rsity o f C h ica g o P re ss, 2004).

7 Ja m e s Elkins, W riting a bo u t M odernist Painting O utside W estern Europe and N orth A m e rica in C om p ressio n vs. Expression. C ontaining and Explaining the W orld's Art, e d . Jo h n O n ian s (Wil- lia m sto w n M A, Ste rlin g and Fran cin e Clark A rt In stitu te, 2006), 18 8 -4 12 ; Is A rt H istory Global?, e d . Ja m e s Elkins (N ew Y ork-London : R o u tle d g e , 2007); Ja m e s Elkins, Why A rt H istory is Global in G lobalization a nd C o ntem p o ra ry Art, ed . Jo n a th a n H arris (C h ich ester, W ile y -B la ck w e ll, 2011), 375-3 8 6.

8 M onica Ju n e ja , G lobal A rt H istory and the "Burden o f R epresenta tio n" in G lobal Studies. M ap- pin g C on tem po ra ry A rt a nd C ulture, e d . H ans B eltin g e t al. (O stfild ern: H atje C an z V erlag, 2011), 2 7 9-2 8 0.

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PIOTR PI OTROWSKI FROM GLOB AL TO A L T ER -G L O BA L IS T ART HISTORY 115

form ulated ap tly as “the end o f art h isto ry ”9. O bviously, he did n o t have in m ind the end o f reflection about art but transcending the fram es o f the paradigm - too narrow to em brace m any traditional and contem porary art works.

W hat is m ore, according to Belting, not only the academ ic discipline requires reconstruction but also the m useum w hich, faced w ith global challenges (nota bene b eing realised m ostly on the local level), cannot continuously follow pre- vious m odels: neither M oM A , nor M oC A . The first one w as entangled in the m ythology o f universalism1°, the second - in the logic o f late capitalism™. The n e w m odel should go again st both the first and the second one as w ell as it should rem ove the d iscip lin ary and in stitution al b arriers separatin g e.g. an ethnographic m useum from the one dedicated to art history, according to the m ovem ent springing in culture itself. A bove all, it should provide a forum of public debatei2.

Global A rt H istory and Post-Colonial Stu d ies

R egardless o f the lack o f a conceptualised system o f “h ow to deal w ith global art h is to ry ? ”, h en ce the lack o f a cohesive theory, or even a p ro po sitio n as suchi3, analytical practice reveals an enorm ous field o f research and extensive literature on this subject™. Its source can be m ain ly found in the area o f the

9 H ans B eltin g , D as Ende d er K unstgeschichte. Eine Revision nach Jahren (M u n chen : V erlag C.H.

B eck , 1994).

10 Cf., a m o n g o th e rs, Carol D uncan, C ivilising Rituals. Inside Public A rt M u seu m s (London: Rout- le d g e , 19 9 5), 10 2 - 13 2 .

11 Rosalind K rau ss, "T h e Cultural Logic o f th e Late C a p ita list M u seu m ", O cto b er 5 4 (Fall, 19 90):

3-17.

12 T h e se a rg u m e n ts a p p e a r in th e p u b lish ed t e x t s o f th e au th o r and his c o lla b o rato rs in his p ro je c t "GAM - Global A rt M u seu m " in ZK M |K arlsruh e: C o n tem p o ra ry A rt and the M useum . A G lobal Perspective, e d . P e te r W eibel, A n d rea B u d d e n sie g (O stfild ern : H atje C an tz V erlag, 2007), The G lobal A rt World. A udiences, M arkets, and M useum s, e d . H ans B eltin g , A n d rea B u d d e n s ie g (O stfild ern: H atje C an tz V erlag, 2009), G lobal Studies. M a pping C o n tem p o ra ry A rt and Culture, ed. H ans B eltin g e t al. (O stfild ern : H atje C an tz V erlag , 20 011).

1 3 For s o m e tim e , David S u m m e rs ' m o n u m en ta l w o rk w a s co n sid e re d su c h a p ro p o sitio n - in his b o ok , th e a u th o r s h ifts th e a n a lysis fro m th e visu al to th e sp atial a rea w h ic h re su lts in a polem ic w ith fu n d a m e n ta l W e stern c a te g o r ie s o f an a n a lysis o f a w o rk o f a rt. Cf. David S u m m e rs, R eal Spaces. World A rt H istory and the Rise o f W estern M odernism (N ew York: Ph aido m , 2003).

Cf. a lso David S u m m e rs , W orld A rt H istory a nd the Rise o fW estern M odernism , or G oodbye to the V isu a lA rts in C om p ressio n vs. E xpression. C ontaining a n d Explaining the W orlds Art, 2 15 -2 3 4 . 14 A p a rt fro m th e p u b lica tio n s m e n tio n e d in th e p rev io u s fo o tn o te s, I w o u ld p ay a tte n tio n

to s y n th e tic s tu d ie s and a n th o lo g ie s o f t e x t s (exclud in g m o n o g ra p h s o f s p e c ific region s):

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post-colonial studies w hich started to develop relatively late in our discipline, i.e. in the late 19 8os. The year 19 89 , w hen three im portant exhibitions related w ith the subject sim ultaneously took place, seem s particularly im portant and, for certain reasons, sym ptom atic as it coincided w ith the collapse o f C om - m unism in Eastern Europe. In 1989 the follow ing exhibitions w ere organised:

Magiciens de la Terre in Centre Pom pidou (curator: Jean H u b ert-M artin ), The Other Stories. Afio-Asian Artists in Post-War Britain in H ayward G allery in London (curator: R asheed A raeen) and the m ost interesting o f all editions, the third edition o f the H avana Biennale (curator: G erardo M osquera).

The b asic argum ent o f the art-h isto rical p ost-colon ial studies is the m ultitude o f m odernities and m odernism s, the variety o f m eanings and realisa- tions as w e ll as their transcultural, dynam ic and participato ry (but not dis- connected from the centre) character. In fact, m o st scholars adm it it - also th ese w ho do n o t id en tify th e m se lv e s w ith the p o st-co lo n ia l perspective, such as one o f the b est research es o f A sia n art - John C lark15, or those who engage in the criticism o f these studies som ehow from the inside, such as an editor o f the key m agazine in the field - “Third Text” - R asheed A raeen w ho accuse po st-co lo n ial theories (and even m ore the idea o f m ulticulturalism ) o f m askin g the W estern hegem ony and preservin g n eo-colon ial divisionsi*.

H ow ever, I w ould like to m en tion here an article, w ritten b y a w e ll-k n o w n exp ert in Indian art, Partha M itter, pub lish ed in the D ecem ber 2 00 8 issue o f “The A r t B u lletin ”” . The author b egin s his text w ith a critical analysis o f colonial art history, assertin g o n e-w ay im port o f so-called prim itive art from

G lobalization and C o ntem p o ra ry Art, ed. Jo n a th a n H arris (C h ic h ester: W iley-B lack w ell, 2011), Global Art, e d . Silvia vo n B en n ig se n e t al. (O stfild ern : H atje C an z V erlag, 2009), C h arlo tte Bydler, The G lobal ArtW orld Inc. On the G lobalization o f C o ntem p o ra ry A rt (U p psala: U ppsala U niversity, 2004), Julian S ta lla b ra ss , A rt Incorporated. The Story o f C o n tem p o ra ry A rt (Oxford:

O xford U n ive rsity P re ss, 2004), M odern a rt in Africa, Asia, a nd Latin A m erica. An Introduction to G lobal M odernism s, e d . Elaine O 'Brien e t al. (C h ich ester: W ile y -B la ck w e ll, 2013).

15 Jo h n Clark, M odern Asian A rt (H onolulu: T h e U n ive rsity o f Hawaii P re ss, 19 98 ). Cf. a lso John C lark, M o dernities in Art: How a re th ey 'O rder'? in W orld A rt Studies: Exploring C oncepts and Ap- p roaches, 4 0 1-4 18 .

16 R a sh ee d A ra e e n , "O ur B a u h a u s O th e r' M u d h o u se ”, Third Text 6 (Sprin g, 19 8 8 ): 3 - 14 . R ash eed A ra e e n , A N ew Beginning. Beyond Post-colonial C ultu ra lT h e ory a n d Id e n tity Politics in The 'Third Te xt'R ea d er on Art, C ulture and Theory, e d . R a sh ee d A ra e e n e t al. (London: C on tin u u m , 2002), 3 3 3-3 4 5; R a sh ee d A ra e e n , A rt and Post-colonial S ociety in G lobalization a nd C o n tem p o ra ry Art, 3 6 5-3 7 4.

17 Parth a M itter, "In terven tio n . D ec e n terin g M o d e rn ism : A rt H isto ry and A v a n t-G ard e A rt from th e P e rip h e ry”, The A rt B ulletin 4 (vol. XC, 2008): 5 4 3 -5 4 4 . Cf. a lso P arth a M itter, R eflections on M odern A rt and N a tiona l Identity in C olonial India: an Interview in C osm opolitan M odernism s, ed.

K obena M erce r (C a m b rid g e MA: The MIT P re ss, 2005), 24-49.

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PIOTR PI OTROWSKI FROM GLOB AL TO A L T E R - GLO BALIST A RT HIS TOR Y 117

the colon y to the m etrop olis and the m o vem en t w h ich anoth er sch olar in another place calls m ercantilism 18. This im port w as o f course related w ith the W estern hegem ony and w ith the conviction that m odern ism , despite being in spired by the East, m ay solely em erge in the W est and from there it can be exported to the E ast as a W estern product. The E a st - according to experts in colon ialism - is not able to generate contem porary art b y itself. M oreover, b y im portin g m odernism , an Eastern artist fell into a trap o f b eing b etw een exact and in ept im itation . In the first case, he/she w a s accused b y the colo- n iser o f “ap in g ”, in the second one - o f the lack o f p ro gress in h is sch olar- ship. In other w ords, the colonial vision o f contem porary art accepts only one m o d ern ism - the W estern one - w h ich o f course con veys a un iversalistic, hierarchically im plem ented m essage. M itter show s, how ever, that such a v i

sion conceals an id eology rather th an a true im age o f the relations betw een the m etropolis and the colony. In essence, neither w as “recep tion ” o f m o d ern ism passive in the colonies, nor w as the m ovem ent unidirectional. In the first aspect, M itter points to the exam ple o f the l9 th -ce n tu ry India to show the spreading o f academ ic pain tin g as a syn on ym o f W estern colonisation.

W hat is m eaningful from the point o f v ie w o f colonial politics, the academ ic art touched upon O riental subjects kn ow n to W estern art. This tendency w as contradicted b y n atio n alist concepts o f retu rn ing to h isto rical sources and exploitation o f art b ase d on trad itio nal, Indian p attern s. N everth eless, the avant-garde m ovem ent o f the early l9 2 0 s - above all cubism w h ich w as very popular in the region - overthrew this order. From that m om ent on, cubism - in spired In d ian art b eg an to fu n ction as a critique o f colon ial academ ism , b u t also n atio n alism exp ressed in art m odelled on the Indian trad ition. In the second aspect, as em p h asised b y the author, W estern references to the so -called prim itivism w ere not solely form alistic inspiration. In his opinion, b y p oin tin g to the “other” art, W estern artists un derm ined this cultural h e gem ony; b y rejecting classical and realistic foundations o f W estern art and by constructing rebellious poetics and m essages, th ey challenged art tradition and im perial politics o f the W est as w ell as capitalist and bourgeois attitudes w hich w ere the foundation o f W estern societies including the colonial ones™.

M itter concludes that N ew A rt History, based on post-colonial prem ises, m ay disclose a different side o f m odernism : pluralist, open and decentralised, and present a com plex relation b etw een locality and globalism , but also m utual

18 M ing T iam po , C ultural M ercantilism . M odernism 's M eans ofP ro d uctio n: the G utai Group as Case S tudy in G lobalization and C o ntem po ra ry Art, 2 12-224 .

19 Sim ilar o p in io n s w e re s o m e tim e s e x p re ss e d by W e stern re se a rc h e rs n o t re la te d w ith p ost- c o lo n ia lism . Cf. Patricia D ee Leig h te n , R e-O rdering the Universe: Picasso and Anarchism , 1897

-1914 (Princeton NJ: Prin ceton U n ive rsity P re ss, 1989).

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in spiration s b etw een peripheries and centres in their dyn am ic shape. This obviously m eans - and is underlined b y nearly all scholars in the field - that the p o st-co lo n ial con dition n o t only concerns form er colon ies but also, or actually m ost o f all, (former?) m etropoleis.

In this context, Partha M itter introduces very in terestin g notions: “cos- m opolitan p rim itivism ” and “virtu al co sm o p o litism ” also called “im agined p rim itiv ism ”, w h ich is clearly a cu nning reference to B en ed ict A n d erson 's n ationalist th eory b ased on the notion o f “im agined com m u nity”. These n o tions im ply that referring to the so-called prim itive w as very com m on among m odernist artists in the early 20th century and united them id eologically and artistically in their critical strategies tow ards aesthetic, capitalist and colonial politics o f the West, regardless o f the country and continent o f their origin.2° It is w orth adding here that just as avant-garde artists in the W est reached for

“p rim itive” w orks from d istan t sources, Indian artists d rew from th eir ow n sources - this situates these tw o artistic groups in tw o distinct positions and loosens the bonds w ith in this international prim itivist coalition. There is yet another discrepancy b etw een them : W estern artists focused on the critique o f their “ow n” colonialism , at least o f their ow n countries, w h ilst “other” art

ists, Indian artists in this case, fought w ith foreign colonialism . N evertheless, taking up these issues surely m ade these “com m u nities” be diversely located in the w orld m ap back then. It is, however, im portant to the author that it w as the avant-garde, inspired by local folk (“prim itive”) art, w hich m ade it possible for Indian artists to liberate from tw o traps o f colonialism : W estern im perial - and effectively O riental - academ ism and n ationalism m anifested in Indian aristocratic traditional art (e.g. flat, decorative m iniatures).

Post-Colonial S tu d ie s and (Eastern) Europe

Post-colonial studies are one o f the b asic im pulses to think about art globally.

Should w e develop this kind o f reflection w ith regard to E astern European art in th is d ecentralised , p lu ralist p erspective, w e m u st d efin itely get through w ith the p ost-colon ial studies.

We should notice, however, that various publications devoted to global art, and m ore precisely, to art h isto ry seen from the glob al perspective, de facto om it E astern Europe. It is so m etim es alluded to but in v e ry gen eral term s.

M o st m aterials are related w ith studies on A sia n , A frican , L atin -A m erican and A u stralian art culture, usually treated separately, som ehow next to each

20 M ore e x te n d e d a rg u m e n ta tio n o f th is kind is p re s e n te d by th e a u th o r in P arth a M itter, The Trium ph o f M odernism . India's A rtists and the Avant-G arde, 1922-1947 (London: Reak tion Books, 2007).

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PIOTR PI OTROWSKI FROM GLOB AL TO A L T E R - GLO BALIST A RT HISTORY 1 1 9

other, in stead o f b eing evaluated in the context o f their interactions. To such researchers, Eastern Europe is neither a problem for analysis nor interesting research m aterial. The artistic reflection presen ted here is n o t to be found in their synthetic interpretations. C harlotte Bydler, tryin g to sketch a global panoram a o f the discipline cultivated outside the W est, w rites about art h is

to ry in A frica, Turkey, Scandinavia, K orea, b ut she does n ot refer to Eastern Europe2i. In a way, it is actually our fault. D espite several attem pts to m aster art historiography o f the region, predom inantly m ade in G erm an y b y A dam Lab uda and h is studen ts22, a syn th etic w o rk about the developm en t o f art h istory in Eastern Europe, w h ich w ould collect and com pare experiences of theoreticians and researchers from different countries, has not been w ritten yet. Certainly, it is not easy as these countries are quite num erous and their inhabitants speak and w rite using various, little-know n languages. Neverthe- less, such w ork m ust be perform ed b y som eone one day. On the other hand, as Jan Bakos notices, global art history is to a sm all extent the subject o f Eastern- E uropean art h istorian s' in terest23, w h ich is n ot entirely true b u t the fact is that there have b een no serious studies in this field published in our part of Europe. A s a result, w e do not p articipate in this debate on the international level. In other d isciplines such as literary studies or political and econom ic history, the situ ation is a b it different as proved b y Jan Sow a's recen t daring re-w ritin g o f the Polish history24 and earlier, Ew a Thom pson's studies on Rus- sian literature - read from the colon ial poin t o f v ie w25. H ow ever, th is does not m ean that such perspective is received uncritically in the field o f research on h istory and literature26. Thus, draw ing in spiration from the p ost-colonial studies in E astern-Eu ropean art history, being quite a different phenom enon from literature or h istory o f politics and economy, is not that sim ple. In order to face this phenom enon at all, w e m ust first rigorously scrutinise art-h istorical in strum ents o f the p o st-co lo n ial studies, if w e w an t to go deeper instead

21 C h a rlo tte Bydler, The G lobal ArtW orld Inc., 15 9 -17 9 .

22 Cf. e .g . D ie K u nsth istoriog ra phien in O stm itteleuropa a nd d er nationale D iskurs, e d . R obert Born, A len a Ja n a tk o v a , A d am S. Labu da (Berlin: G e b ru d e r M an V erlag [H u m b o ld t-Sch rifte n zur K unst- und B ild g e sc h ic h te ], 2004).

23 Jan B ak o s, in A rt a nd Globalization, 206.

24 Jan S o w a , Fantom ow e cia ło króla (Kraków : U n ive rsita s, 2011).

25 Ew a T h o m p so n , Trubadurzy Im perium . Literatura rosyjska i kolonializm (Kraków : U n iversitas, 2000).

26 Cf. D. S k órczew sk i, „W obec eu ro cen try z m u , dekolonizacji i p o stm o d ern izm u . O niektórych p roblem ach teorii p ostkolonialn ej i je j polskich p ersp e k ty w a c h ", Teksty D rugie 1-2 (2008): 33-35.

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o f m erely utilisin g slogans concerning m ultitude, decentralisation, critique o f hegem ony, hybridity o f the subject, etc.

I believe that the key m atter is criticism o f Eurocentrism , in tensively ex- ploited b y p o st-co lo n ia lists. It is one o f our m a in pro blem s as w ell. W ith- out d issection o f th is notion, it is even h ard to th in k about em ployin g this perspective in research devoted to E astern -E u ropean art. The path from this point to globalism , or global h istory o f E astern -E u ropean art, leads through Europe and not in opposition to it. Incidentally, not only European peripher- ie s encou nter th is issue. M an y research ers and o b servers o f glo b al culture agree th a t farther, in te rco n tin en tal p e rip h eries also n eed to take Europe into con sideration rather th an reject its presence. B ecause the alternative, as Gerardo M osquero w rote, is not the “M arco Polo syndrom e”, and n ot the return to cultural iso latio n ism or p re -co lo n ial “p u rity ” b u t d iscovering the syncretism o f m odern and contem porary culture, the sym biosis o f European and local influences27.

To p o st-co lo n ial researchers, Europe is a negative figure largely hom ogenising the culture of the Old Continent. Frankly speaking, they can afford such sim plification because, for their ow n purposes, debating over intra-European colon isatio n is m ean in gless. T h ey associate Europe w ith h istorical experience o f European colonialism represented by G reat Britain, France, Belgium , N etherlands, Sp ain and Portugal. T h ey are not con cerned w ith such countries as M oldavia, Lithuania, Slovakia or Slovenia (often m istaken w ith each other), Poland - h avin g its ow n episode o f E astern colon isatio n , R u ssia or even Germ any, although it w as in B erlin w here Otto von Bism arck's initiative resulted in organising a conference about the colonial division o f the w orld in the years 18 8 4 -18 8 5 . Obviously, G erm any had overseas colonial am bitions; it even had colonies. Eventually, sim ilarly to A u stria and Russia, it concentrated on conquering neighbouring territories rather than exploiting rem ote continents (earlier Poland acted sim ilarly). Italy's colonial adventure w as slightly grotesque; Scandinavians, on the other hand, did not have such experiences at all, n o t m en tion in g the Irish - perh ap s even m ore p ain fu lly affected by the B ritish im p e rialism th an Indians - w ho did not en joy the status o f the

“pearl in the crow n”. The com pletely inverted colonial schem e is m anifested by Greece, the hom e o f European civilisation colonised by the n on-European superpow er. Clearly, there is no one Europe: there is colonial and colonised Europe, im perial and in vaded Europe, dom inant and subordinated Europe.

C om m ents regarding European pluralism and criticism o f the continents ho- m ogenising visio n are crucial to us because from our perspective, the notion

27 G e ra rd o M o sq u e ra , The M arco Polo Syndrom e. S om e Problem s a rou nd A rt and Eurocentrism (1992) in The B iennale Reader, ed . E. Filipovic e t al. (O stfild ern: H atje C anz V erlag , 2010), 4 16 -4 2 5.

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o f Eurocentrism is doubtful, w h ile its p o st-co lo n ial criticism definitely too sim plified.

This has fairly serious consequences: an im possibility to m aintain another key post-colonial notion, nam ely the notion o f the “other”. To the B ritish coloniser, the Indian is evid en tly the “oth er”, ju st like the A rab to the French or the A m erican Indian to the Spanish. Czechs or H ungarians are not really the

“oth er” ; th e y are rather the “close oth er”, “n o t-q u ite -o th e r”28, etc. T his also w orks the other w ay around b ut n o t in the case o f subjective colon ial relations. M oreover, the Polish w ill also con sider the Indian and the A frican as the “other”, especially in the context o f culture. The “close other”, on the other hand, fu nctions w ith in the sam e episteme, in the sam e system o f perceiving the w orld, in the area o f the sam e cultural, traditional, religious m odels, etc.

Consequently, the culture o f the European coloniser or occupant is not totally strange, or at least it is not as strange as in tran soceanic relations. This m akes a fundam ental discrepancy as it also defines artistic relations. To artists from Prague or Zagreb, W estern-European art centres w ere not so m uch external as th ey w ere to e.g. Shan gh ai art circles, m o st m od ern ist and lively ones in the Chinese culture o f the l9 3 0 s. Hence, draw ing from P arisian m odels (e.g.

cubism ) bore a d ifferen t m ean in g in Lviv th an in C alcutta. It also reached a different ground. M argin al European states, not only th ese on the E ast of the con tinent b u t also the N orthern ones (an often forgotten fact), are not the countries w here “art h istory has no h isto ry”, as A nd rea Buddensieg w rote about Rasheed A raeen29. Therefore, the allegedly analogical and syncretic (as w e have called it so far) reception o f cubism in C raco w or R iga is n o t sam e thing as reception o f cubism in Calcutta.

A n d finally the third question: w ho is the coloniser and w ho is colonised here? In attem pt to respond to it, or in fact to expose difficulties in giving the response, I w ill only focus on the p eriod after 1945. From that m om ent, E ast

ern Europe is - to a variable extent and w ith a different dynam ic - occupied by the U SSR. Cultural colonisation o f Eastern-Eu ropean countries expressed in so cialist realism takes place in the late l9 4 0 s. By then, everythin g seem s to be in the right place: there is the coloniser (USSR) and there are the colo

nised (Poland, C zechoslovakia, Hungary, etc.). In the m id l9 5 0 s the situation begins to be com plicated. G enerally speaking, the coloniser w ithdraw s or is

28 In a rt-h isto rica l literatu re k n ow n to m e , th is notion is u sed by B ojana Pejić, The D ialectics o f N orm a lity in A fte r the Wall. A rt and C ulture in P ost-C om m u n ist Europe, e d . B ojan a Pejić, David E lliott (Sto ckh o lm : M odern a M u s e e t, 1999), 020. S h e a lso re fe rs to B oris G ro y s' n otio n o f frem - de N ahe b u t s h e d o e s n ot p rovid e th e so u rce.

29 A n d rea B u d d e n sie g , V isibility in the A rt World: the Voice o f R ash eed A raeen in C o n tem po ra ry Art and the M useum , 52.

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w ithdraw n from the cultural colonisation - again in various degrees and w ith different dynam ics, depending on a country. A t least this is w h at h appens in Poland. W hat is, therefore, the decolonising strategy of Poland and other E a st

ern countries? It is patterned on W estern states, m ain ly France, w here - for m any reasons - opportunities for em ancipation can be found. For exam ple, in French informel painting, at least as per conviction o f local cultural leaders o f the Khrushchev Thaw. Since it is not “indigenous” abstract art, the question arises w hether this m ight be French cultural colonisation. If so, one w ave of colonisation w ould be ousted by another, only that the second one w as w arm - ly w elcom ed b y the colonised. To som e extent, it w ould resem ble the position o f cubism in India, w hich, as already m entioned, forced out par excellence the art o f the colonisers, i.e. academ ism . However, this is not a very close analogy because cubism , “im ported” from Paris to Calcutta around 19 2 2 , not only had origins in the sam e geographical region as academ ism , but also, or m o st o f all, w as critical tow ards this region. Calcutta, therefore, w as the destination of art w hich revolted against art associated w ith the colonisers, although it w as com ing from the very colonisers' country. In the m id l9 50 s in Poland, the situation is slightly different. The geographical and, o f course, political vector of colonisation changes its direction. W hat com plicates it even m ore is that Paris and the afterw ar French culture itse lf becom es a subject o f A m erican cultural colonisation, as discussed b y Serge Guilbaut30. The M arsh all Plan, therefore, m ade the French drive back. W hat cam e next w as, for exam ple, colonisation o f French cinem atography, at le a st u n til the em ergence o f the “n e w w a v e ” w hich - w hat is w orth rem em bering - w as a reaction to H ollyw ood m ovies.

Its political character w as m anifested not only in topics it touched upon but also in m ethods o f shooting film s - constituting the critique o f com m ercial, that is A m erican, cinem atography.

H owever, if w e ignored the specificity o f Paris and looked at the situation o f E aste rn -E u ro p e an art culture o f the cold w a r period in the categories o f glob al cultural strategies em ployed b y the antagonistic parties and th eir artistic m anifestations, other com plications com e to light. O bviously, the cold w ar w a s g lo b al and its k ey pro tagon ists, the U SSR and the W est (the U S in fact), w e n t into com petition in term s o f their cultural strategies on the ter- rito ries o f the T hird W orld cou ntries as th e y w ere called b ack then. In the artistic sen se, it w a s the com petition b etw e e n tw o m yth s o f u n iversalism , or at least tw o stylistics w ith u n iversal am bitions: m odern ism and socialist realism . The exam ple o f the Khrushchev T h aw show s that the question about the coloniser becom es m ore com plex and that the cultural w a r b etw een the

30 S e rg e G u ilbau t, Jak N ow y Jork u kra d ł ideę sztu k i now oczesnej. Ekspresjonizm abstrakcyjny, w olność i zim n a wojna, tra n s. Ew a M ikina (W arszaw a: H otel Sztuk i, 1992).

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East and the W est rages on not only in the Third W orld but also in the Second and even the First W orld w hich is an entirely separate issue. In other w ords, there m ight be tw o colon isers here - one is described as the oppressor, the other as the liberator.

The fourth m atter is m ore o f gen e ral nature. P o st-co lo n ia l research is m ain ly developed in the field o f literary studies or ph ilosoph y w h ich in fact is also a type o f literature. T hese tw o fields are the source o f key notions and m ethods o f analysis w hich not alw ays com m ensurate w ith art-h isto rical re search. The polem ic w ith this perspective w a s once presented by one o f the m ost interesting researchers o f visual culture in the context o f the p o st-co lo - nial condition - the post-colonial condition does not need to correspond w ith the p o st-co lo n ial th eory w ith w h ich he nota bene argued - nam ely, Rasheed Araeen, chief editor o f the m ajor specialist periodical “Third Text”. In the con- clusion o f the extensive selection o f texts published in this m agazine, given a m eaningfu l title A New Beginning, the author depicts m ain d ilem m as con- cerning the system o f notions and the ideology o f the p ost-colon ial studies;

paradoxically, dilem m as generated w ithin the perspective of the post-colonial con dition w hich, in h is opin ion , ch aracterise not on ly the fo rm er colon ies' territories but above all - the m etropoleis11. It is w orth noticing that the post- colonial theory should not be identified w ith the p ost-colonial condition. The latter is b road er and can b e the sub ject o f research conducted from m an y different perspectives.

Let us start w ith the b asic concern: literature u ses the language w h ich by nature, if one could say so, is national or ethnic w hich, essentially, is not the sam e thing. For obvious reason s, a w riter in exile, u sin g a foreign language to w rite, creates space betw een his ow n language and the acquired one, the one im posed b y circum stances. The contem poraneity o f literature is always m ediated by the language - w hether it is the language o f the colonised (the local language) or the colonisers (the language o f the diaspora). Participation in con tem p orary culture, th us, does n o t m ean “direct” p a rticipatio n in the u n iversal com m unity o f contem porary articulation o f thoughts. M etaphors, notions, constructs, literary narratives, etc., are som ehow translated to a specific language th at alread y has its ow n “b u rd en ”. In visu al arts, esp ecially in the so -called high art, w e have sim ilar traditions w h ich “burden” m odernity or m od ern ism (w hich is o f course n ot the sam e thing) but p articipation in this art culture is linked w ith the m yth o f the “in ternational style” - allegedly u n iversal and read in a m ore direct w a y than nationally burdened literature.

We have b ee n con vinced th at people see m ore u n iv ersa lly th an th e y read.

31 R a sh ee d A ra e e n , A N ew Beginning. Beyond P ost-colonial Theory and Identity Politics in The 'Third Text' Reader, 3 3 3 -3 4 5 .

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These beliefs are confirm ed, as it seem s, by the m ost recent research on neu- roarthistory currently developed b y one o f the m ost interesting prom oters of the W orld A rt Stu dies, John O nians32. B ut A raeen follow s another trail. Be- in g engaged in a polem ic w ith H om i Bhabha (a literary studies theoretician) and his key notion o f the “hybrid subject” and the “culture in -b e tw e e n ”, and denouncing these notions for b uffering ten sio n b etw een the colon ised and the coloniser, he notices that artists in exile such as Brancusi (Rom anian) or Picasso (Spanish) as w ell as m any other less know n figures com ing from other continents neither perceived them selves as “exp atriates” nor felt affiliation w ith the diaspora. On the contrary, th ey saw them selves as part o f the sam e culture, part o f m odernity, no m atter w here they w ere com ing from , th ey felt th ey created contem porary art, regardless o f the country o f their origin and their locality, although - let us add - art h istorians find such traces in their artistic output. They felt them selves a part o f one culture, m odern art. The au

thor continues that their so-called exile w as by no m eans im posed; it reflected their w illingness to be in the centre (in Paris) and co-create contem porary art.

Su m m arisin g this fragm ent o f his argum ent, he ironically observes that the p o st-co lo n ial theory cannot and does not w an t to understand it33.

To us, art h isto rian s, th ese com m en ts are crucial. In depen den tly o f the radical approach presented by the editor o f “Third Text”, th ey attract atten- tio n not only to distinctiveness o f the artistic experience as com pared w ith other creative experiences and developm ent o f a m ore suitable th eory to de

scribe it b u t th e y also - so m eh o w incidentally, in the con text o f m entions concerning B rancusi and Picasso (and w e could en list here several leading con tem p orary a rtists livin g in P aris at th at tim e) - ackn ow ledge a certain European m odernist com m unity or a sense o f com m unity, regardless o f the country o f origin o f a given artist. To researchers o f E aste rn -E u ro p e a n art, thus, the presented critical reflection over the po st-co lo n ial th eory could be o f the u tm ost im portance.

This long argum ent is not aim ed at d iscouraging readers from the post- colonial studies and m aking them put th em aside as useless in analysing the glob al dim en sion o f E astern -E u ro p ean art. It is quite the opposite in som e sen se: in m y view , m an y w o rd s in the p o st-co lo n ia l g lo s s a ry m a y turn out to be usefu l under the condition their criticism is taken into account. I w ould

32 Jo h n O nians, A B rie f N atural H istory o f A rt in C o m pressio n vs. Expression. C ontaining and Ex- p laining the W orld's Art, e d . Joh n O nians (W illiam stow n MA: Ste rlin g and Fran cin e Clark A rt In stitu te, 2006), pp. 235-249; Jo h n O n ians, N euroarth istory: M aking M ore Sense o f A rt in World A rt Studies: E xploring C oncepts a nd A pproach es, 26 5-28 6 ; Jo h n O nian s, N euroarthistory. From Aristotle a nd Pliny to Baxandal a nd Zeki (N ew H aven CT: Y ale U n ive rsity P re ss, 2008).

33 R a sh ee d A ra e e n , A N ew B eg inning , 340.

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say that w e need E uropean criticism o f the po st-co lo n ial studies, som ew hat in their ow n spirit, i.e. w e need pluralism and decentralisation, rejection of hegem ony and hom ogenisation; w e need specific art-historical critical Euro

pean studies not as an alternative to the post-colon ial studies but as their fil- ter. To put it concisely: the p ost-colonial studies are shaped against Europe - globalisation o f Eastern-Eu ropean art history has to happen through Europe.

Global C om parative Stu d ies

I w rote a program m atic article about horizontal art h istory once34. A s it usually h ap p en s w ith pro gram m es, th is con cept is also far from b ein g perfect b u t - and th at is n o t exception al either - I am attach ed to it as its author.

I w ould like to bring it in to the discussion about global art history. I w ill also add th at it is founded on com parative art h isto ry as m y assu m p tion is that w e get to kn ow things b y com paring th em and I am not the only one to think that. H owever, the point is not about looking for m utual influences as this is the subject o f a different reflection b ut about com paring seem in gly rem ote areas o f art culture in order to ferret out their diversity and eventually, exhibit glob al p olyphon y o f art in - I sh all repeat - the horizontal, parallel dim en- sion in stead o f b ein g focused con centrically around (W estern) art centres.

T his m ethod w ould involve tw o m oves: firstly, h orizontal h isto rical cuts o f the selected m om ents in glob al h istory and art h isto ry and, secondly, com - parisons draw n in this perspective. It could be done in various areas - on the transnational, tran sregional and finally, global level.

I also spoke of three such historical cuts of the p o st-w ar culture w hen p o li

tics or history specifically in tertw in ed w ith art.

First of all, I spoke of the end of the l940s w hen the cold w ar intensifies and there is m obilisation on both sides o f the barricade w hich significantly affects art in the global scale. This is w hen the global cultural cold w ar actually begins, fo llow ed b y the elim in ation o f (often illusory) rem ain s o f artistic freedom in E astern -E u ropean countries; in Czechoslovakia, Poland, H ungary - in all these countries com m unists gain total p ow er in the years 19 4 7 -19 4 8 which, in term s o f art culture, leads to introducing socialist realism as an obligatory doctrine. O n the other side o f the A tlan tic O cean, the strategy o f globalising m odern ism is crystallised as an expression o f the “A m erican lifestyle”, often triggered b y - w hich is a paradox only on the surface - conservatives or liberal conservatives som e o f w hom hitherto declared to be strongly against m odern art. The sam e art shifts from b ein g radical to b ein g liberal, w h ich should be

3 4 Piotr P io trow sk i, „O h ory z o n ta ln e j historii sztu ki", A rtium Q u a e stio n e sXX (2009), 59-73. Earlier In English: "On th e S p atia l Turn, Or H orizontal A rt H istory", U m eni/A rt 5 (2008): 37 8 -38 3.

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interpreted in the follow ing w ay: it m oves from leftist engagem ent, strong in the previous decade, to p olitical n on -involvem ent w hich o f course m akes it easier to use such art in the global cultural w ar by the US adm inistration. This is the b eg in n in g o f “stealin g” P arisian con tem porary art b y N e w YorkJ5, the beginn ing o f com petition and at the sam e tim e the political glob alisation of tw o m yths o f the u n iversal culture: m odern ism and socialist realism , hence liberalism and socialism . W hat should be underlined, both Eastern and W est

ern part o f Europe becom es the arena o f this conflict, but also the so-called Third W orld is subject to attem pts o f neo-colon isation b y both the U SSR and the U SA . We should also rem em ber th at in 19 4 9 C h in a join s to com m unist w orld, w hile socialist realism becom es there the only acceptable, official ar

tistic doctrine. So w e have the sam e visual schem es as in R om ania, Lithuania or Poland, only the eyes o f characters on these im ages are m ore slanting. The late l9 4 0s also give start to liberation m ovem ents in these colonies. The sym - bolic act o f regaining independence o f India in 1947 (and its division into two countries) also sign ifican tly affects the shape o f the country's cultural policy but also the m ovem ents o f the so-called n on -involved states, in Europe represented b y Yugoslavia. It would shortly reject the doctrine of realistic socialist art, replacing it w ith “socialist m odernism ”; the first sign o f such a shift would be form ation o f the C roatian EXAT 5 1 group.

Secondly, the period before and after 19 68 is yet another turning point on the m ap o f global culture. The political and artistic arena undergoes funda- m ental revaluation; the w ars in the N ear East and in V ietnam are a new sym p

tom o f the cold w ar; intensification o f the Southern A m erican regim es exerts m uch influence on the local art culture; intellectual, cultural (also artistic) and m oral revolution in the West as w ell as the Prague Spring in the East has major consequences visible in transform ations o f the art world. Finally, it is the tim e o f the cultural revolution in C hina w hich has an im m ediate im pact on W estern -European culture. In that year, India hosted the first graphic arts biennial w hich - although it w as not the first ever b ienn ial outside the W estern w orld (the very first one w as organised in 19 5 1 in Sao Paolo) - confirm ed the fact that the so -called Third W orld countries, or “non -involved countries”, am ong w hich India played an im portant role, appeared on the global art scene. Enter- in g the field o f com parative studies on E astern Europe and South A m erica, nota bene developed b y K lara K em p-W elch from G reat B ritain and C ristina Freire from Brazil36, w e should notice that, for instance, artists from Poland

35 S e rg e G u ilbau t, Jak N ow y Jork u kra d ł id e ę sz tu k i nowoczesnej.

36 Klara K em p -W elch , C ristin a Freire, "A rtists' N e tw o rk s in Latin A m e ric a and e a s te rn Europe (Special S e c tio n /In tro d u c tio n )”, A rt M argins 2 -3 (Vol. 1, 20 12): 3 - 13 . Dr Klara K em p -W elch is also an au th o r o f th e M A P ro g ram m e in th e C ou rtau ld In stitu te o f A rt in London: Countercultures:

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PIOTR PI OTROWSKI FROM GLOB AL TO A L T E R - GLO BALIST A RT HIS TOR Y 1 2 7

and A rg e n tin a started their careers in the sim ilar p oin t o f late m odern ism developm ent, i.e. in the m id -l9 5 0 s, w hich coincided w ith the liberalisation of artistic life in both countries - after b anning Peronism in A rgentin a and Sta- linist cultural p olicy in Poland (toutes proportions gardees). Both countries experienced the em ergence o f great energy, even euphoria over m odernist art in both cases taking from French (not A m erican) sources. In both countries, o f course, the l9Ó0s are the ye ars o f the neo-avan t-gard e, including conceptual art, but in A rgentin a it is the tim e o f rem arkable political radicalisation leading to identification o f art w ith direct political action, w hile in Poland it served as an escape from politics. Thus, the year l9 68 , w hich in both countries is very m eaningful, looks com pletely different than l9 553?.

Thirdly, the h orizontal “cut” around ^ 8 9 : the collapse o f a fe w regim es in the w orld (Eastern Europe, Latin A m erica, South A frica) and at the sam e tim e the aggravation o f the political course in China, the em ergence o f the glob al art m arket, great exhibitions and the n ew axis o f the w orld organisa- tion: N orth-South, alternative to the cold -w ar East-W est division. The year l9 8 9 also started a debate about the “form er W est”38, “p ro vin cialisatio n o f Europe” 39 and m ovem ents o f artistic and anthropological criteria o f artistic analysis on the glob al scale; as claim ed b y A lexan d er A lberro, th is is in fact a n ew era in the w orld art h isto ryk . The point is not only that everyw here in the world, including Eastern Europe, artists becom e interested in global issues (Artur Ż m ijew sk i in Poland, Pode B al group in Czech Republic, T am as Sze- ntjóby [St. Auby] in H ungary) but also that the end o f the Cold W ar som ehow provokes com parisons o f art cultures originating from harsh regim es (like in

A lternative A rt in Eastern Europe a nd Latin Am erica, 1953-1991. A c c e s s e d on Ju ly 20, 2 0 15 , http://

w w w .c o u r t a u ld .a c .u k / d e g r e e p r o g r a m m e s / p o s t g r a d u a t e / m a / s p e c ia lis t a r e a s / c o u n t e r c u l- tu res.sh tm l.

3 7 I e la b o ra te d on th is p rob lem in a p a p e r p re s e n te d at th e II In tern ation al C o n g re ss o f Polish His

t o ry "Poland in C entral E urop e" in C ra co w in O c to b e r 20 12 (section "T ra c es o f th e A va n t-G ard e - A rt and A rc h ite ctu re in C en tral E urop e a fte r 19 4 5 " o rg a n ise d by W ojciech B a łu s and A ndrzej S zczersk i): Piotr P io trow sk i, G lobalising C entral-E ast European A rt (typ escrip t).

38 Cf. th e p ro je c t e n title d F rom er West: BAK - b a sis vo o o r a c tu e le k un st, U tre c h t h ttp :// w w w . fo rm e rw e st.o rg /.

39 B ehind th is m e ta p h o r, ta k e n o f c o u rs e fro m th e title o f a w e ll-k n o w n bo ok by D ipesh C h a k ra b a rty , Prow incjonalizacja Europy. M yśl postkolonialna i różnica historyczna, tra n s. Dor

o ta K o ło d ziejczyk , T o m asz D o b ro g o szcz, Ewa D om ań sk a (Poznań: W y d a w n istw o Poznańskie, 2 0 11), I u n d e rsta n d su c h an o u tloo k on th e w orld a rt c u ltu re w h ic h will re d u c e co m p re h en sio n o f th e W est and th e W estern a rt to th e p osition o f on e o f m a n y p rovin ces.

40 A le x an d e r A lberro , P eriodising C o n tem po ra ry A rt in C rossing Cultures. Conflict, M igration, and Convergence, e d . Ja y n ie A n d erso n (M elbou rn e: The M ieg u n yah P re ss, 2009), 9 35-9 39 .

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Poland and South A frica). There is also the question o f com paring changes w hich shaped contem porary art w ith the later w orld rebellion called the “Arab Sprin g” and art that defined it.

A lter-G lobalist A rt H istory

A n d the final question is: w h at does this kind o f scien tific p erspective have to do w ith econom ic, political, civilisational and cultural processes o f globalisation? A ssu m in g that g lob alisation is the Em pire's instrum ent^1, let us ask h o w art h istory can be perceived in this context as a h um an istic discipline?

For this purpose, I w ould like to introduce ye t another term : alter-globalism . A gain, to put it ve ry b riefly: alter-globalism is a m ovem ent o f resistance to glob alisation understood in the term s o f econom y and politics but also art and, more broadly speaking: culture. It originates from anti-globalism , i.e. the opposition to global exploitation o f em ployees by big corporations. A n ti-globalist activists soon realised, however, that should the critique and resistance to g lo b alisatio n be effective, the op p osition m ovem en t m u st have a g lobal character as w ell. O therw ise, it w ill be easily pacified. A s a consequence, the 2 0 0 l W orld So cial Forum in Porto A legre, Brazil, approved the glob al resistance perspective. From that m om ent on, the m ovem ent started to spread rap- idly all over the w orld - also in Eastern Europe“ . In our part o f the continent, this m ovem ent m ay be seen in the context o f the so-called p ost-C om m u n ist condition w hich is not at all local but u n iv e r s a le To a certain extent, it seem s obvious, since the cold w ar and so the C om m unist condition w ere o f a global character, the m ore the p o st-C om m u n ist condition should be glob al as well.

In other w ords, w e are faced w ith the question about the glob al nature o f the p ost-C om m u n ist studies. N onetheless, this is a separate issue w hich requires in d ivid u al elab oration w h ich - u n til n o w - in a rt h isto ry h as n o t b ee n ye t system atically undertaken.

41 A s in d icated a b o v e, I u se th is notion in th e u n d e rsta n d in g o f H ardt and N egri. T h e au th o rs a lso in tro d u ce th e te rm : a n ti-e m p ire a s an o p p o sitio n to th e g lo b a lisa tio n p ro c e s s e s : M ichael H ardt and A n to n io N egri, Em pire.

42 G rz e g o rz P io trow sk i, A ltergloba lism in Postsocialism . A Study o f C entral and Eastern European A ctivists (Florence: E urop ean U n ive rsity In stitu te, D e p a rtm e n t o f Political and So cial S c ie n c e s , 20 11), d o c to ra l th e s is.

43 S u sa n B u c k -M o rss, The Post-Soviet C ondition in East A rt Map. C o ntem p o ra ry A rt a nd East

ern Europe, e d . IRWIN (London: A fterall B ook, 2006), 494-499. B oris G ro y s, A rt Pow er (C a m b rid g e M A: T h e MIT P re ss, 2008), e sp . c h a p te rs: "B e y o n d D iversity: Cultural S tu d ie s and Its P o s t-C o m m u n ist O th er", 14 9 -16 3 , "P rivatizatio n , or A rtificial P a ra d ise s o f P ost-C o m m u n ism ", pp. 16 5 -17 2 . B oris G ro y s, B a ck from the Future in 2000+ A rt East Collection. The A rt o f Eastern Europe, e d . Z d enka B ad o vin ac , P e te r W eibel (W ien -B ozen : Folio V erlag, 2001), 9 -14 .

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PIOTR PI OTROWSKI FROM GLOB AL TO A L T ER -G L O BA L IS T ART HISTORY 1 2 9

A rt history is part of the hum anities - the latter having o f course m any fac - es. M any o f us interpret this d isciplin es functions our ow n w ay; understand- ing it has also changed over tim e. The definition o f the hum anities close to m y outlook is th at it is a p art o f the public debate, or m ore, it is an elem en t o f the strategy o f resistance to the authorities and oppression, at the sam e tim e b ein g on the side o f em an cipation and liberation. A rt h isto ry w h ich w ould handle such u n dertaking in the horizontal and com parative perspective (as discussed earlier in this article) - the global undertaking w hich w ould involve exposing repressive practices directed towards m argins, peripheries both geo - graphically and topographically (i.e. w ith in certain localities) - I w ould call alter-globalist art history. It could concern both the past and the present, both curatorial and publishing practices, policies o f both un iversities and m useum s, etc. Its key feature should be criticism and resistance to centralistic and exclusive art-historical activities and ability to reveal m echanism s of building hierarchy and hegem ony as w ell as repression and denial in the g lobal scale.

R esearch on conceptual art could be illustrative to th is type o f thinking.

In m y opinion, the m ilestone in the global developm ent o f such research in the alter-globalist version w as the 19 9 9 exhibition Global Conceptualism: Point o f Origins organised in the Q ueens M useum o f A rt44. It is not the right place to d iscu ss it in detail b u t w e ought to notice th at it w a s quite a n atu ral reaction to another exhibition o f conceptual art o f an overtly h egem onic and W estern -cen tric character, n am ely the one entitled Lart conceptuel. Uneper- spective45 organised in the P arisian M usee d A rt M oderne de la V ille de Paris ten years earlier. A t the N e w York exhibition and in the research developing under its influence, W estern conceptual art (m ainly A nglo-A m erican) w a s - let us say - “provincialised”, w hich m eans that it w as exhibited as one o f m any or am ong m an y (South-A m erican, A sian , R ussian, E astern -E u rop ean , etc.) in stead o f being considered norm ative or paradigm atic. The W est (England and the US) w ere reduced to one o f the geo-h istorical territories w here con

cep tu alism w a s developing b u t it w a s deprived o f the e xem p lary function.

W hereas the rem aining regions w ere presented against different traditions, w ith their ow n artistic dynam ics and chronology. Therefore, if in (Western) m odern art history textbooks conceptualism is analysed in the stream o f art o f W estern provenance developing in the w orld , let u s say: in the category

44 G lobal C onceptualism : Points o f Origin, 1950-1980s, e d . Luis C am n itzer, Ja n e Farver, Rachel W eiss (N ew York: Q u e en s M u seu m o f A rt, 1999).

45 L a rt conceptuel. Une persp ective, e d . C lau d e G in tz (Paris: M u se e d'A rt M o d e rn e d e la V ille de Paris, 19 8 9). Cf. a lso th e p arad ig m a tic t e x t fro m th is c a ta lo g u e reprin ted in th e influential q u a rte rly O ctober: B en jam in H ein z-D ieter Buchloh, "C o nceptu a l Art, 1962-1969: From the A es- th etics o f A d m inistra tion to the C ritiqu e o f In stitu tio n s" O cto b e r55 (Winter, 1990): 10 5 -14 3 .