GAM – Global Art and the Museum
GAM – Global Art and the Museum was initiated by Peter Weibel and Hans Belting in 2006 at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. The project represents a first attempt at documenting the contested boundaries of today’s art world; its aim is to spark a debate on how the globalization process changes the art scene and to undertake a critical review of the development 20 years after its onset.
Globalization is the most important phenomenon in the history of recent art. Biennials and landmark exhibitions initiated the global turn in the art scene when the so-called New World Order removed Cold War restrictions and not only introduced international free trade with all its implications, but also shifted the attention from a bi-polar political conflict to new ideas of cosmopolitanism or multiculturalism after 1989.
In many countries contemporary art has since become an economic project including huge cultural districts with museums and art fairs. But it has also become a sociopolitical endeavor powered by – often diverging – ideologies of identity, self-determination and overall social change. Especially spectacular has been the rise of a new type of art museum, the MoCA, which promotes contemporary art without borders and without history. Collectors’ and corporate museums are a result of the new clientele within the art market, which, today, extends to 58 countries. Whereas, with the new geography of auction houses, the art trade acts on a global scale, art museums, by contrast, operate within a national or urban framework in which they encounter the most diverse audiences. While art collecting has become en vogue on an unprecedented scale, it often lacks a common notion of art. Contemporary art also invades former ethnographic museums, which are forced to remap their areas of collecting. As yet, the novelty of the situation defies any safe categories. Under these circumstances, GAM is presently building up a network that will help to obtain otherwise rarely available information and to win partners who represent the art scene worldwide.
Global Window
The GAM website provides up-to-date news and information on current events in the art scene, and also lists publications of interest. The site is connected to a database that functions as a research tool for documenting the present art world. International experts offer their own views on the changing art scene as Monthly Guest Authors, while the MoCA type museum is introduced with important examples in a separate column. In September 2009, we re-structured and expanded the website, adding a column for Critical Perspectives on Current Issues from the GAM team, one for Reviews, and one for regular reviews of topics debated in The Art Newspaper.
Following the ZKM Summer Seminar 2009, GAM has also created a Facebook Group as a platform for exchanging ideas, links and media concerning our topics, and for announcements regarding our website and related events. Everyone with a Facebook Account is invited to join and contribute under GAM – Global Art and the Museum.
Activities
ZKM Summer Seminar 2009
The Fritz Thyssen Foundation has supported ten ZKM Summer Fellowships given to overseas scholars for participation in a seminar that took place at the Forschungskolleg für Humanwissenschaften Frankfurt in Bad Homburg, and at the ZKM | Karlsruhe, from June 21 to July 1, 2009. The seminar was directed by Hans Belting and guests, and presented individual papers and current reading materials for discussion. The aim of the seminar was to analyze the situation of art museums, the art market and art criticism under the spell of globalization. The program was followed by a public event with a general debate, which was held at the ZKM on June 28.
GAM-Platforms 2008-2009
The project is conducting a series of preparatory GAM-platforms. The first platform took place in August 2008 (São Paulo), the second in October 2008 (New Delhi), and the third in May 2009 (Hong Kong). In each case, the platform entertained a workshop where the project GAM was discussed by experts from the region, followed by a general debate about the impact of globalization on the respective art scene. The platforms were organized in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut, and with an academic institution on the site. They have found a vivid resonance and served for building up a network.
International Conferences
Initially, GAM prepared its activities with four international conferences, which took place in Vienna at the IFK (International Research Center for Cultural Sciences) and at the ZKM | Karlsruhe. The last conference Where is Art Contemporary?, held at the ZKM in October 2007, was attended by many representatives of art institutions and ethnographic museums around the world.
ZKM-Exhibition 2011
In 2011, GAM will become visible to a larger audience by a comprehensive exhibition bearing the title The Global Contemporary. The Art World After 1989. While artists will contribute with installations reflecting the institutional and economic side of today’s art, the show will also undertake a survey of the expanding museum geography, especially of the MoCA type. Documentation also comprises the role of the art market, with special emphasis on the activities of the auction houses. The chronology of the global contemporary, 1989–2011, will be presented in a short history of art events. Popular and neo-ethnic art productions, as these contradict mainstream art scene, will complement the panorama and thus offer new insights into the complex figuration of the art world.
GAM-Publications
GAM’s book series opened with the volume Contemporary Art and the Museum. A Global Perspective (2007). A second volume was edited by Hans Belting and Andrea Buddensieg under the title The Global Art World. Audiences, Markets and Museums and appeared in May 2009 as a ZKM publication and was published by Hatje Cantz. It includes 23 contributors from 18 countries ranging from Manila to Chile.
