Seminar: Contemporary Artists in Ghana and the Boundaries of Globalisation

Art historians began to speak of a ‘global turn’ in contemporary art following the expansion of the global art market and the spectacular rise in international art festivals, such as biennales. The global turn is generally considered to have started in 1989 with the blockbuster exhibition Magiciens de la terre that showed contemporary art from all corners of the world. This exhibition led to other global art exhibitions and allowed hitherto marginalized artists (from a Euro-American perspective) to move into the mainstream. However, Magiciens de la terre is not seen by artists in Ghana as a catalyst for the globalization of art. From a Ghanaian perspective, art became global long before the 1990s and to show the relationship between art and globalization in Ghana, Rhoda Woets will discuss the emergence of modern art in the Gold Coast in relation to nation building and the wish to connect to the wider world. She will discuss how recent changes in artistic styles and discourses are linked to processes of globalization, such as the rise of new technologies, increasing interest from galleries and curators in and outside Africa and economic growth. She will also elaborate on the unequal power relations in a globalizing art market that, in specific settings, come with renewed demands for cultural authenticity.

This seminar has been organized in the framework of the ASC Collaborative Group Africa in the World - Rethinking Africa’s global connections.

Read Rhoda Woets' dissertation (VU library)