James Peter Coolsen Photographic History, Theory and Criticism #23-6730, Greg Foster-Rice February 1, 2015

Questionnaire on the Contemporary

Part I, Alexander Alberro

Synopsis

In his response to the Questionnaire on the Contemporary, Alexander Alberro, Assistant Professor of Art History at Barnard and Columbia College, argues that contemporary in art parallels other “contemporary hegemonic formations”, such as globalization and neo-liberalism. In positing the concept of hegemonic formation, Alberro advances the notion of the contemporary in art “beyond periodization” and brings it to a higher and more complex level. Hegemony, for Alberro, is “an apparatus” which allows us to deal with dynamic complexity and to think “totality and difference at the same time”; a concept which he thinks is of importance during this period of “seismic change” in art and society. Alberro identifies contemporary with four ideas; 1) globalization, 2) new technologies, 3) a reconsideration of what “avant-garde” means and 4) what Alberro refers to as the re-emergence of “philosophical aesthetics”.

First, Alberro defines globalization basically as meaning that “the world is now more interconnected than ever”. This, however, has meant the loss of old ideals such as commitments to secularism, planning, equal rights, education and modernization. In terms of the art world, globalization takes a number of forms including; the thematic representation of global integration in art, the proliferation of large, global exhibitions that “follow the logic of the market” and the manifestation of courter-global practices. That is, as the new era of the contemporary emerges, there is already a counter-reaction to it. Andreys Gorsky’s Hong Kong Exchange, Diptych, 1994 and, perhaps even more striking, his Nha Trang, Vietnam, 2004 are examples of the thematic representation of globalization in fine art photography.

Secondly, the concept of contemporary, according to Alberro, incorporates “the full integration of electronic and digital culture”, which Alberrro refers to as the “new technological imagining”. One example of this is that “technological art objects” have increasingly come to replace tangible ones. In Alberros’ opinion, the new technologies, while challenging, have led to “greater possibilities for the integration of art, technology and social life”. Two artists which represent this are Chicago artist Gregory Scott and Zoe Straus’s I-95 Project.

Thirdly, Alberro suggests that “the context of contemporary art prompts a thorough re-consideration of the avant-garde. The avant-garde is, perhaps, not as connected to the old definition (i.e. related to works that are experimental or innovative), as it is to the notion that the function of the avant-garde, in a contemporary world, is to “anticipate the future”. That is, avant-garde is not merely a reaction to the past or “pushing the boundaries of what is accepted”, but, rather is more about anticipating the future. The modernist architect Buckminster Fuller seems to exemplify this aspect of art as “prognostication”.

Fourthly, the period of the contemporary is witnessing, what Alberro refers to as, “the surprising re-emergence of a philosophical aesthetics”. For Alberro, this aesthetics signals a shift from the cognitive to the affective. In conclusion, Alberro states that while the contemporary may have a debt to its “modernist forbearers”, since the late 1980’s new artistic modes have “outstripped their past” and the hegemony of the contemporary now must be recognized.