Wednesday, August 5, 2009

21st-Century Art History


The latest issue of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art considers the future face of historiography addressing questions such as: What will the discipline of art history look like in the 21st century? What will its subjects be? With the decline of Eurocentric models of art history and the end of postcolonialism, what ways of writing art history will be possible? What would a non-national, international, or even transnational history look like? Is it a 'global' art history that we should be aiming for? 

The issue opens with Curating the World, a conversation between Rex Butler and Okwui Enwezor, who is recognised as one of the major contributors on and thinkers about art in the world today. It closes with Reviews Etc, a section that includes Robert Leonard's no-punches-pulled review of The Big Picture: A History of New Zealand Art from 1642, a six-episode TV series and accompanying book by cultural commentator Hamish Keith.

The Journal of The Art is published by the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand and the Institute of Modern Art (IMA) Brisbane, with managing editor Robert Leonard. More information on the 21st-Century Art History issue is published here.
Image: Cover of Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art/21st-Century Art History, Volume 9 Number 1/2, 2008/9. Available from the IMA, price AUD20