Unit 10: Global Contemporary (1980 CE – Present)

Art and Identity: Gender, Race, and Culture

In the Global Contemporary era, artists increasingly reject the notion of a single, universal narrative. Instead, they focus on Identity Politics—exploring how race, gender, sexuality, and cultural heritage intersect to form individual and collective experiences. This period is marked by the questioning of stereotypes and the reclamation of history by marginalized voices.

Gender and the Female Gaze

Artists in this category frequently challenge the historical "male gaze" dominance in art history, deconstructing how women have been represented.

  • Cindy Sherman: A central figure in the "Pictures Generation," Sherman uses photography to examine female archetypes. regarding the Untitled Film Stills series (specifically Untitled (#228) in the AP curriculum):

    • Concept: She acts as the model, makeup artist, and photographer, yet these are not self-portraits. They are performances of stereotypes (e.g., the biblical heroine Judith).
    • Significance: By exposing the artificiality of the image, she critiques the media's construction of femininity.

  • Shirin Neshat: In Rebellious Silence (from the Women of Allah series), Neshat explores the complexities of being an Iranian woman after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

    • Visual Language: The photograph overlays Farsi calligraphy (text) onto a weapon (gun) and the female face (veil/chador).
    • Meaning: This juxtaposes Western stereotypes of Muslim women as oppressed victims with the reality of their participation in the revolution and religious devotion.

Race and Post-Colonialism

Artists often use appropriation (re-using existing objects or images) to critique colonial history and racial injustice.

  • Kara Walker: Known for Darkytown Rebellion.

    • Medium: Cut-paper silhouettes projected onto walls with colored lights. The viewer's shadow becomes part of the scene.
    • Theme: She forces the viewer to confront horrific, caricature-like imagery of the antebellum South to expose lingering racial trauma.

  • Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: In Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People), Smith addresses the history of Native Americans.

    • Technique: A "combine painting" (assemblage) featuring a canoe (symbol of trade and movement) and sports mascots (commodification of Indigenous culture).
    • Message: She offers "cheap trinkets" back to white society in exchange for returned land, satirizing the historical Manhattan trade deal.

Diagram showing the intersection of Identity Politics themes

Art and Social Commentary

Contemporary art demands engagement. It often leaves the gallery space to become Installation Art or Social Practice, requiring the viewer to participate physically or intellectually to complete the work.

Political Dissent and Human Rights

  • Ai Weiwei: In Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds), the artist filled the Tate Modern Turbine Hall with 100 million porcelain seeds.
    • Materiality: Each seed was hand-painted by artisans in Jingdezhen (China's "Porcelain Capital").
    • Symbolism: Sunflowers represent the Chinese people under Mao Zedong (the sun), but the sheer quantity highlights the tension between the collective and the individual. It also critiques mass production and the "Made in China" phenomenon.

Migration and Borders

  • Doris Salcedo: Shibboleth fits directly into the theme of borders.
    • Form: A massive physical crack created in the floor of the Tate Modern.
    • Title Meaning: A "shibboleth" is a custom or phrase distinguishing a particular group of people; it is a test of belonging.
    • Theme: The crack represents the immigrant experience—the separation between families and the permanent scar left by racism and segregation, even after the crack is filled.

Art and Globalization

Globalization concerns the shrinking of the world through technology, travel, and trade. Art in this sector often deals with hybridity—the mixing of cultural signs.

The Impact of Technology

  • Nam June Paik: Known as the father of video art, Paik created Electronic Superhighway.
    • Structure: A massive map of the USA outlined in neon, filled with TV screens playing clips relevant to each state.
    • Concept: He predicted the internet age, suggesting that media and television define American identity and geography more than physical borders do.

Cultural Hybridity

  • Yinka Shonibare: The Swing (after Fragonard).
    • Reference: A 3D recreation of the Rococo painting The Swing.
    • Twist: The figure is headless (referencing the guillotine/French Revolution) and wears clothes made of "Dutch Wax" fabric.
    • Textile Politics: These fabrics look African but are actually Dutch-colonial inventions sold to Africa. Shonibare uses them to visualize specific global trade routes and the complex, constructed nature of cultural identity.

Contemporary Architecture

The late 20th and early 21st centuries moved away from the rigid boxes of International Style Modernism toward fluid, organic, and fragmented forms enabled by computer technology.

Deconstructivism

This style abandons symmetry, harmony, and stability. It looks "broken" or fragmented.

  • Frank Gehry: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Spain).

    • Materials: Titanium, glass, and limestone.
    • Technology: Designed using CATIA (aerospace software), allowing for complex, swirling curves that were previously impossible to engineer.
    • Effect: The "Bilbao Effect"—how a piece of wow-factor architecture can revitalize an entire city's economy.

  • Zaha Hadid: MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts (Rome).

    • Design: Characterized by flowing concrete walls that act as "deltas" or rivers, guiding visitors through the space without rigid paths.
    • Philosophy: Architecture should reflect the chaos and flux of modern life.

Comparison of Modernist vs Deconstructivist architectural features

Green Design and Site Specificity

While Deconstructivism focuses on form, Green Design focuses on sustainability. However, within the AP scope, Site Specificity is the prevailing concept.

  • Jean-Nouvel: While not always strictly "green," contemporary designs increasingly prioritize how light and environment interact with the structure, moving away from the "glass box" that requires massive HVAC energy usage.

Common Mistakes & Pitfalls

  1. Confusing Modernism with Postmodernism:

    • Correction: Modernism (early 20th century) sought purity, universal truths, and form following function. Postmodernism/Contemporary (1980s–Present) embraces irony, complexity, decoration, and skepticism of universal truths.

  2. Ignoring the Medium:

    • Correction: In Contemporary art, the material is often the message. Example: El Anatsui's Old Man’s Cloth is made of liquor bottle caps. You cannot analyze the work without discussing how alcohol was used in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

  3. Assuming "Untitled" Means No Meaning:

    • Correction: Artists like Cindy Sherman use "Untitled" to prevent imposing a specific narrative, forcing the viewer to project their own stereotypes onto the image. The lack of a title is a deliberate artistic choice.

  4. Overlooking the Role of the Viewer:

    • Correction: Unlike a Renaissance painting meant to be admired from afar, works like Shibboleth or Sunflower Seeds are incomplete without the physical presence and reaction of the public.