Hans Belting: Global News from “The Art Newspaper” 2009 – 2011

From September 2009 to May 2011, a column on our website presented reading materials found in the leading international newspaper exclusively dedicated to art. The reports are linked to the perspective of the project GAM and thus concentrate on the rapidly changing, and expanding, situation of contemporary art in the age of globalisation. The Art Newspaper is issued 11 times each year (no issue in August) and includes sections on museums and on the art market but also “Features” and news in general. It is therefore an important source for looking through our “global window” and may be read as a chronicle of what happens and what changes in the global art world (in our case with respect to contemporary art). The Art Newspaper does not deal with the kind of theoretical exercises of which we already have a confusing abundance, but offers reports of facts in art trade, art institutions and exhibitions that may be regarded as symptomatic for the transformations of the art scene world wide. The newspaper thus serves as a mirror of the ongoing process of globalisation, since the “art news” reach us from many parts of the world, or indicate the rise of new art practices and institutions in familiar places. We do not embark on lengthy commentaries, as our personal selection of brief notes serves the collecting of materials for the study of the new artworld.

Hans Belting, September 1, 2009