incorporating BLACK PHOENIX

THIRD WORLD PERSPECTIVES ON CONTEMPORARY ART & CULTURE

Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 01:39 16 April 2016

SPRING 1989

Editor: Rasheed Araeen

Associate Editor: Jean Fisher
Promotion: Nikos Papastergiadis
Administrator: Tony Fisher

Advisory Committee: David A Bailey, Guy Brett, Mona Hatoum,

Mahmood Jamal, Gavin Jantjes, Sarat Maharaj, Partha Mitter, Pratibha Parmar.

Rasheed Araeen Our Bauhaus Others' Mudhouse 3

Yves Michaud Les Cahiers/Editorial 17

Benjamin Buchloh Interview 19

& Jean-Hubert Martin

Fumio Nanjo Situation in Japan 29

John Mundine Aboriginal Art in Australia Today 33

Jyotindra Jain Ganea Devi: Tradition 43

& Expression in Madhubani Painting

Louis Perrois Through the Eyes of the White Man 51

From 'Negro Art' to African Arts

Carlo Severi Primitivism without 61

Appropriation: Boas, Newman,
and the Anthropology of Art

Sally Price Our Art — Their Art 65

James Clifford The Others: Beyond the 73

'Salvage' Paradigm

Jean Fisher Other Cartographies 79

Yves Michaud Doctor Explorer Chief Curator 83

Guy Brett Earth & Museum: Local or Global? 89

 2

Editorial/Subscription
Third Text
303 Finchley Road
London NW3 6DT
Subscriptions
Rates for four issues
Individuals
UK £14
Europe $30
International $40
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 01:39 16 April 2016

(airmail)
Institutions
UK £28
Europe $50
International $60
(airmail)
Cheques are payable to
Kala Press
Third Text is published by
Kala Press, part of the
organisation Black Umbrella
(Project MRB)
Black Umbrella (Project MRB)
is financially assisted by
Greater London Arts. We are grateful to Yves Michaud, the editor of Les Cahiers,
for his permission to publish in English the articles in this
Typeset by Emset, London special issue of Third Text. These articles were originally
NW10. published in Les Cahiers du Musee d'Art Modeme, No 28, at
Printed by Whitstable Litho,
Kent. the occasion of the exhibition Magiciens de la terre, Paris. The
copyright of these articles are with Editions du Centre
Distribution Pompidou, Paris.
Central Books
14 Leathermarket
London SE1 3ER
Ubiquity Distributors, Inc. JUAN FRANCISCO ELSO PADILLA
607 Degraw Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217 We regret to announce the death, in November 1988, of the
USA Cuban artist Elso Padilla, at the age of 32. Jimmie Durham's
Marginal Distribution discussion with Padilla, published in the last issue of Third
37 Vine Avenue Text, serves as a brief introduction to the artist's work and
Toronto, Ontaria M69 1VP ideas at a time when the work of young Cuban artists is only
Canada now becoming available to European audiences. We extend
our sympathy to his relatives and friends.
© 1989 Third Text.
No article may be reproduced
without the written
permission of the Editor.
The views expressed by the
contributors are not
necessarily those of the
editors. We acknowledge the financial assistance of
ISSN 0952-8822 the Arts Council of Great Britain
 3

Our Bauhaus
Others' Mudhouse

Rasheed Araeen
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

This issue of Third Text comprises all but one1 of the articles from the
special issue of Les Cahiers du Musee National d'Art Modeme, Paris, which
has been published to coincide with the exhibition Magiciens de la terre.
Our own objective in publishing these texts in English is to inform our
readers about this material, and we are doing this without necessarily
agreeing with the position of Les Cahiers or with the views of all the
contributors. What interests us primarily is the debate around this
exhibition; and in view of the stated aims of the exhibition, to which
most of the articles are in sympathy, we feel that it is necessary that
these aims are examined.
Going through the texts I have become aware of the ignorance
1. Lucy Lippard's text from concerning the actual state of affairs vis-a-vis other cultures (save the
LesCahiers is not articles by Brett and Fisher), let alone their modern achievements. The
included due to a
previous commitment central concern remains the same old-fashioned debate about the
of the English version. relationship between modernism and the traditions of others. It is not
perhaps generally known that the 'other' has already entered into the
citadel of modernism and has challenged it on its own ground.
The question is no longer only what the 'other' is but also how the
'other' has subverted the very assumptions on which 'otherness' is
constructed by dominant culture. The lack of knowledge of, or a
reluctance to recognise, what has actually occurred, historically and
epistemologically, has led to the perpetuation of the very same
assumptions which the exhibition claims to question. Some of these
assumptions, which form the basis of modern art history, have been
questioned by Benjamin Buchloh in his interview with Jean-Hubert
Martin, but the discussion remains entrenched in the liberal/humanist
framework.
 4

It seems that anthropology has also played an important role in the

concept of Magitiens de la terre. The main preoccupation of anthropology
continues to remain with the 'primitive', with what Buchloh calls 'the
original "Other" '; and although recent work in anthropology has
attempted to correct some of the earlier assumptions — particularly
the notion that so-called primitive societies are static, and their artists
anonymous, this correction is somehow misplaced. Moreover, the
foregrounding of anthropological discourse in the context of the
exhibition has somewhat distracted our attention from the fundamental
issue of the relationship between the globally dominant Western culture
and other cultures. If the relationship between the 'centre' and the
'periphery' is of inequality, is it possible for an equal exchange to take
place within a framework which does not challenge this relationship?
Why is there such an obsession with so-called primitive societies?
Where are these societies? Are not most Third World societies today
part of a global system, with a common mode of production and
similarly developing social structures? Although countries like India
and Brazil may not be as industrialised as those of the West, the
mainstream of artistic production there has for some time been part
of what Jean Fisher calls 'the paradigm of modernism'. It is true that
there are cultures which somehow still operate outside the limits of
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

Western culture, but can we say that they are not affected by modern
developments? Their marginality has little to do with the nature of their
cultures but with the extremity of their exploitation and deprivation
resulting from Western imperialism. The main struggle of many of
these cultures is for the recovery of their land, as pointed out by both
Jean Fisher and Guy Brett, and their entry into the modern world is
very much part of their struggle for self-determination.
The attempts of radical anthropology to question some of the old
assumptions are not of much use when they relate them only to so-
called primitive societies of the past and do not take into account the
priority of present-day struggles and their challenge to the hegemony
of Western culture. The thrust of its main argument is often displaced
from the centre of struggle (modernism/modern art) to the
'predicament' of other cultures.

It is perhaps the recent shift towards the right in the art world, caused
by the collusion of conservative, liberal and humanist forces, which
has displaced the issue of power and status from the ideological
struggle to cultural eclecticism. The idea of 'anything goes' is
legitimised by the benevolence of dominant culture, creating a space
in which the 'other' is accommodated in a spectacle that produces an
illusion of equality.
Magidens de la terre is indeed a grand spectacle with a lot of fascination
for the exotic. There is nothing wrong with a grand spectacle, but if
it ignores or undermines issues of a historical and epistemological
nature then we must not be bogged down by the excitement and
fascination it has produced. However, exoticism is not necessarily
inherent in the works themselves. It is in their decontextualisation, not
 5

only in the shift from one culture to another (which is inevitable), but
more importantly, in the displacement from one paradigm to another;
this has emptied them of their meanings, leaving only what Fredric
Jameson calls a 'play of surfaces' to dazzle the (dominant) eye.
The issues here are too complex to be confined to the mere domains
of ethnology and sociology. Art history may be a limited context in
which to deal with cultural issues, particularly when it remains firmly
entrenched in its eurocentricity, but ethnology and sociology can
confuse basic issues concerning the function and status of art in
advanced capitalist society. This confusion can lead us to believe that
human creativity, aesthetics and art are the same things, legitimising
self-expression where it is not transformed into a discourse related to
the historical dynamics of its time, and where there is little recognition
of the constraints and limitations of art as a professional practice. This
makes it necessary to ask whether the status of art, its meanings and
significances, are fixed within particular cultural or historical formations
or whether they can be defined universally?
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

CYPRIEN TOKOUDAGBA (Benin) Installation 1989

 6

The term quality has been eliminated from my vocabulary, since there is no
convincing system to establish relative and binding criteria of quality ...

1 will... go by visual criteria alone, my vision and that of my colleagues...

Jean-Hubert Martin

Is the EYE enough to recognise what we appreciate to be art? If the

mere creation of visual images (whatever the reasons for making them)
and their attractiveness to the EYE are enough to recognise what is
art, and that their significance is available to individual sensibilities,
why do we need other discourses (art history, theory and criticism,
among others) in order to legitimate them as Art?
In order to understand the function of art, and the privileges of its
producers (artists), in our modern culture, we need to confront the
fact that the production of the commodity is fundamental (both
materially and ideologically) to the very historical formation of this
culture. Therefore, is it not necessary that we address ourselves to the
value of the commodity and to the role it plays in global domination,
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

instead of becoming enchanted by humanist proclamations against its

fetishization? Is not the constant attempt of the bourgeoisie to humanise
its dehumanised body, a condition which constantly requires
stimulation for its survival, creating a beautiful Mirage of many
colours? It will not be realistic to deny the magical effects of such
spectacle, but we should also know that there is nothing magical about
it.
The concern for mass participation in our contemporary culture is
understandable and is laudable, but mass participation in capitalist
society is an illusion which can mask its fundamental contradictions.
In the carnival everybody is equal! But what happens when the carnival
is over?

In the beginning it was Modernism, modernism for everybody all over

the world irrespective of different cultures. When the others began to
demand their share of the modern pie, modernism became
postmodernism: now there is 'Western' culture and 'other' cultures,
located within the same 'contemporary' space. The continuing
monopolisation of modernism by Western culture (particularly in the
visual arts) is to deny the global influences of modernism, and to mask
its function as a dominant force of history to which peoples all over
the world are increasingly subjected. If other peoples are now, in turn,
aspiring to its material achievements and want to claim their own share,
why are they constantly reminded of its harmful effects on their own
traditional cultures? If the aspiration to modernity and modernism is
detrimental to the creativity of other cultures, why is this concern
confined only to the production of art? Can we separate the question
of contemporary production "of art from the dominant economic system
and its global effects? The trap here is too attractive: the concept of
 7

'others' as mere victims of dominant culture will be to deny other

cultures their ability to question their domination and to liberate
themselves from it. Why is the aspiration of other cultures for
secularism and materialism seen as antithetical to their own traditions?
The shift from modernism to postmodernism does not absolve us
from our responsibility to look into the history of modernism and to
try and understand the implications of what it includes and excludes.
What it excludes from its recognition is not only what Buchloh calls
'the plurality of cultures', or the continuation of past traditions, but
also 'the objects of high culture' produced by the 'other'. The elitism
of modern art is clear to all of us, and this is not the place to argue
for radical alternatives. However, any challenge to modernism, as far
as Third World is concerned, must come from a premise which
recognises its postcolonial aspirations for modernity. Of course, the
conjuncture of postcolonial aspirations in the Third World countries
and the neocolonial ambitions of advanced capitalism has produced
new conflicts and contradictions, which in turn have necessitated the
emergence of a critical discourse that rightly interrogates modernism's
utopian/broken promises. Modernism for the 'other' remains a basic
issue.
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

Magicieiis de la terre has brought to the surface, perhaps unwittingly,

some of the questions which are fundamental to the understanding
of this exhibition. It would be extremely difficult to discuss all the
questions in detail in the space of a single article, let alone find some
answers. But I feel compelled to deal with these questions after having
seen the exhibition and felt terribly disappointed by the whole
enterprise. One would normally feel obliged to be grateful when one
is actually a participant in such an international exhibition , but it is
also essential that the paternalism of power must constantly be
questioned if we are not to be imprisoned by its benevolence.
My disappointment with the exhibition is not due to the quality of
the work, or the display. In fact the exhibition looks very attractive;
almost all the works are given equal space and are arranged in such
a way that in some cases it is difficult to distinguish visually between
the 'modern' and the 'traditional'. Having said all this I must also
express my appreciation of some very beautiful works, particularly
those of the Chinese, Chilean and Brazilian artists. My main criticism
concerns the lack of any radical theoretical or conceptual framework
that can justify the togetherness of works which represent different
historical formations.
It is claimed that all the works, irrespective of their cultural origin,
are presented 'on equal terms'. But is this 'equality' not an illusion?
How is this 'equality' achieved, if not by ignoring the differences of
different works? Of course, the differences have been allowed to enter
into a common space. But what is the significance of this entry? Is it
possible for 'difference' to function critically in a curatorial space where
the criticality of 'difference' is in fact negated by the illusion of visual
 8

similarities and sensibilities of works produced under different systems,

displacing the question of the unequal power of different works from
the domain of ideology to cultural aesthetics. No wonder the common
denominator here is a presumed 'magic' of all works which transcends
socioeconomic determinants. If Western artists sell their work for large
sums of money, this is not due to an imperative of power which
legitimates their work as precious commodities but the presumed magic
of their work! Why does this magic not work in the case of non-
European artists?
However, Magiciens de la terre is an extremely important exhibition.
Not only for its physical scale — one hundred 'artists' from all over
the world in an exhibition occupying both the top floor of the Georges
Pompidou Centre and the Grand Hall of La Villette — but also for its
global ambition; not only for its claim to represent many different
cultures but also for its presumed intention to question those cultural
distinctions which have divided the world. These claims take on a
particular significance when viewed in the context of the bicentennial
celebration of the French Revolution with its famous proclamation of
LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY. We know what has
happened in the whole world since then. If the French Revolution
inspired the peoples of the world to seek freedom and equality, it is
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

also now a reminder of the constant failure of its aims. But it seems
that the Emperor does not want to be reminded of his nakedness, not
when he is actually wearing so many colourful clothes imported from
all over the world. Shouldn't we in fact be grateful for an imperial
benevolence (the project has cost 3 million pounds) that has enabled
magicians from all over the world to participate in and celebrate
something whose spirit relates to all peoples? Shouldn't we just do
what is expected of us: entertain and not ask silly questions on such
an auspicious occasion?

Are we being dogmatic or cynical in our attitude ? Let us look at the

exhibition again, to see what it comprises and what it claims to achieve,
historically and epistemologically, before we pass judgement on it.

Jean-Hubert Martin, the Director of the Georges Pompidou Centre and

the Commissioner of the exhibition, in his statement of 1986 describes
the exhibition as comprising the following sections:

1. Artists from the artistic centres: A representative selection of art

today, showing the mature artists of the last twenty years most
committed to the avant-garde; artists with links to non-European
cultures.

— African and Asian artists living in the West whose work reveals
elements of their own cultural roots. Western artists whose work shows
a concern for cultures other than their own.
 9

2. Artists who do not belong to these centres but to the 'peripheries'.

— Works of an archaic nature intended for ceremonies and rituals,

linked to transcendental religious experience or magic...
— Traditional works showing an assimilation of external influences
(e.g. aeroplanes or motor-bikes found on Nigerian Gelede masks).
— Works from the artists' imagination, sometimes marginal, re-
inventing or re-discovering a cosmogony or interpretation of the world.
— Works of artists who have been trained in Western or Westernised
art schools.

The claims (paraphrased) are as followings:

— Magiciens de la terre is the first world-wide exhibition of contemporary

art.
— It questions the false distinction between Western cultures and other
cultures.
— And its main objective is therefore to create a dialogue between
Western cultures and other cultures.

It is the 'super-empiricism' (as Yves Michaud, the editor of Les Cahiers,

Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

has phrased it) of Jean-Hubert Martin which has formulated the

framework of the exhibition and one shouldn't object to it. All
exhibitions, national or international, work around predetermined
frameworks, which are often thematic or historical, and the limitation
2. For further reading of the aims can be justified by the specificity of frameworks. But what
see my article 'From is special about this exhibition is its extreme ambiguity, masked by the
primitivism to Ethnic
Arts', Third Tact No. 1, goodwill and dedication of its organisers. And yet it can be located
Autumn 1987. within what is often described as colonial discourse.2
Of course, Magiciens de la terre is a departure from the famous
exhibition, 'Primitivism' in 20th Century Art (MOMA, New York, 1984)
since Magiciens... does not deal only with objects from other cultures
but includes living artists from these cultures on a basis which appears
to be one of equality: the world is equally divided between Western
and non-Western artists with equal participation. But what is the
significance of this departure? Does the mere inclusion of non-Western
artists in this exhibition question the basic assumptions on which past
similar exhibitions were based? Are these not the same assumptions
that privilege the Western artist (modem, white and male) and exclude
the non-Western artist (the 'other') from the domain of modern art?
This question can be dismissed on the basis that the exhibition's
objectives are different, and it does not deal with the question of
modernism or the history of modern art. But is this dismissal not based
on the assumption that other cultures have not yet responded creatively
to modernism and have only become victims of what Jean-Hubert
Martin calls 'Western contamination'? The very use of the word
'contamination' echoes the essentialism of 19th century racial cultural
theories, according to which cultures belonging to different races must
remain pure for their survival.
 10

On the state of art outside the Western world, Jean-Hubert Martin

contemplates: 'the imposition of Western codes of behaviour upon the
Third World has destroyed or at least contaminated everything; and
in our eagerness to chastise ourselves we failed to go and see what
was really happening'. I will not disagree with the question of
imposition, but what are the results of this imposition? Its victims are
everywhere, except for those who managed to keep themselves inside
their own traditions? So Martin sends his men to Indian villages in
search of 'what was really happening', by bypassing all that which
had anything to do with modern developments:

I want to show individual artists, not movements or schools, and in that

sense I'm trying to do exactly the opposite of what the Biennale de Paris
has traditionally exhibited when it relied for its selection on the
information provided by the cultural functionaries of the individual
countries who are all more or less imitating mainstream culture of the
Western world, the Ecole de Paris or New York painting.

Was the Director of Folk Art in Delhi not approached for his contacts
and advice? Why was the 'functionary' of the Folk Art Museum more
authentic than a 'functionary' of the Museum of Modern Art? By
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

BOWA DEVI (India) Installation 1989

 11

bypassing the institutions of modern art in India are we not deliberately

ignoring its recent history? And in recognising only traditions, is one
not reminded of the same old colonial game of promoting tribal/
traditional structures in the perpetuation of imperial power?
Metaphors are important in the understanding of a complex reality.
And here is one: Bowa Devi, one of the Magiciens (sic), a folk painter
from Bihar, India, stands in front of her wall painting during the
opening of the exhibition, accompanied by a man (perhaps her
husband) and a boy (perhaps her son). Every time someone approaches
and addresses them (they are unable to communicate verbally because
of the language problem, but this is beside the point), they raise their
hands together in the air and do namaste (the Indian way of greeting),
in the manner of an Air India hostess. This is constantly repeated
during the whole occasion. What better way than this to communicate!
Perhaps Bowa Devi's response was not in itself a gesture of
submission. It depressed me because it reminded me an Indian
stereotype: meek and humble, ready to salute as soon as the master
is in sight. Moreover, the entire exhibition was conceived and arranged
in such a way that it would minimise all differences and conflicts. In
fact, the process of homogenisation worked so well in some cases that
even extreme differences appear to be eliminated. Entering the Grand
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

Hall of La Villette and looking towards the end wall, one immediately
noticed a large work by Richard Long which covered the whole wall
and overshadowed everything else . However, on approaching it, one
then saw traditional works by Esther Mahlangu (South Africa) and by
the Yuendumu Aboriginal community (Australia). All these works were
placed in such a way that their 'similarities' eradicated their differences.
It was revealing the way the question of the difference of status of the
artists in the exhibition was discussed in the Colloquium a few weeks
later. It was argued by an official that there was in fact no difference
because it was not evident in the exhibition.

If all the things are equal and same, why was nobody sent to the villages
of Europe? Is there no folk or traditional art in Europe? If the purpose
of the exhibition was to question distinctions between modern works
of art and folk or traditional art, why was this not done also within
or in relation to Western culture? It appears that the assumption is that
Western culture alone has passed from one historical period to another
and its contemporary creativity is represented only by modern art. Can
one avoid an implication here that other cultures, in spite of their
contacts with the West, do not yet have a modern consciousness? Or
if they do, it is not important to their creativity?
Are we really breaking the distinctions or reinforcing the very same
assumptions which divide the world into the West (modern/dynamic)
and the 'Other' (traditional/static)? There is no point in repeating here
that traditions do not necessarily represent static societies. The
important point is that other cultures have already aspired to
modernity, and as a result have produced modern works of art. Many
of the artists from Africa, Asia and Latin America are now to be found
 12
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

RICHARD LONG (UK) Mud Circle (on the wall) 1989

YUENDUMU ABORIGINAL COMMUNITY (Central Australia)
Ceremonial Ground Painting, Installation 1989

living in the Western metropolis where they have been in the forefront
of modern movements. Their work has very little to do with what
Martin calls 'their own cultural roots'. Of course, their relationship with
the Western society they live in is problematic, as much as their
relationship with modernism, and in many cases this problematic has
entered into their work. Is it not the actual presence of the 'other' in
the Western society which has exposed many of its contradictions? Why
are we so afraid to recognise these contradictions?
If, as pointed out by Martin, 'cultural functionaries' of Third World
countries have failed to expose the best of their contemporary work,
how do we explain the total ignorance about the achievement of non-
 13

European artists in the West? Why are they invisible? Look at any major
gallery, museum or art journal, in the West and you would know what
I mean. In spite of the claim to represent the world, it is the white artist
who is everywhere.
How can we judge those works of art which have not been allowed
to enter the international art market, and which do not have the
privileged position of their Western contemporaries? Is it not
paradoxical that Martin should speak from the very position which
refuses to recognise the necessity of non-European artists entering the
paradigm of modernism to question those distinctions he himself wants
to destroy?
It is significant the way a distinction between Western artists and
other artists living in what Martin calls 'artistic centres' has been made.
Whilst African and Asian artists are identified by 'their own cultural
roots', Western artists are recognised by 'their concern for cultures
other than their own'. In other words, the relationship of African and
Asian artists to their cultures is presumed to be 'natural', but it is not
clear what connects Western artists to other cultures. Of coures, we
all know that the Western artist occupies historical space (read Hegel),
and it is his historical mission to be 'concerned' with other cultures.
The difference between 'their own' and 'other than their own' is
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

fundamental to the distinction between AfroAsian artists and Western

artists, and I would go further and say that it's this presumed difference
which has prevented the recognition of modernity in the work of
AfroAsian artists whether they live in the West or in their countries
of origin.
It would be a useless exercise here to cite the actual achievements
of AfroAsian artists vis-a-vis modernism, not only because prevailing
ignorance will turn every argument into 'the victim syndrome' but in
the face of prevailing attitudes and assumptions in the West it would
face an intellectual blockage which would be difficult to break through.
Instead of recognising the problematic position of other cultures in
relation to modernism, with all its conflicts and contradictions, Martin
only sees pastiches and imitations of Western culture everywhere. And
then he perhaps concludes that modernism is no good for other
cultures. They better keep out of it (postmodern prescriptions?), by
sticking to their own traditions. Martin's sincerity and good intentions
are not in question here. He seems to be a very good chap and is
genuinely concerned about the divisions which exist between different
cultures and the resulting lack of dialogue. During our private
conversation, he explained his position to me:

I do not make distinctions between objects in the museum of ethnology

and the museum of modern art. They are all art, and I want to break
those distinctions which keep them apart. All art objects, if they are
beautiful and represent creativity, give pleasure; and this is my aim for
the exhibition. I want people to look at these objects and enjoy them.
I don't care whether they have any value or status.
Nobody would disagree with his concern about the 'distinctions', but
it does not seem to deal with or question those structures which
 14

underpin these distinctions. There is no harm in one's idiosyncratic

understanding of things, but if it is not located, both theoretically and
historically, within the specificity of the discourse called art, then one
is not really serious about one's intentions.
The distinction between the modern and the traditional is not really
false, because it is the result of a historical force which is dominant
today. If we wish to challenge this distinction then it will have be done
within a context which challenges the dominance of Western culture.
Magiciens de la terre has very cleverly confused this question by
assuming that other cultures are facing some kind spiritual crisis
resulting from 'Western contamination'.
The crisis is in fact of Western humanism; its failure to come to terms
with the modern aspiration of the 'other'. What happened in Iran, for
example, is not the result of what Jean-Hubert Martin calls a 'search
for spirituality', but a direct result of Western imperialism which
frustrated the aspirations and struggles of Iranian people to achieve
a modern, secular and democratic society in the postwar period. The
Shah of Iran^as not an Oriental despot but an imperial puppet for
whom modernism meant imitating everything Western or American.
When, in 1972, a museum of modern art was built in Tehran, with
American design and technicians, its administration was handed over
Third Text 1989.3:3-14.

to an American team; which, of course, spent millions of pounds (Iran's

money) buying American works. As for Iranian artists, they were
perhaps living in exile in London, Paris or New York and ignored on
the basis that they were producing 'imitations' of Western art.
It is easier to be cynical and dismissive about modernism in Third
World countries than to recognise not only those structures which are
responsible for what is actually happening in other cultures, but also
those assumptions which continually reinforce the marginalisation of
the Third World.
The example of Iran is an extreme case, but it is meant to be a
metaphor. The struggle in Third World countries is not for 'spirituality'
but for independent societies, which are democratic, modern and
secular, and contemporary art produced in these countries is part of
this struggle. The question of socialism is extremely important for us
but it does not supercede the present stage of anti-imperialist struggle
to claim our independent place in the modern world.
The failure of Magiciens de la terre to take into consideration the present
historical and material conditions of other cultures, their aspirations
and struggles to enter into the modern world with all its conflicts and
contradictions, and what they have actually achieved within these
limitations, is to mystify the production of art and to remove it from
the question of power and privileges. By this failure it has defeated
its own stated objective to provide a viable framework which would
break the distinctions and allow a dialogue among the diversity of
contemporary art from all over the world.
 17

EDITORIAL
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:26 16 April 2016

This summer issue of Cahiers du Musee national boards for ideas, and, I might add, because of
d'art moderne has been published to coincide their tone and rhythm, which speak for
with the exhibition Magiciens de la terre as a first themselves.
critical reflection on that project. We then hand over to the anthropoligists and
When one takes into account the originality ethnologists. They write of that foreign way of
of this exhibition, which is the first truly inter- looking which is applied to so-called primitive
national exhibition of contemporary art, and arts, and of the efforts which we must make
when one takes into account that what it really to modify our approach, of the methods we
is (what it will show and how it will show it) should follow and the revisions that this entails,
will produce the kind of effects and provoke as well as of the advances that have already
the kind of reflections which could scarcely be been made.
envisaged when the project was conceived, it The last, and longest, group of articles reflects
would have made little sense to bring together on what is at stake in Magiciens de la terre and
a set of theoretical texts whose whole thrust on the conditions and perspectives of such a
would have been in some sense predeter- project. These articles speak of a watershed in
mined. It would, moreover, have been our conception of art.
dishonest to contemplate having texts taking We are aware, in this edition, that the
sides with or against an exhibition which thoughts presented are in the process of being
nobody had seen and which it would almost worked out, that the documentation is being
certainly be difficult to have a clear idea about constantly refined and reformulated, that the
in advance. whole represents the practical application of a
We therefore decided to ask for contributions way of thinking. That indeed was our aim:
from people who, in one way or another, are neither to praise the project nor to criticize it,
engaged in similar or related enterprises, from but to take it seriously and attempt to gauge
specialists who have long taken an interest in its strengths.
this opening up of art to what has, for a long In doing so, we feel we are being faithful to
time, been seen as its peripheries. Thus we con- the spirit of Cahiers du Musie national d'art
tacted ethnologists and anthropologists, art- moderne, which is both to study and re-evaluate
critics and fieldworkers. the recent past and to engage in the most
The contributions then fell into fairly natural advanced research and explore the newest
categories. After a general overview of the main perspectives with the conviction that new ideas
contours of this project, we present more can be born of this combination of two critical
detailed surveys of particular fields. We can- thrusts.
not claim to cover the whole world; these
'dispatches' from the field (from Japan,
Australia and India) are valuable as sounding Yves Michaud
 18
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:26 16 April 2016

ESTHER MAHLANGU Mural Painting (Mabhokho, Kwandebele) 1987

(Photo. A. Magnin)
 19

INTERVIEW
BENJAMIN H.D. BUCHLOH - JEAN-HUBERT MARTIN
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:31 23 April 2015

Benjamin Buchloh: In the discussions of the last the questions of centre and periphery have also
few years, the question of cultural been asked with regard to authorship and
decentralization has emerged as increasingly oeuvre, especially since, in a number of the
important: from the decentering of traditional contexts with which we will be dealing, the
conceptions of the author/subject construction artist's role and the object's functions are
to the challenge of the centrality of the oeuvre defined in a manner entirely different from our
and the concept of the work of art as a unified European way of thinking. As for the problem
substantial object. But it ranges further, from of marginality, it is difficult and delicate to
the critique of the hegemony of the class culture include artists from different geo-political
of bourgeois Modernism to the challenge of the contexts in an exhibition of Western (Euro-
dominance of the cultural production of the American) contemporary art, the dominant art
Western Capitalist world and its market over of the centres. But we come to recognize that
the cultural practices in the social and geo- inorder to have a centre you need margins and
political 'margins'. Cultural decentralization the inverse is true as well. Therefore Magiciens
aims at a gradual recognition of the cultures of de la Terre will invite half of its approximately
different social and ethnic groups within the one hundred artists from marginal contexts,
societies of the so-called First World as much artists practically non-existent in the awareness
as at the recognition of the specificity of cultural of the contemporary art world.
practices within countries of the so-called
Second and Third World. Does the project B.B.: How will you go about this project
Magiciens de la Terre originate in these critical without falling precisely in the worst of all
discussions or is it just another exercise in traps, seemingly inevitable: to deploy once
stimulating an exhausted artworld by exhibiting again ethnocentric and hegemonic criteria in
the same contemporary products in a different the selection of the participants and their works
topical exhibition framework? for the exhibition?

Jean-Hubert Martin: Obviously the problem of ].-H.M.: I agree, this is in fact the first trap one
centre and periphery has been reflected in thinks of but I would immediately argue that
European-American avantgarde culture in it is actually an inevitable trap. It would be
recent years, but our exhibition project worse to pretend that one could organize such
Magiciens de la Terre is a departure from that. an exhibition from an 'objective, un-
First of all, already on the geographical level acculturated' perspective, a 'decentered' point
we want to reflect on contemporary art of view precisely. How could one find a
production on a global, worldwide scale. But 'correct' perspective? By including artists on a
 20

proportional scale, or by having the selections benefitted from the advice of ethnographers
made by cultural functionaries in each country, and specialists of local and regional cultures
whose principles are infinitely less elaborate when it came to obtaining precise information
then ours? Or by political commissaries from in order to prepare research and travels. In
the UNESCO, according to the size of the some cases we have conducted these
population of each country? I do not believe exploratory travels in the company of
that this is possible. It would throw us back into ethnographers. We went for example to Papua
the worst mistakes from the beginning of the New Guinea in the company of Francois Lupu.
Paris Biennale when the artists were selected But let us not forget, after all, I have to think
by national commissaries who only chose what of this project as an 'exhibition.' That is, if an
they considered to deserve the official stamp ethnographer suggests a particular example of
of cultural and political authority. It was bound a cult, let us say in a society of the Pacific, but
to become a disaster of officious and official the objects of this culture would not
culture. Therefore, I have argued for the exact communicate sufficiently with a Western
opposite: since we are dealing with objects of spectator in a visual-sensuous manner, I would
visual and sensual experience, let us really look refrain from exhibiting them. Certain cult
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:31 23 April 2015

at them from the perspective of our culture. I objects may have an enormous spiritual power,
want to play the role of somebody who selects but when transplanted from their context into
these objects from totally different cultures by an art exhibition they lose their qualities and
artistic intuition alone. My approach — in a way at best generate misunderstandings, even if one
— will therefore be the opposite of what you attaches long didactic explanatory labels to
suggest: I will select these objects from the them. In the same manner I had to exclude a
various cultures according to my own history number of artisanal objects, since many of the
and my own sensibility. But obviously I also societies we are looking at actually do not
want to incorporate the critical reflections on differentiate between artist and artisan.
the problem of ethnocentrism, the relativity of
culture, and intercultural relations which B.B.: Another crucial problem of your project
contemporary anthropology provides. as I see it is that, on the one hand, you do not
want to construct a colonialist exhibition, like
B.B.: Which are the self-critical and corrective the one in Paris in 1931, where the objects of
elements in your method and procedure? Are religious and magical practices were extracted
you actually working with anthropologists and from their functions and contexts as so many
ethnographers on this project, and with objects displayed for the hegemonic eye of
specialists from within the cultures that you control, Imperialist domination and
approach from the outside? exploitation. On the other hand, you neither
want to simply aestheticize these heteronomic
J.-H.M.: Yes, I have collaborated with cultural objects once again by subjecting them
numerous anthropologist and ethnographers to the Western Modernist concept of
in the preparation of this project. This 'Primitivism'.
collaboration has proven to be very fertile since
it has helped to assess the role of the individual J.-H.M.: Our exhibition has nothing to do with
artist in the various societies, their specialized that of 1931 which clearly originated from the
activities and the functions of their formal and perspective of economic and political
visual languages. By the way, our exhibition colonialism. The exhibition of 1931 has,
project emerges at a moment when many however, inevitably served as a negative
anthropologists have started to ask themselves reference point for the authors of the catalogue
why they have privileged myth and language and will be critically discussed. Concerning the
traditionally over the sign of visual objects. The problem of the cultural object and its context
corrective critical reflections I am primarily I would like to make two arguments. First of
thinking of are ethnographic theories of all, when it comes to foreign literature, music
ethnocentrism as they have been developed and theatre, nobody ever asks this question,
over the last twenty or more years. I have also and we accept translation — which we know
 21

to be most often a falsification — as a form of the result of a ritual or a ceremony, and that
mediation. Now you might argue that these are is just as true for a famous painter of the 19th
temporal and aural forms of artistic experience, century where — in a manner of speaking —
different from the spatial and visual objects we • we are looking at a 'mere residue' as well. One
are dealing with. Here different modes of always speaks of the problem of 'context' when
reception clearly apply and a Western viewer it come to other cultures, as though the same
sees in a manner altogether different from an problem would not emerge for us in the
Asian viewer, even though the moment of confrontation with a Medieval miniature or
retinal experience is actually identical. But, even a Rembrandt painting when we visit the
nevertheless, to argue therefore that it is museum. Only a few specialists really know
impossible to present visual — spatial objects anything at all about the context of these
outside of their cultural context seems objects, even though we would claim that these
absolutely horrible to me when, in fact, since objects constitute our cultural tradition. I know
centuries this type of communication has that it is dangerous to extricate cultural objects
occurred within the fields of literature ioi from other civilizations, but we can also learn
example. That is my first argument... from these civilizations which, just like ours,
are engaged in a search for spirituality.
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:31 23 April 2015

B.B.: If I may interrupt here, it seems evident

that your problem is that of Modernist art B.B.: This concept of an abstract transhistorical
history which has traditionally only experience of 'spirituality' seems to be at the
contemplated the objects of high culture, even core of your project. In that respct it reminds
though Modernist avantgarde art is constituted me of the exhibition 'Primitivism' and Twentieth
in the dialectic relationship with mass culture Century Art which took place at the Museum
from its very beginnings. The objects and the of Modern Art in 1984. There a presumed
users of mass culture — if considered at all — spirituality was equally placed at the centre of
were at best compartmentalized into a different the exhibition, operating regardless of social
discipline (sociology, or more recently that of and political context, regardless of technological
mass cultural studies). In the same manner that development of the particular social formations.
traditional art history has always excluded the Don't you think that the search for the (re-)
plurality of cultures within bourgeois culture, discovery of spirituality originates in the
your attempt to select only the 'highest artistic disavowal of the politics of everyday life?
quality' from the cultural practices of 'the
Others' runs the risk of subjecting them to a ].-H.M.: Not at all. As you will recall, the main
similar process of selection and hierarchization. criticism levelled at this exhibition at the time
was that it was a formalist project. To me it
].-H.M.: This is another point to which I will seems important to emphasize the functional
return. But let me first make my second rather than the formal aspects of that
argument. A criticism instantly voiced with spirituality (after all, magic practices are
regard to this project is the supposed problem functional practices). Those objects which act
of decontextualization and the betrayal of the in their spiritual function, on the human mind,
other cultures. Yes, the objects will be displaced objects which exist in all societies, are the ones
from their functional context and they will be of interest for our exhibition. After all, the
shown in a museum and an exhibition works of art cannot simply be reduced to a
institution in Paris. But we will display them retinal experience alone. It possesses an aura
in a manner that has never before been which initiates these mental experiences. I
employed with regard to objects from the Third would go even further and argue that precisely
World. That is, the makers of the objects will those artistic objects which were created twenty
be present for the most part, and I will avoid years ago by artists with the explicit desire to
finished moveable objects as much as possible. reduce the auratic nature of the work of art by
I will favour actual 'installations' (as we say in emphasizing its material objectness, appear
our jargon) made by the artists specifically for now as the most spiritual ones. In fact, if you
this particular occasion. Works of art are always talk to the artists of that generation you will
 22

often encounter their own involvement with the others in order to understand what we do
the concept of the 'magic' in work of art. We ourselves.
have to admit that there is a sphere of social
experience which has taken over the space of B.B.: Inevitably your project operates like an
religion, and while it does not fulfill religion's archaeology of the 'Other' and its authenticity.
communal functions it involves large segments You are engaged in a quest for the original
of our society. cultural practices (magic and the ritual), when
in fact what you would find most often, I
B.B.: It sounds as though you are arguing that presume, are extremely hybridized cultural
the failure of artistic practices of the Sixties to practices in their various stages of gradual or
emancipate art from ritual (what Walter rapid disintegration and extinction as a result
Benjamin called its parasitical dependence), of their confrontation with Western industrial
could now be compensated best by ritualizing media and consumer culture. Are you going to
these practices themselves. To mention an 'distill' the original objects for the sake of an
example: when Lothar Baumgarten set out in artificial purity, or are you going to exhibit the
the late 1970's to visit tribal societies of the actual degree of contamination and decay
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:31 23 April 2015

Amazon, which are now threatened with within which these forms of cultural production
destruction, he operated in the manner of an actually exist?
amateur ethnographer. But he also operated
from within a Modernist artistic tradition: to ].-H.M.: On the contrary. I have never stopped
search and discover the values of exotic cultures saying that there is an original purity to be
in order to reconstitute the cult value of the discovered elsewhere. The fact that earlier arts
work of art, its share in the ritualistic were 'without history', has produced too many
experience. Paradoxically, in doing so, artists myths. All the work shown will be the fruit of
of that tradition in Modernism have contributed exchange influences and of changes derived
to the conception of a highly problematic vision from our civilisation or from others.
of the 'Other' in terms of 'primitivism'. I I think there is a real misunderstanding about
wonder whether this is not the model upon my way of looking at these phenomena. I am
which your exhibition is based as well. Is that in fact very interested in archaic practices (I
the reason why, in the course of the would like to avoid the problematic term of the
preparation of his contribution for your 'primitive'). I am really against the assumption
exhibition, you sent Lawrence Weiner to Papua (underlying in a way also Rubin's exhibition)
New Guinea? that we have in fact destroyed all other cultures
with Western technology. A text written by the
J.-H.M.: There are enormous prejudices in Aboriginal artists of Australia participating in
what you just said concerning our exhibition this exhibition has clarified this for me. They
project. The basic idea during the elaboration explain the problem of decontextualization
of our exhibition was to question the perfectly well, only to continue by arguing that
relationship of our culture to other cultures of they commit their 'treason' for a particular
the world. Culture here is not an abstract purpose: to prove to the white world that their
generality but describes a set of relations that society is still alive and functioning. Exhibiting
individuals have among each other and with their cultural practices to the West is what they
which we interact. I wondered whether it believe to be the best way to protect their
would be possible to accelerate these traditions and their culture at this point in time.
relationships and the dialogue ensuing from
them. That is the reason why I suggested that B.B.: It sounds as though you are engaged in
Lawrence Weiner should go to Papua New some kind of a reformist project, in search of
Guinea. Let me emphasize that first of all this residual magic cultures in the societies alien to
exhibition wants to initiate dialogues. I oppose ours, and in pursuit of revitalizing the magic
this idea that one can only look at another potential of our own.
culture in order to exploit it. It is first of all a
matter of exhange and dialogue, to understand J.-H.M.: Obviously we live in a society where
 23

we always speak from our position about the J.-H.M.: No, I do not exclude the objects of
others and we judge their position from ours, mass culture, but I am really interested in
and it is 'us' who think 'them' as still being finding the individual artist or artists that one
involved in magic. It is an a priori upon which can name and situate and that have actually
we naively rely, when it is actually infinitely produced objects. I refuse to show objects
more complicated than that and we have no which claim to be the anonymous result of a
idea how it really functions. In the same cultural community. That to me seems precisely
manner that we do not know how magic a typically perverted Western/European idea
thought functions in our society, and that I want to avoid at all cost. If fifty
obviously, there is a lot of it. craftspeople produce more or less the same
type of cult object, that does not interest me.
B.B.: Is your exhibition going to address the I am looking for the one that is superior to all
magic rituals of our society as well? You seem the others, more individual than the rest.
to be looking for an irrational power that drives
artistic production in tribal societies, and you B.B.: You don't seem to mind that this
seem to argue that there is a need for our approach re-introduces the most traditional
society to rediscover this power. By contrast, conception of the privileged subject and the
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:31 23 April 2015

the actual mechanisms in which magic rituals original object into a cultural context that might
are practiced in our society, in the fetishization not even know these Western concepts,
of the sign, in spectacle culture and in excluding from the beginning notions such as
commodity fetishism, do not seem to be of anonymous production or collective creation?
interest to you.
J.-H.M.: No, I will not exclude objects of
J.-H.M.: But I am also not in search of an collective production, in fact there are quite a
original purity, even though there are cultures few already included in the exhibition. But I do
which still have had very little exposure to like the joke which argues that the only reason
Western civilization and whose modes of why we imagine Black African masks to be
thinking are utterly different from ours. It anonymous is because when they were first
astonishes me more and more, the longer I found in the various tribal communities the
have been working on this project, that even people who took them or collected them did
in serious studies the ideal of an archaic and not care to take down the names of their
authentic production is upheld, possibly even authors. It is a typical Western projection to
that of a collective production, when in fact the fantasize that these communities live in a state
number of objects which would truly qualify of original collective bliss, therefore one does
for this category is rather small. We know that not want to credit them with having individual
for the most part these practices have been authors. Let me give you an example: the
compromised or destroyed altogether...But in masks which are identified as Geledes are only
the large cities of Asia and Africa, where the worn once a year for a particular ritual. A recent
shocks resulting from the encounter between study shows that the makers of these masks are
the local cultures and the Western industrial specialists who make them for the various
cultures still reverberate, one finds numerous villages and communities who use them. Not
manifestations that we would, once again, have only are they specialists of this type of masks
to identify as works of art. And one finds and identify their works with their signatures
examples from both spheres, objects of a on the inside, but they also originate from
traditional local high culture as much as objects dynasties of mask-makers, and often these
of popular culture. objects can be traced through two or more
generations. Furthermore, what is peculiar
B.B.: Don't you think we have to differentiate about these Geledes masks is that they actually
between the residual forms of high culture and change over time — as opposed to our Western
local popular culture on the one hand and the concept of a fixed and stable type — and over
emerging forms of mass cultural consumption the last few decades they have incorporated
on the other? more and more elements from industrial
 24

culture. This proves to me the vivacity of that J.-H.M.: Obviously I have thought about this
culture and its flexibility in responding to the and often one is obliged to start from there. I
contact with Western civilization. Certain have for example encountered a painter from
ethnographers are distressed by this because the People's Republic of China who came to
they perceive these tribal communities as France about four years ago and who now lives
having lost their original purity. But I don't in Paris. He is now part of a Chinese artistic
think that any society ever had this purity since community in France and he has given me a
they are all in constant flux and exchange with number of leads how to approach this
other societies. Admittedly, the Western world phenomenon of Chinese emigrant artists as
is, of course, a particularly powerful influence much as the art of his country. As far as your
in these contacts. examples of Algeria or Morocco are concerned,
I will approach these in a pragmatic manner,
B.B.: Let us discuss a concrete example. How not a theoretical way. In these countries you
did you approach the Algerian Republic, a will find a widespread tendency to harmonize
Socialist state which was once a French colony? traditional calligraphy with ficole de Paris
I am sure there are rather active Beaux Arts painting. This transposition of calligraphy into
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:31 23 April 2015

schools in Algiers and other cities, and I a Western easel painting technique leaves me
imagine, if you travel through the remote totally cold. I prefer to show a real calligrapher
villages, you would probably find residual like the Iraqi Youssuf Thannoon.
forms of artisanal popular culture and possibly I will first of all go by visual criteria alone,
even religious practices. At the same time I my vision and that of my colleagues with
would imagine that there are emerging forms whom I prepare and discuss this project. If we
of a new Socialist culture. Which of the three encounter visually astonishing material we will
domains is of primary interest to your go further and visit the artists and find out
exhibition project? more about the history and the context of the
work. I want to show individual artists, not
J.-H.M.: I would like to address the method of movements or schools. In that sense I am trying
our work first of all. The particular needs of this to do exactly the opposite of what the Biennale
exhibition require that a constant exchange de Paris has traditionally exhibited when it
takes place between theory and practice, and relied for its selections on the information
that both will constantly correct each other in provided by the cultural functionaries of the
the course of the preparation of this exhibition. individual countries who were all more or less
It is not that discourse on intercultural imitating mainstream culture of the Western
relationships has been absent from French world, the Ecole de Paris or New York School
thought; what is missing are the pragmatic painting.
forms of putting this discourse into practice.
That is what I am trying to develop. To answer B.B.: The central tool by which bourgeois
your question, 'which of the three formations hegemonic culture (white, male and Western)
are of interest to us;' well, I want to show as has traditionally excluded or marginalized all
much as possible, as many divergent other cultural practices is the abstract concept
phenomena as possible, even if that might of 'quality.' How will you avoid this most
make the exhibition heterogeneous at times. intricate of all problems in your selection criteria
if you operate by 'visual' terms alone?
B.B.: To invert my question: will your
exhibition also present information on so<alled J.-H.M: The term 'quality' has been eliminated
minority cultures living inside the hegemonic from my vocabulary, since there is simply no
Western societies? Will you show, for example, convincing system to establish relative and
the particular forms of Black Modernism as it binding criteria of quality when it comes to such
emerged in the United States since the turn of a project. We know very well that even the
the century, or the cultural practices of African directors of the great Western museums do not
and Arabic minorities living in France at this have any reliable criteria to establish a
point? consensus on this question. But of course one
 25

has to develop criteria; some are more tangible World. This became particularly obvious in the
and rigorous than others. There are criteria to increasing attacks on International Style in
be derived from the physicality of the work, architecture and the recognition that it was
from the relationship between the maker of the necessary to take national and regional
object and the community which relates to that specificities and traditions much more into
object, the socio-political and cultural context consideration than hegemonic Modernism had
of that object. allowed. Does the project of your exhibition
depart from similar critical perspectives?
B.B.: When exhibitions are organized in the
United States from a critical perspective J.-H.M.: Absolutely. That is precisely the
challenging mainstream hegemonic culture, the reason why we want to build a truly
standard prejudicial response one always hears international exhibition that transcends the
is: that is very interesting work indeed, but it traditional framework of contemporary Euro-
lacks 'quality.' American culture. Rather than showing that
abstraction is a universal language, or that the
J.-H.M.: Indeed that happens when one groups return to figuration is now happening
artists together by country or geo-political everywhere in the world, I want to show the
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:31 23 April 2015

context. But that is not my approach: we select real difference and the specificity of the
individual artists from a wide variety of different cultures.
contexts, and it is the individuality of these
artists which guarantees the level of our B.B.: But what are the real differences between
exhibition. That brings us back to the criteria the different cultures- at this point? Western
of 'quality'... hegemonic centres use Third World countries
as providers of cheap labour (the hidden
B.B.: But certain works (for example feminist proletariats of the so-called post-industrialist
artists) distinguish themselves by precisely societies), devastate their ecological resources
challenging and criticizing that very notion of and infrastructure, and use them as dumping
abstract quality, because the term itself is of grounds for their industrial waste. Don't you
course already invested with interest, privilege, think that by excluding these political and
control and exclusion. economical aspects and by focussing
exclusively on the cultural relationships
between Western centres and developing
J.H.M.: Certainly. We are going through a nations, you will inevitably generate a neo-
phase where all these concepts are transformed colonialist reading?
and re-evaluated and we are gradually moving
on to different concepts. While this happens, J.-H.M.: That implies that the visitors of the
first of all on the level of theory, we do not yet exhibition would be unable to recognize the
have any reliable means or any solid bases to relationships between the centres and the Third
articulate these changes on the level of World. Our generation — and we were not the
exhibition practice. But that should not deter first — has denounced these phenomena, and
us from trying to develop them... things have after all developed at least a little
bit. One cannot say that we live in a neo-
colonialist period. Obviously the Western
B.B.: In the course of the last ten years or so World maintains relationships of domination,
Western Modernism as a hegemonic culture but that should not prohibit us from
has been criticized from the perspectives of communicating with the people of these
other cultural practices as much as from the nations by looking at their cultural practices.
inside. It seemed generally no longer acceptable
to treat Modernism as a universal international B.B.: But isn't this precisely once again the
language and style, governing all countries of worst ethnocentric fallacy: it communicates for
advanced industrial culture as much as the us, therefore it is relevant for the exhibition.
countries of the so-called Second and Third Worse yet: it smacks once again of cultural (and
 26

political) imperialism to request that these conceived of the exhibition as a situation of

cultures deliver their cultural products for our dialogic relationships between the artists from
inspection and our consumption, instead of us the Western centres and those from the so-
making an attempt to dismantle the false called geo-political margins. But the exhibition
centrality of this approach and to develop will also establish other types of cross-cultural
criteria from within the needs and conventions relationships. For example, the manner in
of these cultures. which the repetition of identical models
functions in Tibetan Tonka painting and in the
J.-H.M.: I understand very well what you are work of certain Western painters who
trying to say, but how would you actually go consistently repeat the model which they
about developing these immanent criteria? I established for themselves. After all, Tonka
have determined a number of them and applied painting is still a living artistic practice, even
them for the definition of the participants of the though we only know it from ethnographic
exhibition, but inevitably these criteria will be museums. To disturb this kind of absurdity is
different in each case and eventually may once again one of the goals of our exhibition.
generate considerable contradictions. I do not Let us not forget that many of the societies that
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:31 23 April 2015

see how one can really avoid ethnocentric we are looking at do not know or agree with
vision altogether. I have to accept it to some Western divisions of culture between high and
extent in spite of all the self-reflexive corrections low, ancient and recent. The Australian
which we tried to incorporate into our Aboriginal culture does not separate high
methods. What is important to recognize is that culture from popular culture at all. There is
this will be the first truely international simply one traditional culture which they now
exhibition of worldwide contemporary art, but deploy to defend their identity against the
I do not pretend in any way that this is a increasing onslaught of Western industrial
complete survey of the planet, but rather it is culture. Even if they are called Bushmen, they
a sampling that I have chosen according to obviously drive cars and have guns, but they
more or less accurate and yet somewhat teach their children how to use bow and arrow
random criteria. I cannot select objects in the and how to pursue their cultural traditions as
manner of ethnographers who chose the a form of political resistance against the
objects according to their importance and violation by Western industrial culture. That is
function inside the culture that they study, also the reason why they were eager to accept
even if these objects 'mean' or 'communicate' my invitation to show their work, outside of
very little or nothing to us. Inevitably there is its original functional context so to speak, but
an aesthetic judgement at work in the selection nevertheless in its function to defend their
of my exhibition with all the inevitable aboriginal identity.
arbitrariness that aesthetic selection entails.
B.B.: That raises another problem. How will
B.B.: The other side of the ethnocentric fallacy you avoid the total aestheticization of this, and
is a cult of a presumed authenticity which all other exhibited forms of cultural
would like to force other cultural practices to manifestations emerging from non-western
remain within the domain of what we consider contexts, once they enter your museum or
the 'primitive' and the original 'Other.' In fact exhibition? How can you supply your visitors
artists in these cultures very often claim, and with sufficient visual and textual information
rightfully so, to have developed their own to avoid this problem without strangling the
forms of high culture corresponding to that of actual experience of these objects?
the Western world and its institutional values
and linguistic conventions, and insist therefore J.-H.M.: Obviously I do not want to construct
to be looked at in terms of their own high a didactic exhibition with an overwhelming
cultural achievements, not in terms of our amount of text panels. It is self-evident that all
projection of authentic Otherness. of the artists will receive the same treatment in
both exhibition and catalogue. And the
J.-H.M.: That is the reason why we have catalogue will, of course, provide the crucial
 27

information as well as the didactic assistance participating artists in advance, you could
needed for such an exhibition. pretty much tell beforehand who was going to
be in these exhibitions. With our project, this
B.B.: Your restriction to 'aesthetic' criteria is quite different. There will be many surprises
therefore depends also on merely pragmatic and the artworld will not always like it, but they
functions, to enable you to construct an will certainly see things that they have never
exhibition from this heterogeneous mass of seen before. I am aiming at a much larger
objects. public. In fact I have already noticed when
discussing the project with people from outside
J.-H.M.: Obviously, I will work with an our little museum and gallery world, that this
architect, and we already have numerous ideas exhibition really has something to offer which
about various forms of installation which goes way beyond the traditional boundaries of
convey to the viewers the complexity of the our usual conception of contemporary culture.
situation; that they are not looking at the
traditional museum objects, but that they are B.B.: Could one say that you also aim to
confronted with objects from totally different decentre the social parameters traditional to the
contexts. But we have to keep in mind that this art public?
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:31 23 April 2015

is an exhibition, not a discourse. I know that

exhibitions cannot claim innocence from the J.-H.M.: Absolutely. I want to show artists from
discourse, and our exhibition will be critical and the whole world, and to leave the ghetto of
visual at the same time. What interests me in contemporary Western art where we have been
particular are the visual shocks that this shut up over these last decades. A larger public
exhibition can possibly produce and the will certainly understand that, for once, this
reflections which it could provoke. But most of event will be much more accessible to it, and
all I would like to see this exhibition operate that it comes to an exhibition founded on totally
as a catalyst for future projects and different principles. If we do not try to make
investigations. the effort at least to engage in this evolution,
we risk serious blockages.

B.B.: I could imagine that your project would

provoke a lot of scepticism if not anger among
those authorities in the art world whose role
it is precisely to defend the rigorous divisions
and criteria of hegemonic culture at all cost?

J.-H.M.: In the art world, yes, but not among

artists, who have generally responded with
great enthusiasm and interest.

B.B.: Even if this project threatens to displace

them a little bit from their centrality in the
reception of contemporary art?

J.-H.M.: I don't think they are worried about

this, and they don't have to worry about it
anyway. I believe that every creative individual
is deeply interested in the activities of others
in the world. After all, an element of curiosity
and surprise is part of artistic experience in
general, even though over the last few years,
when it came to the big international group
shows, you didn't even have to see the list of
 29

SITUATION IN JAPAN
FUMIO NANJO
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:37 16 April 2016

There are many differences between the communicate with one another, remaining
Japanese art world and that of Western ignorant of the activities of each other. To
countries. Identifying these points oi difference clarify the situation, it can be said that, instead
may prove to be revealing, not only in terms of interaction between them, the different
of trying to understand contemporary Japanese schools have their own hierarchical structures:
culture, but also the cultures of other non- like a pyramid , each school of Nihon-ga and
European countries. Yo-ga is crowned by one or more masters similar
Taking an overview of the Japanese art to the lemotoseido (masters of a particular artistic
world, three fairly distinct categories can be school or style) found in the traditional
enumerated: Nihon-ga, painting on paper or silk Japanese arts. Each of these schools builds
using traditional water-soluble mineral strong relationships between its members and,
pigments; Yo-ga, oil painting of European style in the same way as a political organisation, has
introduced at the end of the 19th century, at a strong influence on the art world. Compared
the time of Japan's opening to the rest of the with these schools, artists involved in
world; and thirdly, contemporary art, practiced contemporary art are aware of the context
by artists attempting to adopt the avant-garde which is more individualistic and international.
attitudes of movements such as Dada and The structure of the gallery world, which
L'Informal. In terms of their position and supports such a situation, is very different from
awareness, these latter artists should be seen that of Western countries. It is said that there
in the same artistic context as their counterparts are around 500 galleries in Tokyo; more than
in the West. Of the first two categories, Nihon- half of these being rental galleries, where, for
ga can be seen to establish a characteristic about £1,000 to £1,500 a week rent plus other
Oriental painting style, and is derived from expenses, an artist can exhibit his or her work.
Suiboku-ga (painting in Chinese ink) and Yamato- This system, peculiar to Japan, arises from
e (classical style of Japanese painting). The circumstances such that, despite the lack of a
second, Yo-ga, often utilises a style reminiscent domestic market for contemporary art, there
of Impressionism of Ecole de Paris. However, are significant numbers of artists with strong
it is sometimes impossible to distinguish these ambitions. It is both a capitalistic and
two categories merely according to their styles, democratic system at the same time: artists with
as the criteria for distinction are based only on sufficient finances have the opportunity and
a difference in materials. space to exhibit their work.
Despite this, there is seldom any interchange However, one of the drawbacks of this
between these disparate fields; artists from each system is that a large number of exhibitions
group move in different circles and do not flood the art world without any screening or
 30

sifting of the artists. In fact, those who are led to a competition between four or five major
involved in contemporary art find it difficult, newspapers to hold such exhibitions; as a result
when they visit Japan, to understand the their number dramatically increased. The
position of each artist in relation to the whole newspaper companies thus played an
situation; because both a Sunday painter and important role as sponsors of public art
an avant-garde artist can rent the same gallery exhibitions. Until the '60s, when there were
and exhibit their work in the same way. only a handful of museums, many exhibitions
There are probably less than one hundred art were sponsored and organised in department
dealers who patronise particular artists and stores as promotional events by the
attempt to support and promote their work. newspapers. Such exhibition spaces — called
Out of these galleries in Tokyo, only about ten 'museums' — still exist in some stores.
are concerned solely with contemporary art. The following reasons provide an explanation
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:37 16 April 2016

However, such a special interest has recently for this situation: 1) newspaper companies are
been developing among the rental galleries as regarded as public organisations, or bodies,
well, and there are now 50 or so places which representing the interest of the public; 2) they
focus exclusively on contemporary art. have an affective power of (self)-publirity
As for the state of museums in Japan, more through the means of their own newspapers;
than two hundred have been established in the 3) they use the exhibitions for their own
last fifteen years, of which about fifty are promotional purposes, by the distribution of
public, founded by local self-governing bodies; free tickets to readers prominent in cultural
the rest are private or small scale museums fields. They thus enlarge their share of the
which display antiques, Nihon-ga, folk art or market and improve the newspaper's image.
crafts. In the case of public museums, it is These companies maintain a strong cultural
necessary for the directors to be in accord with leadership even today; and many public
public opinion and with the museum's museums rely on their research and
governing body. Thus the public collections organisational skills, as well as finances, when
often come to include little contemporary art organising the exhibitions. At first, this system
but many works by Nihon-ga and Yo-ga masters, appears to have a certain merit in that it frees
as well as works by the major figures of late cultural activities from the financial support of
19th and early 20th century European painting. the government. But, at the same time, it is not
The exhibitions held in public museums are without problems: when one of the newspaper
similarly inclined towards those artists who are companies organises an exhibition, the other
comprehensible to the general public. Curators newspapers do not cover or comment upon this
have to collect and exhibit works from all the exhibition, it is thus ignored due to the lack of
categories mentioned above, and it is therefore debate or discussion about the work; 2) despite
difficult for them to develop a particular artistic being specialists in their fields, the curators of
character for their museums. In the case of public museums cannot always reflect their
provincial museums, preference must be given own positions and opinions in such exhibitions.
to the local artists, and consequently there is With the rush to build new museums the result
an increasingly limited opportunity for the has over-reached itself: there are in fact not
contemporary artist to exhibit in these enough curators of ability and experience.
museums. As can be seen, the situation of Consequently, only a restricted number of
contemporary art in Japan is such that it is museums are able to hold large-scale art
difficult for both artists and galleries to become exhibitions without the support of newspaper
truly professional. companies.
There is a further important point which At this point, the background to artists'
makes the situation in Japan different from customary use of rental galleries should be
Western countries: an important role is played clarified. In Japan there is a long tradition of
by newspaper companies in organising art Gei-goto, or artistic hobbies. From the Middle
exhibitions in Japan. Newspaper companies Ages, Ikebana (Flower Arrangement), Sado (Tea
had been occasionally sponsoring exhibitions Ceremony), traditional music and the
in the department stores, but after the War this composition of Haiku poetry were popular
 31

hobbies, and it was usual to learn them from introduced a little over 100 years ago, there was
a master, to whom a monthly fee was paid. no term to correspond to it in the Japanese
Those who were less adept learned from a more language: the word Geijutsu was thus coined
skillful teacher; and the teachers themselves as an equivalent.
learned from one of higher rank and greater Instinctively, Japanese people in general do
ability. Thus a hierarchical pyramid-like not demarcate between art and craft, and have
structure was formed, at the top of which the no clear awareness of the contemporary
Master dominated as the leader of a particular distinction. Western Modernism, however, has
style or school. Within such a structure, now established the following criteria in the
professionalism gradually declines from the ' definition of artistic value: 1) the subject of art
summit downwards; with the lower levels is not technique, but the artist's own
reduced to amateurism. This is what is known conception; 2) historical evolution of art is
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:37 16 April 2016

as the lemotoseido, or master system. This affected by artists of the avant-garde; 3) and
structure can be found in any of the traditional therefore the avant-garde always contains new
Japanese arts, and no dear distinction between concepts; 4) the idea of a new concept is related
professionalism and amateurism is made. The to the artist's own individual identity. These
categories of Nihon-ga and Yo-ga, as referred to criteria are not always clearly recognised by the
earlier, share this same structure and hierarchy. general public in Japan, and sometimes not
As a result of such a cultural situation it can even by the specialists in art history.
be assumed that even experienced professional In contrast to the Western view embodied in
artists — accustomed to paying their superiors Modernism, it was fundamentally assumed in
— have no qualms about renting the space for Oriental countries such as China, Japan and -
their exhibitions. Korea, that the disciples of a master will
This peculiar system seems now to be preserve his style in a fixed form over the
gradually changing for the following reasons: centuries; of course, if the style was considered
1) the contemporary art market is gradually to be worth preserving. Consequently, the
increasing; 2) young gallery owners with imitation of styles and ideas oi the preceding
international aspirations are beginning to open masters had been very important. If an artist
galleries dealing mainly in contemporary art; were to create a unique style of his own , and
3) young curators in museums are becoming thus deviated from a formal tradition, there
more competent; 4) a critical response to art would be an enormous resistance to it, both
exhibitions held in department stores is now from the hierarchy of the art world as well as
developing; 5) there is an increasing awareness from the artist's own consciousness. Such a
about the negative aspects of exhibitions being situation might have also existed in the practice
sponsored by a single newspaper company; 6) of artisanship in Europe, but it is certainly not
the exchange of information and personal applicable to art today.
relations between Japan and other countries The artist's role in Japan has been different.
have developed to such an extent that Japan He or she is still generally regarded as a person
can no longer remain outside the international who, with the skill of an artisan, makes
art scene; 7) artists are taking up a greater social paintings or sculptures which are pleasing to
role through cultural/commercial events and the eye. The concept of the artist as a prophetic
activities, which has increased their awareness figure with the capacity to see truth and divine
for professionalism. the future, is quite alien to the Japanese
However, the public comprehension of tradition. From the point of view of the artist
contemporary art is not easy to develop. In as an individual creator, the difficulty of the
Western countries contemporary art may also situation in Japan is very clear. The problem is
be the least popular form of art, but in Japan one of positioning: how and where is the
this problem is more serious. This is partly due Japanese artist placed today in relation to the
to the historical differences between Japan and complex issues of tradition, localism,
the West, particularly in the definition of art. internationalism, and Modernism? When a
Originally there, was no concept of the fine arts Japanese artist intends to create an original
in Japan, and when the foreign word 'art' was work of art, he or she is frequently in danger
 32

of falling into the trap of an exotic Japonisme, to the phenomenon known today as Post-
for which Ukiyo-e were once praised in Europe. modernism: something which involves a
On the other hand, if the works produced were juxtaposition or co-existence of things
similar to Western contemporary art, they belonging to different styles and contexts, using
would run the risk of being regarded as quotations excessively or imitating other forms.
imitations of Western artists. It seems difficult However, Japanese culture does not have the
for Japanese artists to avoid such pitfalls and sort of logic of its own which would sum up
be accepted universally on the basis of the the whole, and hence there have been things
uniqueness of their work. This difficulty is in or styles which were rejected because they
fact common to artists from all non-Western went against its basic grain. Ultimately, it could
countries. The question however remains: how be said that Japan did not experience
can artists from these countries produce works Modernism; instead it moved directly from the
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:37 16 April 2016

of art which are of an international and premodern to the postmodern.

universal nature, without also losing their The question of how to produce a unique
cultural and national identities? work of art, grounded in Japanese culture and
Admittedly, I have adopted a Western history, remains a problem for the Japanese
manner to describe the situation, In Japan artist. It may be possible to offer a
imitation is not a problem. Throughout its contemporary viewpoint, artistic . or
history, Japanese culture has always philosophical, through a method which
successfully absorbed elements from Chinese explores its traditional roots. Or, to develop
and Korean cultures, and it was thus not entirely new forms or styles which are rooted
unusual that American culture should have had in the awareness of today's advance technology
an overwhelming influence after the Second and information explosion. Its chaotic energy
World War. The origin of this tendency is in — especially in Tokyo — its pluralism, and its
fact discernable in the ancient history of Japan. fondness for novelty, which have shaped the
It may well be said that the notion of cultural character of contemporary Japanese life, may
identity itself has never existed in Japan. It may offer a new potential for Japanese art today.
be asked whether one of the reasons for this Many foreigners involved in cultural activities
is that, until the American occupation of Japan are already aware of this, and they think
in 1945, Japan had been separated from other something new is going to appear soon. I
cultures by sea and had never been invaded entertain similar expectations, but I'm also
from the outside. Consequently, Japan never aware that there is no assurance that the
experienced the critical moment of losing its present factors of Japanese culture will open a
native culture. These reasons aside, Japan has truly new and profound horizon onto
always imported elements of foreign cultures contemporary culture. If this can happen, then
without any discrimination, selecting and it will be the outstanding achievement of a few
adopting them only for practical purposes. geniuses, accomplished by artists, thinkers and
Thus Japanese culture, which is the result of intellectuals, not only Japanese, but also
an eclectic attitude, has a certain resemblance foreigners involved with Japanese culture.
 33

ABORIGINAL ART
IN AUSTRALIA TODAY
JOHN MUNDINE
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 00:55 16 April 2016

Aboriginal art in northern Australia exists in communities through commercial sale, the
many ways between two extremes: art imagery produced functions rather like 'static
produced to serve the Aboriginal communites polaroids', as abbreviated records of the more
and art produced for external sale. There are complex ceremonies. Elements of the religious
today some twenty to thirty Aboriginal stories that are embodied in the communal
communities in what is called 'the top end' ceremonies may be referred to in the secular,
which produce art for commerical sale. Most static works, but they are — and must be —
communities in fact produce art for sale outside summarised and transformed, in order to
their own community. Despite this, their art accommodate the important differences
originates in the context of ceremonies, which between religious and secular life that are vital
involve singing, dancing, construction of to traditional Aboriginal culture.
sculptural material, narratives, performance, Any material that belongs to the dimension
mime, painting and so on. Sometimes of 'secret-sacred' culture involves the strictest
ceremonial life is manifested in simple, local sanctions and cannot, by Aboriginal law, be
forms; sometimes in grand, complex social communicated to non-initiated people,
occasions. When cermonies are organised in whether from within the community or
their most intense forms, they may involve beyond. To break such sanctions involves the
thousands of people, drawn from over gravest censure, even punishment. However
thousands of square miles, and may take place the senior people of Aboriginal communities
over a period of some years before they are fully have come in recent years to see a value in
concluded. communicating secularised forms of their
These ceremonies, the most important forms culture to people beyond their communities,
of art in the region, are rarely seen by outside and especially to the wider world of human
people and are conducted for the immediate culture generally.
benefit of the communities concerned. Most of All of the static art produced for outside
this art is very personal, event-oriented and purposes is therefore intended for commercial
temporary. It is art for a particular place and sale, and this involves a change in status.
time, for a particular people and for particular However, its intended sale does not
religious and social purposes. automatically mean that it is unimportant or
However, derived from this primarily materialistically motivated alone; for it is also
religious art, is a more secular art that is seen as a medium of exchange, as an
developing new forms as it is produced for educational tool for white people and as a proof
outside consumption. In some of the portable, to the outside world of Aboriginal people's
static forms of art that are projected beyond the seriousness about their culture.
 34

The financial exchange involved in the sale in recent years as people have moved away
of Aboriginal art may be seen in a number of from the concentrated settlements created
ways. First, there is the simple level of artificially by white administration. The
economic transaction: the production of cash 'outstation movement' as it has come to be
that can be used to purchase useful things. Yet regarded, represents an important aspect of
although people may exchange certain cultural increasing self-determination by Aboriginal
goods for cash, the transaction may be regarded people in the remoter areas of Australia. It has
in a larger context of value that stretches involved people moving back into proximity to
beyond the most immediate circumstances; in their own traditional lands, where they pursue
this second, more continuing context, the a more distinctive life with their own family and
money gained is not seen as a conclusive customary relatives. Against the backdrop of
purchase, but more like the rental on a part of this broad movement, the role of artists and art
the producing culture — as a service to white works has been vitally interconnected with
people as much as an income source for the cultural regeneration.
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 00:55 16 April 2016

Aboriginal communities concerned. Regarded Apart from early examples of collecting

in this dimension, the economic exchange Aboriginal artifacts as anthropological
serves a larger purpose. It is as though curiosities, most of the traditional communities
Aboriginal people are saying, "We will show surviving today have only begun to produce
you something of our culture and you must 'art' in a white sense — for the outside world
make a small copyright payment in return for — in the last 50 years. During the first trade in
our showing you this culture." artifacts, what might be termed art pieces from
At 'the top end' of Australia, the 20 or 30 the very northern regions were noted in the
Aboriginal communities in remote areas, 1930s, when people at Yirrakala made pieces
generally off major highways, are still carrying of art for the mission superintendent, or
on what has been designated a traditional life- Christian minister, who then marketed them
style (hunting and gathering). This life-style further afield: to museums or collectors of
enables them to continue their traditional curios in the south, and to others in the wider
religious practices, to observe their obligations world outside Australia. Such beginnings of
to the land and to maintain their social customs. artifact collecting were quite modest, and it was
However, most of these communities also not until much more recently — the late 1950s
make use of white technology. For instance, — that the market for artifacts really began to
they may use motor vehicles to travel to operate, creating for the first time something
ceremonies, or even buses or trucks. They may more like mass-production of certain types of
even use planes to travel to ceremonies, which work for sale, in comparison with the very
is something I have seen just recently — people modest output of earlier times.
arrived at a very secret-sacred ceremony some There was nothing wrong with the
months ago in the north by small airplane. production of works for marketing in any
People may also introduce new materials into fundamental sense, as long as people were still
their art forms. They may use glue as a fixative telling their traditional stories, still caring about
in their paint or employ nylon to make string traditional religious beliefs and practices, and
instead of traditional bark fibres. In whatever were trying to encapsulate aspects of this in art
forms, the new technology may provide new for the outside world.
tools and means, but still be employed to A traditional religious ceremonial piece or
sustain traditional objectives, without performance art work is of course not
necessarily dominating or subverting transportable beyond its originating community
customary practices. The artists of the remote and occasion. Moreover I would estimate that
communites may live in small settlements about half the works produced originally in the
scattered across a broad area, on traditional north were in materials that were very
estates located in relation to individual artists' temporary, which disintegrated or degraded
customary responsibilities for particular tracts after creation. Some people have more recently
of land. These settlements are referred to as adopted various devices to overcome the
'outstations', many of them newly established limitations of a particular medium or of the
 35

original forms of production. of Aboriginal culture, and for a while was

The Western Desert peoples, for instance, ignored or even shunned by white art
were not traditionally producers of 'paintings' museums because it appeared to adopt what
for the outside world at all. Their art forms was regarded as an exclusively 'white medium'
involved designs carried out on weapons, (acrylic painting on canvas). A kind of racist
utensils and sacred objects, and on the ground historical interpretation prevailed, whereby it
(on a very large scale) in sand, ochre and was acceptable for white Australian artists to
spinifex grass, without any binders or fixatives borrow from Aboriginal designs and nourish
to preserve the imagery. The large ground artistic tradition in the process, whereas
drawings, especially, were totally Aboriginal borrowings of white means were
untransportable to the outside world, and quite automatically denigrated as a 'dilution'. In fact
outside any form of marketing or economic the Aboriginal adoption of acrylics and canvas
exchange. involved a revitalization of traditional cultural
What happened in the early 1970s to awareness more than a cultural decentering,
transform this situation in Central Australia is and the force of cultural assertion involved in
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 00:55 16 April 2016

now widely known under the name of the the Western Desert paintings in a very few
'Papunya movement': responding to the years had gained them an acceptance in the
interest of a particular art teacher posted at the wider Australian art world, including the
Papunya school (Geoffrey Bardon), various serious attention of art museums.
traditional Aboriginal men were stimulated to This efflorescence has been such that people
transfer some of their customary designs into are now conscious of a new 'wealth' of
mural decorations for parts of the school. Aboriginal art and cultural capacity. This
Geoffrey Bardon was trying to bridge the gap potential went unrecognised until it was
between the European culture of the white art 'discovered' by the outside world through an
curriculum and the traditional culture of the increase in visible activities in recent years. In
local Aboriginal clan groups. What he touched reality, Aboriginal art of the present is strong
upon in the process was that a lot of the people not because it has gained some attention from
who were ceremonial leaders in the Aboriginal white audiences in recent years, but because
community had been reduced to a very menial it arises from strong cultural traditions that
status at the fringes of the white-organised have evolved over 40,000 years, and are still
school system. Men who were the guardians pursued today.
of some of the most important knowledge of The continuous activity of reworking ancient
Aboriginal traditions and training, were no traditions dispersed throughout Australia
more than the gardeners, cleaners and so on brings us directly to the vexed question of
at the local school. One of the reasons for this Aboriginal art's contemporary dimension. In the
dramatic inversion was that, in a white sense, past, Aboriginal art's adherence to tradition
they were unable to communicate anything of caused it to be seen as a static, 'frozen' culture,
their important knowledge and social position and it was therefore not incorporated in any
to the outside world. However, it was, exhibition of contemporary art in general. This
precisely, many of the elders of the Aboriginal situation has changed only recently, but it has
community who became the key 'artists' of the changed quite dramatically.
new 'painting movement' that seemed to There are acute problems as to how to fit such
emerge astonishingly quickly from Papunya. a culture into western historical readings that
Many men began to paint their customary have no place for it — as is the case for the vast
designs, using acrylic paints, on a variety of amount of the third world cultures. The whole
boards and scrap or improvised materials, and of the European-derived educational system
eventually (after the Papunya Tula co-operative precludes any recognition of these cultures,
was formed to market their work) onto canvas. except as something totally alien or outside
At first, this was treated by the formal art European descriptions.
world as some sort of inauthentic, transitional At the Art Gallery of New South Wales there
art — essentially hybrid, adapted and 'impure'. is a substantial collection of Aboriginal art that
It was not regarded seriously as an expression originates from a collection of bark paintings
 36

which was commissioned in the late 1950s and consciousness imposed by Aboriginal people
early 1960s, for an exhibition that was being themselves, as they gain more influence and
compiled for touring at that time. It showed control over the interpretation of their culture
considerable foresight — in comparison with by the outside world.
general art museum attitudes of the time — to As Aboriginal people are forcibly bringing
create such a collection through about changes in the consciousness of their
commissioning. Indeed most collections of culture, and about their culture, this may also
Aboriginal art in Australia have originated be seen as part of a larger process of the
through the collecting of bark paintings, which opening up and change in the ways that
for a long time were popularly thought of as Australians think about themselves, about their
synonymous with 'Aboriginal art' itself — in identity, history and future place in the world.
comparison with the great range of forms, Aboriginal people believe that they have a
artifacts and expressions that more truly significant — and necessary — role to play in
constituted 'Aboriginal culture' (unseen by the this process. It is of benefit not only to
outside world).
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 00:55 16 April 2016

themselves directly, but can contribute

However, since the beginnings of Aboriginal important new awareness to the wider
'art' collections in art museums in Australia, community as it discovers something about
dating from the 1950s, there have been major Aboriginal culture's aspirations and values
changes occuring in response to widening through some acquaintance with Aboriginal
horizons on Aboriginal art within the art. What were previously regarded as utterly
Australian community at large, as well as the 'remote' places to Australia's white population
changes that have occurred within Aboriginal of the southern capitals may now be selectively
communities' production of culture for the visited, and their history and geographical
external world — mentioned already in character be better understood and valued.
connection with the dramatic case of the Places like Broome, for instance, on the far
painting 'movement' emanating from north-west coast of Western Australia, may
Papunya. Here, a 'pointillist' mode of painting, now be experienced for their unique character
now celebrated as the 'dot-and-circle' style of and cultural history, whereas previously many
Aboriginal art from the Western Desert, had of the more inaccessible settlements of northern
some ready affinities with a Western style Australia were visited only by anthropologists,
already well assimilated in modern art's history minerologists, miners and adventurers — all
and aesthetics. Papunya painting's rapid rise with selective interests in such areas.
and penetration into wider acceptance, in This is a quite critical period of development
Australia and now much further afield, is in in Australia's cultural history, where
part a result of the ground being prepared in conservative forces may promote continued
terms of aesthetic compatibility with Western divisions within Australian society in order to
art history. Nevertheless it has been part of a continue to profit from development of
period that has witnessed a great opening up Aboriginal resource areas and labour, without
in aesthetics concerning Aboriginal art. sufficient regard to long-term issues. Feeling
One major result of this change in aesthetic under threat, conservative economic forces may
attitudes, is that some of the old stereotyped continue to present a negative view of
approaches to Aboriginal culture through Aboriginal aspirations. There are critical
certain artifacts and utensils — such as the political and social questions that directly
boomerang and didjeridu, for instance — or interlock with the meanings of Aboriginal art,
even the profiling of Aboriginal art through and they cannot be separated one from
concepts such as the 'X-ray style' in rock another.
engravings and bark paintings from certain It is not possible here to deal with the whole
areas, have at last had to give way to a more range of legal and political issues affecting
complex analysis. There is consequently a great Aboriginal people, but it is at least important
number of changes in the ways in which to focus on organisations that directly affect arts
collections may be put together, and these production, development and promotion.
changes are coming as a result of changed The Aboriginal Arts Board was one of the seven
 37
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 00:55 16 April 2016

TURKEY TOLSON TJUPURRULA (Pinrubi Tribe) Broom Venomous Serpent

© Papunya Tula Artists PTY Ltd and Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd.

boards created by the Whitlam Labour The separation of Aboriginal Arts from the
Government, under the umbrella of the whole spectrum of national arts activity, while
Australian Council for the Arts (now the it has in some ways continued the idea of
Australia Council), after it won power in the Aboriginal cultural activity as distinctly separate
federal election of 1972. The broad spread of from the rest of contemporary Australian
visual arts in Australia was placed under the culture, was at least a far-sighted step to have
responsibility of a separate Visual Arts Board taken in the early 1970s. In contrast to previous
within the Australia Council, alongside a governments' attitudes to Aboriginal cultural
Literature Board, Music Board, Performing Arts development, it represented a radical change.
Board, and so on. For the first time, Aboriginal cultural
 38

CLIFFORD POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI Dreaming (Luritja Tribe, Central Australia)

(Central Mount Wedge,
Australia). © Papunya Tula Artists PTY Ltd and Aboriginal Artists
Agency Ltd.
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 00:55 16 April 2016
 39
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 00:55 16 April 2016

YUENDUMU CEREMONIAL (Central Australia), Preparation for Earth

Painting, 1988. (Photo: Peter McKenzie)

development was distinguished as important way for Aboriginal self-determination in arts

in its own right and was given its own separate affairs.
budget. An all-Aboriginal Board was set up to One of the critical initiatives taken by the
consider and make judgments about funding Aboriginal Arts Board in the 1970s was to set up
of Aboriginal arts projects and the promotion a series of positions for Art and Crafts Advisers,
of Aboriginal culture to the world. This did not to locate people within the more traditional
produce change immediately, and the long Aboriginal communities in the far north and
struggle to put Aboriginal people more and centre of Australia. Their role was to foster
more in control of all aspects of Aboriginal Aboriginal art and guide it to the outside world
cultural organisation still goes on. However, — to the market place — and to make sure that
the Aboriginal Arts Board's creation paved the people were not simply being 'ripped off by
 40

external interests as they had been in the past. body has been formed in Sydney in 1988, call
They were to ensure that Aboriginal artists the Boomali Artists Residents Ko-operative. This
were not just selling works for a carton of beer has arisen through a group of artists from
or a busted-up truck and so on. several states with a more urban background,
The Art and Craft Advisers have therefore who share similar feelings about controlling
been crucially involved in this important period their work, the marketing and reading of it by
of change over a decade or more: changes in the rest of the community. Quite recently they
the wider community's aesthetic approach to had a joint exhibition with the Association of
Aboriginal art, and changes in people's Northern and Central Australian Aboriginal Artists,
attitudes to Aboriginal people themselves in which was shown at the Boomali art space in
many ways. I consider that the Advisers Sydney.
provide a very important linking role, between In the Bicentennial year of 1988, however,
the outside world and traditional communities, many Aboriginal artists and many Aboriginal
and in the chain of contacts that influence how people in general ignored or protested the
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 00:55 16 April 2016

and where Aboriginal art is dispersed. occasion, as the commemoration of 200 years
With the spread of advisers, and the growth of white occupation only dramatised the state
of consciousness in urban Aboriginal art there of dispossession of the country's original
has been a critical struggle going on in the last owners. The federal enquiry into the
few years about the organisation of Aboriginal extraordinary number of black deaths in
art's circulation. The Art and Crafts Advisers custody was one of a number of far more
were under threat by the federal government, burning issues for Aboriginal people in 1988,
which had become interested in capitalising on along with the infantile death rate, health care
Aboriginal art's increasing popularity, and and land rights — all issues of black grievance
decided to try to federalise and centralise its as the Bicentenary proceeded throughout the
distribution and marketing through the capital year, causing a general boycott of any formal
cities directly. This new policy initiative ceremonies of celebration.
threatened to circumvent the role of the Meanwhile the bicentennial occasion was the
Advisers working directly within and for the subject of some alternative constructions by
Aboriginal communities themselves, and to Aboriginal people: the massive and effective
bring art's marketing under agencies controlled protest march by representatives from
directly by government. Strong reactions were communities right across Australia that
expressed in many places, particularly about represented the greatest and most diverse
the dangers of taking a short-term view and gathering of Aboriginal people since the
becoming dependent on a distant government European invasion, and the major Aboriginal
agency. Policies under governments can easily group work that was made especially for the
change, leaving distant communities stranded 1988 [Australian] Biennale of Sydney. The
when forms of economic support are suddenly Biennale work of 200 memorial poles (a
cut. Moreover federal departments cannot funerary pole for each year of settlement over
readily deal with the diversity and reality of two centuries) was created in the far north. It
grass-roots Aboriginal opinion and wishes. As was drawn from the artists of Ramingining and
a result the Art and Crafts Advisers in the bulk several other Aboriginal communities in
of the Aboriginal communities banded together Arnhem Land and the Northern Territory: from
last last year and formed a joint body, called Maningrida, Milingimbi, Galiwinku, Barunga,
the Association of Northern and Central Australian Beswick and Bulman. The idea of taking part
Aboriginal Artists. The aims of the loose in this particular Biennale, with its emphasis
association are to make sure that the wishes of on an Australian view-point ('A View from the
Aboriginal artists are a first priority, and to Southern Cross', as it was sub-titled) was to
ensure that any statements made about create a representation that would be an
Aboriginal art truly reflect their aspirations authentic Aboriginal statement for 1988 — not
rather than those of government agencies. joining any rhetoric of celebration, but
In a similar manner to the formation of this ' presenting a collective Aboriginal work, in
association by artists in the north, a more recent Aboriginal cultural forms, in the context of a
 41
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 00:55 16 April 2016

CLIFFORD POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI Lightning Dreaming 1987

Auckland City Art Gallery. (Photo: Yves Michaud)

survey of world contemporary art. If people however, while completely traditional in form
truly accepted Aboriginal art, this was meant and decoration, did not contain the bones of
to say, they would also accept the larger any actual deceased persons, nor had they been
statement of cultural integrity and rights that used in ceremonies. Their function in Sydney
was being made through this work. They was intended to be entirely symbolic. They
would receive the work in the variety of its were to assist in the transformation of what
dimensions and reflect upon its meanings. would normally represent a disparate series of
What the artists had done was to create a private graves into a collective public memorial
forest of 200 burial poles, which was installed and mourning for all the Aborigines who had
finally in sand at the large wharf site of the died defending their own country as a result
Biennale, one of the two Biennale sites in of the white invasion since 1788.
Sydney. The form of these poles has a specific Though stated by many to be the most
meaning and functional context: they are powerful piece of art in the Sydney Biennale
hollow-log, bone coffins, ritually used in post- for 1988, and judged by others to be one of the
death ceremonies in Arnhem Land, and still most important pieces of art ever created in
made today as a part of communal cultural life. Australia (for instance, by the Director of the
The particular log coffins for the Biennale, Australian National Gallery in Canberra, whose
 42

museum acquired the poles for its permanent

collection, to be housed in a permanent display)
the work is still seemingly a rather cumbersome
or difficult piece for the public, and even most
art writers, to come to grips with.
The 200 memorial poles, however, a work
that I co-ordinated through my position as Art
and Crafts Adviser at Ramingining in central
Arnhem Land, is to me a statement that
touches the crux of the question of black/white
relations in Australia. Its acceptance or non-
acceptance touches directly on the question of
the readiness of white Australians to come to
terms with a horrific past that needs to be
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 00:55 16 April 2016

addressed, reflected upon and remedied.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

The variety of requests of the Arts and Crafts

Advisers located within Aboriginal communities and
primarily dedicated to their servicing is growing
month by month. It is therefore sometimes difficult
to accommodate formal requests from the outside
world to provide essays and written information of
a more broad-ranging kind, at the same time as there
are often pressing issues to attend to that concern the
ongoing cultural life of the communities themselves.
I therefore was grateful for the back-up and practical
assistance of the Museum of Contemporary Art,
Sydney (formerly Power Gallery of Contemporary
Art), when I needed to generate this text during a
busy visit to Sydney on other matters. My thanks
must go to Jennifer Storey for transcribing my original
audio-taped version into a typescript for me to look
over; and to Curator, Bernice Murphy, for giving
editorial time to the technical matters of converting
an audio-recording of my narrative into a suitable
final version for printing in another language on
another continent. Their efforts in assisting me during
a very busy time are much appreciated.
 43

GANGA DEVI
TRADITION AND EXPRESSION
IN MADHUBANI PAINTING
JYOTINDRA JAIN
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:47 16 April 2016

As in the case of most Kayastha women painters her recent impressions of America — the level
of Mithila of her generation, Ganga Devi's early of image formation and pictorial transformation
artistic expressions confined to painting the remains steady. Her concern is characterised
walls of Kohbar ghar or the bride's wedding by an effort to create a series of refined and
chamber, aripan or ritual floor paintings and the conceptualised images, all filtered through her
five sheets of paper for wrapping sindur, creative vision and sensibility. Her paintings
vermillion, sent to the bride by the bridegroom. possess a stylistic certitude which is undeterred
The entire tradition of Madhubani painting, of by the varied nature of themes she chooses to
which the finest and the most elaborate part is paint. As we shall see, this purity of perception,
the Kayastha tradition, is basically rooted in conceptualisation and depiction makes her a
these ritual paintings done on the walls, floors great individual artist stemming from the
and wrappers. The whole outburst of collective tradition of Madhubani painting.
'Madhubani Painting' on paper is a later Ganga Devi's evolution as an artist is deeply
development. With the introduction of paper connected with the socio-cultural norms of the
the artists of Madhubani, on the one hand Kayastha caste to which she belongs, but more
continued to derive the very essence of their important determinants of her artistic career
pictorial expression from the age-old cultural were a series of agonising events in her
traditions, and, on the other, recognised an personal life which led her to find solace in
unprecedented freedom from the confines of artistic expression. Like her personal life, her
pre-determined religious iconography and painting was shaped partly by the collective
highly formalised geometric symbolism of their social norms of her caste, partly by her
ritual wall and floor paintings. From this great individual response to the latter and partly by
upheaval, several individual painters emerged her inherent character comprising of her
whose work showed signs of "a radical response to inner beliefs and interests.
departure within the context of their own A few years after her marriage, and in the
tradition". Ganga Devi is one these artists. face of poverty and childlessness, her husband
Ganga Devi's capability to transform married another woman and virtually threw
experience into pictorial images — ritualistic, her out on the street. In order to earn her
symbolic, iconographic or narrative — made her livelihood and to divert her attention from the
a painter who, so to say, appears 'traditional' painful event, she began to paint, only to be
in her 'modern' work and 'modern' in her exploited by a fellow painter and childhood
'traditional' work. In other words her painterly friend who marketed her paintings under her
qualities are such that irrespective of the subject own name, and paid Ganga Devi nearly
matter — traditional Kohbar of Madhubani or nothing for the large profit she herself earned
 44

from them. By the strength of sheer quality of above all, taught her to retreat, from time to
her work, she carved a niche for herself right time, to the world of her pictorial imagination
at the top of the art world of India. In the course concretised by her well-controlled line and a
of time she earned much fame and some fine sense of spatial organisation. Her chaotic
money, but before she could relish any of these life and the neat and clean world of her painting
she became a victim of cancer and is virtually are intrinsically related. In her personal life
counting her last days. there was an all-round invasion and
Each one of these very peculiar situations encroachment; but, as if to ward this off, in her
sharpened Ganga Devi's perception, and painting each( character, each image, is
provided her with a profound understanding provided with'its own breathing space. Her
of the human world and its manifestations; and inner turmoil led her to create, at least one
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:47 16 April 2016

Ramayana 1974 (detail)

 45

canvas, a world full of peace and order. moon respectively, was the basic unit of the
Ganga Devi was born around 1928 in Chatra annual ritual cycle. Two months formed a
village of Madhubani district in the state of season. The year had six seasons. The ritual
Bihar. Her father was a well-to-do petty significance of each day, on account of the
landlord. Her mother was a deeply religious position of the moon, the movement of the sun
woman endowed with great talent for painting. and the planets, the cycle of seasons and the
Gange Devi's life centred around panchanga, religious festivals, was described in minutest
the traditional lunar calendar of Mithila, details in the panchanga calendar.
comprising 12 months each of 30 days. The Among the Kayasthas it was customary for
month, divided into two halves of 15 days, each women to learn reading and writing from
beginning with the full moon and the new childhood. Ganga Devi learnt the alphabet so
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:47 16 April 2016
 46
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:47 16 April 2016

The Cycle of Life 1983-84 (detail)

as to be able to read the panchanga calendar: "so imagery highly characteristic of her later
that I could lead my life, by correct achara and paintings.
vichara or purity of action and thought." The word aripana stems from the Sanskrit
The women of Mithila kept vratas or vows word alepana which derives from the root lip,
and observed fasts on some of these ritually meaning to smear, and therefore basically refers
important days. Every month had at least one to ritual smearing of the ground with cowdung
sacred day on which aripana, womens' ritual and clay as is prescribed in most of the ancient
floor paintings, were done by using rice paste ritual handbooks, and is practised by a large
for pigment and a twig for brush. Specific floor number of village and tribal communities of
paintings were also done on the occasion of India even today.
important events of human life such as Another important mode of pictorial
puberty, conception, birth, sixth day rites after expression that occupied Ganga Devi in her
birth, tonsure ceremony, initiation into formative years was that of painting the
learning, betrothal, marriage, etc., and to mark cowdung plastered walls of the kohbarghar, the
important days of the annual calendar. bride's wedding chamber, where marriage is
The beginnings of Ganga Devi's paintings are solemnised under the auspicious influence of
rooted in these floor paintings. Her concern for the painted symbols of plenty and fertility.
ritual purity in everyday life was responsible From her explanation of each motif and symbol
for the iconographic perfection of her earlier of the collective kohbar painting, it becomes
work, and the symbolic overtones of her clear that she understands kohbar not as mere
 47

'festive decoration', but as pictorial innovation was the series of paintings based on
reconstruction and synthesisation of the mythological subjects so far unconventional in
magico-religious world comprising painted her work.
images of deities, sacred trees, primordial As a devotee, she had known the story of
creatures, ritual accessories, heavenly bodies, Rama, and as a woman banished by her
the male and the female, etc. with forms husband for no fault of her own, she had
ranging from representational-narrative to experienced the agony of Sita. But for the first
purely abstract-symbolic to geometric- time in her life, she attempted pictorial
diagrammatic. The entire kohbar painting is conceptualisation of the story of Rama and Sita.
understood by her as a magical edifice in which In this new situation, which marks the
each image, each symbol is to be conceptualised second phase of her painting career, Ganga
with utmost purity of essence and form. As she Devi was faced with handling the problems of
once said "impure expression is tantamount to perspective or depicting the three-dimensional
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:47 16 April 2016

self-destruction." By "self-destruction" she world on a two-dimensional surface,

means destruction due to magical ill-effect as converting the temporal sequence of the
much as the violation of her artistic self. In this narrative into a spatial situation and translating
context the 'magical' content cannot be the mythical images into pictorial ones.
separated from the 'artistic'. She solved the problems of perspective by
These perceptions, which crystallised in the eliminating the depth-dimension totally.
early stage of her career and in the context of Realising the true nature of painting to be two-
ritual wall and floor paintings, continued to dimensional she did not attempt to fake the
pervade through her later works even in the third dimension by means of shading, or by
context of purely secular themes, as in her overlapping images to indicate depth; each
'American series'. The concern for magical character, each object, each leaf, flower or blade
purity eventually got transformed into the of grass, was provided with its own free space.
purity of expression — the former not separable These aperspectival pictorial depictions make
from the latter. her work appear 'unfamiliar' and therefore her
The second important phase of Ganga Devi's own. The vertical and horizontal sprawling of
painting began when, discarded by her images in fathomless white spaces adds a sense
husband on the eve of his second marriage, of drama and surprise to her painting.
painting appeared to be the only means of The problem of converting the temporal
earning a livelihood. Around this time there sequence of the legend into the spatial one, has
was a drought in Bihar and the Government been tackled by her in a rather simplistic
had been tackling the problem of providing manner, she divided the space into various
occupation to the drought-stricken people of square or rectangular compartments by means
Mithila by encouraging them to paint on paper of cross-bands, in the manner of a comic strip,
supplied to them for the purpose. The personal in which each compartment contained a
need for survival and the change of medium complete painting reflecting tremendous
from wall to paper offered her a great pictorial narrative qualities. Spaces between the
challenge. Being a fine artist, she immediately characters were filled up with flowers, branches
realised the advantage of the smoother surface and creepers, growing from nowhere. Ganga
of paper over the rough plaster of the wall, for Devi eliminates all indication of sky or earth,
it allowed her to discover the potentiality of fine time and space, instantaneously imparting a
line especially for rendering narrative themes mythological quality to the painting. Each
from the sacred legends of Rama and Krishna, picture with its ornate frame, the characters
the epic heroes. focussed in action and dialogue, minimal
The introduction of paper brought her a indication of mountains, rivers or forests,
twofold liberation. She was no longer confined looked more like a scene from Ramleela, the
to painting kohbar and aripan with their limited traditional folk theatre of Northern India which
vocabulary of symbols & images, and she could happened to be the main source of pictorial
now investigate the unlimited possibility of inspiration behind these paintings. Flimsy
drawing in fine line. One outcome of the looking crowns, halos, bows and arrows, and
 48

'cardboard' chariots with lotus-shaped wheels, were startlingly fresh and original.
further testify that this phase of her work Her images in Kohbar and aripan floor
derived much from the Ramleela theatre. paintings were constructed within the
Ganga Devi's third significant phase of prescribed iconography of these magical
painting began in 1982 with her epic work paintings. Her Ramayana series derived its
entitled The Cycle of Life. With this painting she imagery heavily from scenes of the theatrical
truely crossed the threshold of convention to performances of Ramleela as well as from the
excavate fresh grounds hitherto untouched by popular local version of Ramchartimanas of
any painter from Madhubani tradition or by Tulsidasa.
herself. The theme she chose to paint, The Cycle But in the case of The Cycle of Life she was
of Life, comprised a series of Samskams or ritual faced with the problem of depicting the entire
events of initiation as practised in Madhubani. story of human life as a continuous narrative
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:47 16 April 2016

For the first time she painted a theme related in which each image, each scene and each
to everyday life and the immediate human sequence, was conceived afresh without any
surrounding. This offered a departure and a reference to a pre-existing model in her own
challenge. This being unprecedented both in tradition. The painting was conceived on an
her work and in Madhubani tradition, she had epic scale, replete with rich cultural detail
to dive deep into the ocean of her imagination pertaining to social manners and customs, and
to find a new pictorial vocabulary. The results religious beliefs and practices peculiar to epic

American Folk Festival, American Series, 1986

 49

U^J*JU>^^
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:47 16 April 2016

Ride on a Roller Coaster, American Series, 1986

style. Here she eliminated the images here are much more real and
compartmentalisation of scenes as in her earlier spontaneous than in her earlier mythological
Ramayana series. The resultant effect was that paintings of the Ramayana, reflecting on their
of a universe teeming with millions of people, faces and their postures earthy sentiments. The
trees, birds, animals — all a part of a great temporal dimension of The Cycle of life unscrolls
celebration of life — from one birth to the next. horizontally to encompass a multitude of
The entire cycle of life has been rendered by images in a double interaction of time and
24 scenes, each marking a significant event in space.
the process of being born and growing up in Ganga Devi's poetic imagery blends
Mithila. The single most striking feature of this beautifully with a plethora of symbolic, magical
painting is the highly individualistic and natural detail rendered in the interstices
conceptualisation of images and strict between the figures and scenes. A young
adherence to the ritual-symbolic conventions woman, with flaming hairlocks and an ocean-
of the collective culture of Madhubani. These like aura of fine streams of water, stands on a
images owe very little to 'other pictures', but painted magical diagram representing the
stem from a mind searching for a new female organ smeared with menstrual blood,
vocabulary of self-expression to suit the and being given a ritual bath on attainment of
challenging new subject matter. The human puberty; a pregnant mother lies on the ground
 50

holding a bunch of mangoes to safeguard her Madhubani landscape.

fertility and the child inside her womb anxious Another painting of this series is based on her
to be born, and prays with folded hands: "O recollection of a ride in a roller-coaster in
God, release me from this hell"; two women America. The gravity railroad, having a train
help to deliver and cut the umbilical cord, while with open cars that moves along a high, sharply
the newly-born child lies on freshly-harvested winding trestle built with steep inclines
paddy stocks and a pair of parrots make love producing sudden speedy plunges for thrill,
in the air, indicating genesis. These are must have been a unique experience to result
immortal images that could have stemmed only into such a graphic pictorial expression. The
from Ganga Devi's great individual perceptions neat drawing of the trestle, the way the heads
of her collective cultural tradition and her of passengers rise above the open cars, the way
personal artistic capability, unique in the entire two passengers try to balance while getting on
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:47 16 April 2016

Madhubani tradition. to the train and the eyes of all the passengers
In 1985 Ganga Devi visited the United States in the train standing below and the contrast to
of America to participate in an exhibition of the passengers in the train speedily climbing
Indian folk art and culture' in Washington. She a steep slope above results from her great
did not remain aloof to this doosara hi duniya faculty of observation of detail and its
(completely different world) but confronted it pictorialization to minimum graphic images.
with a series of paintings based on her Ganga Devi had learnt to eliminate formal
American experience which I shall call, her context in her mythological paintings based on
'American Series'. She did these in the two Ramayana. She achieved this by avoiding any
years after her return from the USA. She definite pictorial reference to wordly settings
recalled images from her memory of the visual or a known landscape. Paintings of this series
experience of America. The images here were were twice removed from reality (suitable for
not as exhuberant as those of The Cycle of Life, mythological themes) — the first time because
but were more in the nature of minimal graphic of her own interpretation and conceptualisation
symbols. In her Washington Monument, for the of the themes and images, and the second time
first time using a narrative situation, she due to inspiration from the visual aspects of the
approached the canvas as a free pictorial space traditional theatrical performances of Ramleela
not dividing it up into linear compartments or which by themselves were visual
rows in which sequences are chronologically conceptualisations of the narrative.
organised. In the centre of the painting is the
Washington Monument surrounded by Thus, in the Ramayana painting, in a way,
American flags. The tower and the crossways she 'mythologised' the mythology. But in her
leading to it automatically divide the painting 'American Series' what she did was something
into four rectangles. The scenes depicted are even more brilliant — She mythologised the
derived from her memory of the 'Festival of 'reality'. She attempted to transform the day-
American Folk Life' celebrated annually at the to-day images of motor cars, flags, ticket-
Mall around the fourth of July. The imagery booths, roller-coasters, people carrying
comprising multi-storeyed motor cars with shopping bags, into completely imaginary and
lotus wheels (the latter resembling the wheels 'fantastic' objects. She removed them again
of chariots in her Ramayana series); a hand from any recognisable formal context and
coming out of a window handing over a ticket stripped them of all their 'familiarity' as
to climb up the Monument; pedestrians common objects of everyday life.
carrying flowers and prominent shopping- What better course can the work of an Indian
bags; people wearing half-American, half- painter of Ganga Devi's calibre, truely rooted
Indian costumes — all rendered in Madhubani in the rich tradition of magic, ritual and
style — gives the painting a surrealistic quality, mythology, take after a sudden exposure to a
as if an American dream painted on a celluloid . 'completely new world' if not come a full circle
sheet had been super-imposed upon a distant at another plane of artistic awareness!
 51

THROUGH THE EYES

OF THE WHITE MAN
FROM 'NEGRO ART' TO AFRICAN ARTS
CLASSIFICATIONS AND METHODS
LOUIS PERROIS
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:29 16 April 2016

It may seem strange that after several decades arts. Must the White Man's way of seeing
of survey and study of African plastic arts, remain the point of reference for ever more, or
controversies, indeed a whole polemic, are still will other ways of seeing be allowed?
developing as to the most 'legitimate' and With the impact of the Third World, the
appropriate manner in which to approach these number of pure 'aestheticians', of exalters of
arts which even now are too often described 'Negro art' and of 'primitivism', is in decline,
as 'primitive'. Instead of being concerned by since the volume of information on the one
this, should we not rather see it as the healthy hand, and the increasingly substantial presence
symptom of a renewed interest in little known in France of African cultures on the other
art and artists whose importance in the (particularly in music), lead us to understand
ensemble of cultures we instinctively feel make the objects as partaking of a whole human
up today's world? There are, broadly speaking, context, the real interest of which we are only
two schools of thought in this field: those who beginning to see.
privilege a universalist contemplation of a Nowadays these two schools of thought can
primarily aesthetic kind, with the intent of be distinguished more by their methods of
elevating African plastic arts, through this analysis and the way they deal with the people
freeing of the eye and the mind, to the level and 'field' of their enquiry than by positions
of the major 'arts' of the West, and of principle.
consequently dismissing as irrelevant or even Personally speaking, as a trained professional
as obstructive any contextual information ethnologist with long experience of African
relative to the objects of those arts; and those cultures in Africa itself, I cannot but align
who consider that the myself with the second group, not in order to
environmental/anthropological approach deny or minimize the great 'aesthetic' value of
furnishes an 'aesthetic' perception which, on the objects I study (some are quite clearly
the basis of the mutual respect of cultures, among the great masterpieces of world art), nor
necessarily corresponds to a particular logic and to reduce the activity which dreamt them up
perception which are the proper aims of this and gave them form to a sort of 'functional'
study in its fullest possible articulation. craft, but out of a scrupulous concern for a
Amongst all the most passionate genuine reciprocity of cultures.
connoisseurs one can note that there are very These works of art are, for me, objects and
few Africans, indeed far too few; the very people signs; they first appeared in towns, villages,
who could, through a participatory approach amongst families and secret societies, made up
and with an appropriate degree of sensitivity, of living women and men who have a history
strengthen the legitimacy accorded to African and a corpus of experience, which, in the event,
 52

seems unthinkable and totally unjust to neglect to date, to a little-known social structure, to an
for the sake of economy. I therefore claim that indistinct historical framework and to an
a better cultural balance is necessary in order esoteric mode of thought?
to understand the reality of these creations, to Borrowing Michel Leiris' statement in the
understand what they really are in their foreword to Afrique Noire, la creation plastique
complexity and not merely what we want them that it would be better to conceive of the overall
to be, a result of having passed through the approach to African arts less as primarily 'a
almost imperceptible filters of our taste and our history of arts and styles' and more as the
modes of thought. We should not so readily search for, and the according of spatio-temporal
forget past inequalities and the time when we form to 'the visible products of a certain
spoke of 'Negro art' and the 'Art of the society's history', I have, since 1964,
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:29 16 April 2016

Savages'. We should, likewise, guard against undertaken a whole series of research projects
a new and very contemporary manifestation of in this field, first in connection with West Coast
ethnocentrism. Equatorial Africa and later in connection with
With regard to these artists, what seems the Grassland of the Cameroons, and finally
simply 'right' is to rehabilitate the legitimacy leaving the area to deal with objects in
of these different cultures using their own collections. This long immersion in coherent
value-systems, even if these are difficult for us African contexts (on a regional scale very
to understand. restricted in relation to the whole of Black
If one considers that, as research has shown, Africa), whilst allowing me to build up a large
the plastic arts are, in fact, languages whose body of information (and of impressions), has,
functions are to be used and to be understood, over the years, made me increasingly modest
one can see that, beyond the mere vocabularies and cautious in relation to the subject.
of form, motif and colour, there might be Let us start with the significance of those sets
syntaxes, styles, and even a 'poetry' of form. of objects considered, whether they be in
This point of view is only radical in appearance, museums or in private collections.
and because it is about objects with which the At the start of any research into African art,
Western world, or at least a certain there are the objects. These constitute both the
intelligentsia, has become infatuated. basis and the end of research, the principal
Ethnology, the study of social structures, rites centre of interest which potentially contains all
and, why not, arts, amongst other subjects, that one might be looking for, but always in a
leads us not only to allow 'otherness', the right veiled, indeed esoteric, manner. If everything
to be different, but, moreover, inevitably is there, contained within the object, then
implies the attempt to put oneself 'inside the nothing is either apparent or directly
skin' of those others whom one wishes to get comprehensible to the layman. The objects
to know, while avoiding all preconceptions, seem beautiful, ugly, strange, extraordinary or
however broad. Ethnocentrism is a trap which uninteresting. This is, however, the only basic
we easily fall into, especially when it comes to fact that we can obtain, an essential piece of
'traditional' art. information because of its fixity, a fixed
How then, in dealing with African arts, can expression, at a precise moment in time, of the
we resolve this difficulty which consists in the inspiration and the creative capacity of a man
fact that the notion of 'art' (our concept of 'art') who is both long gone and often forgotten. All
cannot be perceived in the same isolated the rest, the sense and quality of this moulded
manner, but only as closely bound up with message has to be found in the more or less
other elements of a spiritual and sometimes relevant archives, in often misleading
functional nature? Furthermore, how can we museographical research, in a limited
take in the great variety of works, the bibliography and in field-work that is always
multiplicity of variations of styles, the apparent difficult at the heart of cultural and ethnic
contradictions, in short the whole profusion of groups who are undergoing a constant change
creativity in the African plastic arts? And lastly, (the pace of which has increased since their
how can we link these objects, which are poorly independence) and who are often uninterested
identified and often difficult if not impossible in their traditional arts.
 53
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:29 16 April 2016

FANG NGUMBA (South Cameroon) An Ancestral Statue

Museum Fur Volkerkunde, Berlin
 54

A 'collection' is merely a set of objects, made brass tacks etc.); musical instruments with
up haphazardly of pieces which were available sculpted features (harps, drums etc.); various
at a given moment in the field or on the market kinds of personal adornment (bracelets,
(galleries, other collections at auctions) and necklaces, face-painting, etc).
which are accorded with the tastes, and suited All these objects clearly present us with a
to the pocket of the collector. In museums this great number of variants which until recently
make-up will depend on the competence and nobody was either bothered or been able to
the inclinations of the curatorial staff, on their relate together. This entails an enormous amount
taste and their financial constraints (or on their of work for each region of Africa, and it is clear
mission to collect, as was the case up until the that, despite various moves in the right
1960s and 70s). One must always remember direction, the task is far from being completed,
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:29 16 April 2016

that any known object, has, de facto, been especially as regards published work.
through several selection processes. Monographs, like 'catalogues raisonnes' do not
If we consider the actual conditions of this make much money, because the buying public,
'collecting' in the field, we must remain very and hence publishers, still prefer comfortable
open to the possibility of progressively generalizations. Yet without these monographs
enriching the corpus. Most of the well-known and these systematic studies there is no way
'Negro' art objects, the masterpieces which forward.
adorn our museums, were obtained on the spot
by more or less violent methods (for example, A METHOD1 ADAPTED TO A PARTICULAR
the destruction of the capital of the Oba of Benin CASE:
and the confiscation of the bronze plaques from AN ETHNOMORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
the royal palace in 1897) or by more or less OF THE SCULPTURE OF THE FANG OF
direct pressure from colonial administrations or EQUATORIAL AFRICA.
the Church. No collecting has ever been carried An objective scientific understanding of a
out outside an unequal power relation, even traditional work of art demands a complex
when it is emphasized that villagers willingly approach which starts with simple contemplation
(?) gave essential objects away to their visitors! and finishes with the analysis of the total
African objects have all therefore been environment in which the work originated. It is
removed from their environment. For the scientific the dialectical collation of objective and
researcher who wishes to carry out a study in determinate data and the intrinsically human
the most objective manner possible, this knowledge of a society that enables us to grasp
constitutes a handicap that he should never the particular originality of African tribal art.2
ignore. Indeed, one may thus end up with an The method of analysis of Fang statuary
incomplete or even distorted image of an art. which will once again be used here draws its
Amongst the Fang of Equatorial Africa for inspiration directly from the nature of the object
example, we are most familiar with the statues to be analysed: the Byeri as well a sculpted
of ancestors and with two types of mask (the object (an ancestor-statue) as a belief, a work of
very long ngil and a white 'moon' mask); the art and a mystical link with the world of
Fang, made up of ten or so different groupings, ancestors. The work of art is a mediation between
have other artistic products: masks (the masks the living and the dead, the communication being
of the Ngil secret society in fibre and feathers; made by means of the sculptural message
Ngeul polychrome wooden masks; Ngontang expressed in the statue. Therefore we should
helmet-masks with three, four, or five faces; consider Fang statues as objects, as works of art,
Bikereu or Ekekek demon-masks); gigantic as objects used in ritual, and lastly as an institution
painted earthen sculptures containing various or, to be more exact, as the privileged mode of
objects which perform certain roles (bones, expression of an institution.
plants, shells etc); sculpted architectural The aim of this method, the study of the
features (temple posts); decorated personal correlation between the concrete (the sculpted
objects (implement-handles, weapons, stools, forms) and the abstract (the imagination that
culinary utensils etc.); highly fashioned gave them form), is to define the constant
headwear (embellished with pearls, cowries, characteristics of 'styles', to help place them
 55

historically and geographically and thereby to

gain true access, albeit in a limited way, to the
complex worlds of African thought, where
social, religious, scientific and aesthetic
elements combine as one. In this particular case
the method was very carefully adapted to fit
the specific problems posed by Fang statuary,
which is thematically and morphologically
homogeneous. Nevertheless, the fundamental
principle of comparing the results of aesthetic
analysis (museum-work) with the real-life
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:29 16 April 2016

environment in which the particular style

flourished (field- work) is applicable to any
other traditional style.
The object, taken on its own, removed or
snatched from its proper context, and isolated
in an artificial environment, will not reveal its
secret straight away, whatever method is
applied to it. The computer will help us to the
extent that we shall, with its aid, be able to
collect all the variables relevant to the object,
whether they be morphological data or data
concerning signification.
We can thus give an outline of the method:
1) a morphological analysis leading to the
delineation of 'theoretical' styles;
2) a stylistic investigation carried out in the
original context of the tradition in order to test
and validate the theoretical styles (which will
enable one to determine the relative relevance
of each of the classifications obtained), to
identify their place of origin and to study the
reciprocal stylistic influences within a historical
perspective.

Morphological analysis

Morphological analysis is the identification,

classification and comparison of forms, the
volumes and rhythms of statues, independent
of all other considerations, particularly
historical or ethnographic. This approach is
based on the principle that all forms, in their
internal organization of elements, are
significant in themselves; the work of art, qua
complex of forms or morphological elements,
is never fortuitous. Therefore there is always an
order to be found amongst the morphological
elements, and this order reflects the concept of
style as I defined it above. Morphological
FANG BETSI (Gabon) An Ancestral Statue
analysis provides us with these styles which are
Museum Fur Volkskunde, Basle 'theoretical' because they are defined according
 56

to the sole logical criteria of our system of object which will serve to describe each piece
knowledge and without reference either to their in a detailed and standardized way.
precise provenance or to the opinions of the First the object is measured (height, width,
interested parties (artists or native users). The depth, axes, etc), then it is taken apart or
classification into logical series requires no analysed, feature by feature. In this respect the
further criteria than those given by the overall pattern of component elements in the
distinguishing features of the work, but only object is subjected to scrutiny, for example, in
the data obtained in the field can go on to give the case of a statue: the balance and rhythm
that classification real significance. of the sculpted blocks, its proportions, how it
Whilst being theoretically applicable to the fits its space, the dialectic of empty and full
totality of traditional plastic arts, this method space, the relation between the different planes
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:29 16 April 2016

is, in practice, only manageable at a regional etc; the supplementary details of its
or epochal level. Documentary evidence morphology (its eyes, mouth, ears, etc); its
therefore has to be pre-selected. One must first decoration.
select a region or a coherent set of ethnic groups It should be noted that drawings permit a far
where one might hope to find stylistic affinities. better visual and manual understanding of
(Which might consist in either a single style sculptures than do photographs which one can
with significant variation or several related only contemplate passively. Drawings enable
styles.) one to understand the technical procedure
We are straight away confronted with the employed by the artist. Moreover we should
problem of identifying the various pieces.3 not forget that certain objects, especially masks,
This is made harder by the intermixing of are made to be seen in a particular way.
populations, migration and frequent exchanges Starting from the basic documentation we
(field-work comes up against this problem). isolate each relevant morphological feature of
The whole ensemble of African arts must the object and compare it to the homologous
therefore be studied, region by region, in a feature in every other piece in the collection;
monographical form similar to that used in this splitting up into basic elements enables us
general ethnology. to classify it in a particular typical category.
When the region has been selected, we may Let us look at, for example, the morphological
start on the museographical investigation (the features used in the study of Fang statuary.
establishment of the collection to be referred I first tried to see if the size of different parts
to) and on the bibliographical research. The aim of the body (head, trunk, legs) had a particular
is to have a representative collection. We saw significance. It was later found that, in Fang
above the particular difficulties that one styles, the differences in these sizes were
encounters in this respect. The minimum size significant at the level of tribal differentiation.
would seem to be about 300 or 400 items for Nonetheless in the case of size one cannot make
a fairly homogeneous style such as those of the immediate generalizations, even when one
-Fang, Dogon, Bambara, Senufo, etc. When it applies it to the other styles of Gabon.5 I next
comes to masks, that number must be at least looked at the following: the height of the trunk
doubled because of the very large number of in relation to the total height of the body (in
variations. The number of items studied is terms of the total height); the relative height
important for the research because it serves as of the head and the legs (and in relation to the
a statistical validation of the conclusions. A large total height of the body): thus one might have,
number of pieces of the same sub-style will for example, as the typical associated features
demonstrate the continuity, the consistency of the style 'very small head/very long legs' or
and the duration of the complex thereby 'very fat head/medium-sized legs', etc; the size
defined. 'Atypical' sub-styles represented by of the neck (in relation to the total height of the
only a few pieces may signify abandoned body); the concavity of the face; the shapes of
innovations or a fashion that petered out before • the head, face and profile; the hairstyle or the
developing into a true style.4 head-dress; the arms. In this case one must
We can thereby create a museographical study how the sculptor was able to treat them
index card identifying the morphology of each (attached to the body in low or high relief, or
 57

detached from the body; breasts and genitalia; long-form styles are generally from the north
the position of the legs (e.g. half-kneeling, and short-form styles from the south of the
sitting etc.); the mouth, the nose, the ears, the region.
eyes, the navel, etc. Nevertheless the distinguishing feature or
The detailed examination of this splitting up features can be differentiated: according to J.
into distinct morphological features together Laude what distinguished Dogori statuary was
with the specific characterization of each aims the organization of volume in space and the
at an exhaustive survey of all the forms used technical freedom in relation to the materials;
for each sculptural detail in every statue in the according to P. Vandenhoute for Dan/Guere
collection in question. masks the distinguishing features were related
For each of the features a set of mutually to the represented reality, a combination of
exclusive categories can be defined. For idealized realism and primitive expressionism.
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:29 16 April 2016

example, the 'eye' in Fang statues can be A. Leroi-Gourhan thought that, for primitive
divided into seven different types: 1) mirror art in general, the notion of distance was
stuck on with resin; 2) 'coffee-bean'; 3) copper important, particularly the distance between
plaque fixed with a screw, nail or glue; 4) the vital elements of the statue (eyes, mouth,
incision; 5) raised disc; 6) no eyes; 7) raised, navel, genitals, etc), and that defining these
rectangular. distances contributed to a geometrical
As regards the 'eyes', each statue falls into understanding of 'sculptural rhythm'.
one of these categories, and so on for each of The results of the multivariable analysis allow
the other features studied. We can thus code us to determine the minimum measurable
all the morphological variables and characterize characteristic for each set, the latter having been
each object by a formula (for example, a series identified and distinguished from one another
of figures) which will summarize the by means of a statistical method.
description of its form in a standardized Can we say that, now that these theoretical
manner. 'styles' have been established by means of our
preliminary analysis, we have in fact completed
The establishment of 'theoretical styles' our research and discovered the actual styles?
We cannot do so, of course, but what we do
Once each work has been studied separately have here is an outline containing all the
in the most objective manner possible (albeit elements which will enable us to carry out the
obviously in relation to our 'geometrical' anthropo-stylistic research proper, which alone
Western vision), we must proceed to will enable us to see a reflection of that reality
multivariable systematic comparison. This can which is both a product of history and the lived
be done either, as I did in 1970, by manual experience of actual people. We must give
collation of all the figures pertaining to depth to that rough canvas made up of lines
morphological identification (the descriptive and measurements by painting into it the depth
formulae), or, as is possible nowadays, by of the real world, the fertility of imagination,
computer-aided data analysis. This process, in and the individual inspiration of the artists
both cases, boils down to deriving a number of which are the fruit of a continuous flourishing
sets from works which have consistent and process of borrowing and exchanging styles.
hence significant resemblances.
In Fang statuary it can be seen that, despite The anthropo-stylistic research
an overall homogeneity, the statues are of very
different sizes. Some are very long, thin and The first and most important point is to be
slender, others are squat and solid. It became aware of the absolute necessity of a thorough
apparent to me during the course of my acquaintance with the social context in which
museographical research and my field-work one is working. Since traditional art is one of
that, within the vast Fang complex, these sizes the privileged forms of expression of a society,
are related to a certain ethnic differentiation: it would seem impossible to picture it, to study
taking into account the geographical spread of it, to classify it, or to understand it whilst
groups at the end of the nineteenth century, deliberately ignoring the civilization which gave
 58

rise to it and used it, at least as long as one their sacrifices, their priests, their interdicts, the
wishes to avoid the dangers of ethnocentrism. process of initiation and the role of relics and
P. Frascatel, J. Maquet and J. Laude have statues; the definition of the Melan (an initiatory
already outlined the various problems involved society linked to the Byeri); the links between
in discovering the relation between the work the Byeri and the Melan, rituals, frequency of
and the society, and in evaluating the role of rites, the nature of ceremonies, the role of
the sculptor in his social group (his freedom of twins; the gradual disappearance of the Byeri
expression, his social and religious roles), and the Melan: the reasons for the
which are all problems that can only by solved disappearance of rituals and statues and the
through field-work. This direct acquaintance reasons for the survival of certain masks.
will, at a regional level, also enable us to After the questions, I carried out a test, based
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:29 16 April 2016

determine more precise locations for the styles, on a number of photographs, which consisted
to validate the theoretical classifications, to in identifying the nature and origin of objects
study influences, to determine a historical order -characteristic of the theoretical sub-styles. In a
of development — in short, to study in situ the set of eighteen photographs, I introduced
dynamism of the plastic arts. reliquary figures foreign to the Fang (belonging
to the kota-mahongwe, the kota-obamba and the
The modes of research in the field sango), in order to determine to what extent
sculptors could recognize works which were
The field-work has two main aims: to delimit stylistically related to their own.
the spheres of influence of different sub-styles Field-work will always complicate the initial
and to situate the centres of particular styles; and theoretical classification and demonstrate that
to become aware of the importance of the human behaviour does not easily fit into strict
objects in ritual (their use) and the technical, categories and that reality is awkward. It is only
artistic, and spiritual conditions of their creation. with experience that one realize that direct
The questions I asked about the statues of the contact with the area studied is absolutely
Fang, by way of example, dealt with the necessary if one is to begin to get close to
problem of sculpture and with the general objective reality, even in the domain of the
information on Fang customs which had been plastic arts. This contact may still be valid for
obtained from elsewhere (from books or from a number of years for the study of ancient art,
other visits to the region, for example). I tried even though most of the sculptors have
to find sculptors and initiates, indeed anyone disappeared leaving no artistic heritage. Field-
who was able to answer my questions, the work will complete a deficient documentation
majority of young people under thirty being and will provide it with the elements necessary
unable to do so. for a genuine understanding of the question.
The subjects dealt with were as follows: The analysis of the answers given to the
famous sculptors; techniques involved in the questions and the results of the photo-test
making of these objects (the frequency and created new sub-divisions amongst the broader
circumstances of their being made, the woods sets already defined. It was thereby possible to
used, their selection, the way the trees were determine several typical sub-styles in the
felled, the way the wood was treated, the way short-form set (with their significant details)
it was sculpted, the decoration); the meaning which became apparent in the course of the
of the statues (representations of females and field-work — for example, the three-shelled
males, of animals, of mother and child, busts, head-dress of the Mvai.
heads), the meaning of the posture of the The history of peoples and their migration
sculpted figures and of their size; the explain certain influences and the present form
identification and sense of the head-dresses, of the sub-styles. It was realised that there were
tattoos, beards, jewels, etc; the relation transitional forms (medium-form) that could be
between masks and statues, the definition of taken apart and analysed.
the Byeri (Fang ancestor-cult): their vocabulary, The results of the two methods of enquiry can
terminology, their re-modelled or painted be collated as follows:
skulls, the consultations given by the Byeri, One can see that it is impossible to say, for
 59

example, that all Ntumu statues are very long,

or that all long-form statues are Ntumu. There
are a considerable number of variations. Sub-
styles are defined by a majority of objects (a
general tendency towards a certain form) yet
include various exceptions, which are however,
recognizable through other details of sufficient
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:29 16 April 2016

Analyse theorique Hyperlongiforme Longiforme Equiforme BreViforme

NGUMBA
MABEA
Enquete de terrain NTUMU
BETSI-NZAMAN
MVAI
OKAK

STYLE DUNORD STYLE DU SUD

significance. It is only the extreme categories
which do not overlap: Ngumba — very long
ioimlMvai — short form. On the other hand,
the intermediate medium-form category splits
into two sub-categories, either Ntumu or
Nzaman/Mvai/Betsi. Hence, we can discern in
the homogeneous Fang ensemble two quite
distinct centres of production, the existence of
which can be explained by the study of
migration, which had two main waves: first,
the Betsi, the conquerors, and second the
Ntumu, who were able to exploit the land.
Also, through the study of all the patterns of
artistic exchange in the area bounded by the
Sanaga in the Cameroons and the Ogooue in
Gabon, we end up with a dynamism of styles.
What is controversial about this method is to
have dared, along with several others, to
measure African art, to have observed it,
scrutinized it, analysed it and codified a
moment of its history. Despite all the
precautions taken, this approach still has the
ability to shock. How could we 'geometrize' the
inspiration and the drives of pure creation?
Whilst being aware of the limits of a
morphological approach, even one which is LONCIFORME BREVIFORME
 60

carefully adapted and counterbalanced by

corrective anthropological and historical co-
efficients, I believe that the creations of the
plastic arts of Africa form a complex 'ensemble'
of specific orders whose distinct and identifiable
'styles' are its formal indices. Africa, too, has
a right to a logic of imagination. Its arts are
conceived and constructed, and are never
either instinctive or determined by external
conditions.
These logical features lie behind the feeling
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:29 16 April 2016

of visual delight and the flights of imagination

that the works spark off, that we should be
uncovering and analysing, so that we may
contribute to a greater cultural balance, the
need for which we all feel, between Black Africa
and the West.

NOTES
1. This method is derived from a whole number of
different works, particularly those of F. Olbrechts,
P. Vandenhoute, and A. Leroi-Gourhan (see L.
Perrois, 'Statuaire fang, Gabon', ORSTOM, Paris,
1972, et 'Problemes d'analyses de la sculpture
tradtionnelle du Gabon', ORSTOM, Paris, 1977.
2. The very notion of 'tribality' (in the sense given
by W. Fagg) should be used with caution to the extent
that ethnic or 'tribal' space is very open to the outside
world. In real life the ethnic group does not,
therefore, have clearly defined and convenient
boundaries.
3. Genuine articles, as far as it is possible to judge:
in other words conceived and made by Africans for
Africans.
4. Nevertheless an 'atypical' set can in due course
be identified, (for example, the sub-style of the Mabea
of the Cameroons).
5. J. Laude based his classification of Dogon works
on the complexity of the sculpture in relation to the
log from which it was carved.
 61

PRIMITIVISM
WITHOUT APPROPRIATION
BOAS, NEWMAN
AND THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF ART
CARLOS SEVERI
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:28 23 April 2015

In September 1946, in a piece introducing an researchers least explored.4 It is perhaps also

exhibition of North-West Coast Indian painting, the approach which is still alive today in the
Barnett Newman wrote: work of painters and sculptors like Beuys and
Twombly. This feeling of solidarity, almost of
It is becoming more and more apparent that to brotherhood, that Newman has towards
understand modern art, one must have an Amerindian artists challenges another
appreciation of the primitive arts, for just as modern distinction: that between the work of
art stands as an island of revolt in the stream of
Western European aesthetics, the primitive art contemporary artists and anthropological
traditions stand apart as authentic aesthetic research into the art of so-called primitive
accomplishments that flourished without the benefit societies.
of European history.1 Elsewhere I have attempted to give a
definition of the field of study of the
Whilst postulating a very close link between his anthropology of art, which whilst allowing us
painting and primitive art, Newman here to understand the history of Western
proposes an aesthetics whose primitivist interpretation of primitive art, can be applied
reference is not restricted to direct to all works of art.5 In this essay I should like
appropriation of forms. to show how, from the same angle, one might
The great New York painter invokes the idea formulate that link which exists between
of a ritualistic will2 to create, which he supposedly primitive art and certain
attributes to Amerindian artists (The first man contemporary research.
was an artist is the title of a piece he wrote at The Latin word 'ars' has had for centuries
that time), and at the same time engages in two distinct senses, which nowadays seem
formal artistic research free of all imitation. He quite remote from one another. On the one
has no desire to borrow visual themes from hand — writes Panofsky (1987, first published
primitive art but refers to it as if it were a 1943) — 'ars' designates the conscious and
parallel field of research. This attitude was not intentional capacity of man "to produce objects
unique in 1940's New York. Newman shared in the same manner as nature produces
it with other artists including Gottlieb, Still, phenomena." In this sense "the activities of
Rothko and Kline.3 This approach, animated an'architect, a painter or a sculptor could, even
by a strong feeling of affinity with primitive at the height of the Renaissance, be described
artists ("to be an artist is to make, is to be just as 'ars' in the same way as those of a weaver.
that", Newman seems to be saying in his or a bee-keeper". On the other hand, the term
presentation of Kwakiutl painting), is that of 'ars' also designated — in a use of the word
one of the great currents in twentieth century which has almost disappeared nowadays — a
primitivism, one" which Rubin and his fellow set of rules, or of techniques, that thought must
 62

use in order to represent the real. Thus not only represent an animal from several points of view
were the rules of logical argument an 'ars' for simultaneously, or even combine the disjecta
sophists and stoics, but also what we now call membra of a male dolphin and a female seal to
astronomy could, for centuries, describe itself show us the monstrous fruit of their
as the "art des e'toile". metamorphosis.
Taking as a starting point the double meaning Primitive art is then neither naive nor
of this concept, which has almost disappeared rudimentary: in fact in choosing a specific
from our own tradition, we can say that the variation of mental organization of space, it
study of the link that each culture establishes between constructs a complexity where our eyes are
these two aspects of the notion of art — between used to simplifying. When we look at a picture
certain forms of knowledge and certain techniques drawn in an illusionist perspective we expect
of conception and production of images — constitutes a simplified representation of the object in order
the object of anthropology of art. The task of the to imagine the complex totality of features which
anthropologist is, then to compare, in each and constitute it. Primitive art moves in the opposite
any work of art, the functions of technique and direction: the tendency is towards a complex
thought. representation of the features of an object so
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:28 23 April 2015

In actual fact, in this meeting of Newman's that we can mentally construct its real presence:
artistic research and the work of Kwakiutl so that we can imagine it more completely than
artists — an attitude of revolt against Western can the mere eye. This type of representation
tradition facing the art-products of societies — when it reaches that state of perfection that
which have always been foreign to our own — Boas describes — generates such a tension
the problematic notion is precisely that of between verisimilitude and the invisible that it
technique. produces the illusion of an unreal space: the
According to Boas' earliest research — which coordinates that determine this space are not
is part of a tradition going back to Reigl6 and those of vision.
Semper 7 — the pioducts of the plastic arts of We have seen that the discovery of this
primitive societies acquired the status of works concept of space in Kwakiutl art was for Boas
of art precisely because of a reflection on the result of a reflection on technical
technique: experience. If we turn our attention to the texts
"The intuitive feeling for form must be written by the artists of the New York School,
present," writes Boas. "So far as our this notion seems to have disappeared from the
knowledge of the works of art of primitive very definition of art: "Art is defined not by
people extends the feeling for form is its technique of production, manual or other,
inextricably bound up with technical but by the inner shape of the society in which
experience."8 it appears," wrote Harold Rosenberg in a 1971
The criterion which guides him in his piece devoted to the work of Marcel
analyses of the art of the North-West coast is Duchamp.9 Here as elsewhere in Rosenberg's
clear: art exists where the absolute mastery of writing, the attempt to understand the artist's
a technique culminates in a perfect form. This thought comes up against a reflection on the
form can then transcend the simple function public (indeed political) nature of art. "Today,
of the utilitarian object and become the model art itself is the critic", he wrote in a more recent
for a style. This depends as much on the piece: to conceive and interpret forms is to
particular organization of a culture as on the question the place of art (and, through art,
constraints inherent' in all representation of invention) in society.
space. According to Boas, there are only two It is of course not by chance that these
ways of representing space: one refers directly thoughts spring from a reflection on Duchamp.
to vision and, imitating the eye, represents Amongst the great discoverers of the century,
objects in a unifocal perspective. The other Duchamp has, perhaps, most clearly shown
represents objects not as they present that before even being a form for the eye to
themselves to vision, but rather as they are behold, the work of art is an act, and that no
represented by the mind. Hence a North-West form can be understood without analysing the
coast sculptor can multiply perspectives and sequence of acts through which the artist
 63

realises mental space, amongst which the work

of art is merely the end product or a fragment;
Rosenberg points this out in connection with
Mondrian in Art on the Edge (1983).
The ordering of this sequence should in no
way be confused with technical procedure. This
word, Rosenberg seems to think, is too full of
traps. It should be carefully redefined when
applied to modern art:

In the changed relation between art and history, the

automations involved in the application of craft skills
have been replaced by acts of the mind occurring at
the very beginning of the making of a work.. .Their effect
is to remove art from the realm of habit, manual
JOSEPH BEUYS Tram Stop 1, 1976 dexterity, and traditional taste into that of
© BEUYS VG-BILDKUNST, 1987 philosophy.10
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:28 23 April 2015

This view, which is perhaps excessively

intellectualist, of the abstract painter's work
should not make us forget that this preliminary
sequence of acts by the artist "which occurs at
the very beginning of the making of a work"
and which defines the work's style and
, --?'-•• thought, is directed above all at the definition
of a space. The work of a painter free from any
primitivist tendency like the early De Chirico
clearly illustrates this point. In his first
paintings — which, after surrealism and via
Duchamp, had a profound influence on the
New York School — the intensity of the images
never results from the objects that appear in the
paintings nor, as has too often been claimed
from their incongruous placement. The power
of some of the Places d'ltalie and some of the
Autoportraits comes from the fact that the co-
ordinates of the painted space are so
unbearable to the eye that they end up showing
us a physically impossible space: a space that
the eye can never entirely grasp.
What is abolished in these scenes is the
horizon against which the objects — and the
beholder — are inscribed. If we look at various
jrban landscapes from the Ferrarese period, we
:an see that no town, no landscape, can have
such a close horizon. The painter's dizzying
foreshortening shows a point in space that
:annot exist. Yet the space is there, silent. A
train passes by behind the arcades, the shadow
of a girl is glimpsed. She has a toy in her hand.
The imagery seems oneiric, because the space
in which it appears cannot exist in the world
we know. This unreal cutting up of space is
 64

aimed, as De Chirico later wrote, at reflecting aesthetic ideal in their work, the identification
the very mechanism of thinking. n . of the ars of technique and the ars of thought,
Before the avant-gardists the technical task primitive art at one and the same time offers
of a painter (his craft skills, as Rosenberg put them the model of a non-illusionist space and
it) had as its initial goal the reproduction of a a series of techniques of mental representation.
unique and verisimilar spatial model. For It is in the space defined by these techniques
twentieth century painting, or at least for those — techniques which no longer follow the eye,
painters who, like Mondrian, considered that but the mind — that each form will henceforth
"the surface of natural things is beautiful, but seek its perfect state.
its imitation is dead matter", 12 the
construction of a physically impossible space is
the first act of the technical procedure. In this NOTES
act of defining space, which precedes any
occurrence of image, the contemporary artist 1. H. Rosenberg, Barnett Newman, New York,
identifies the ars of thought with the ars of Abrams, 1978, p.241.
technique. Opting for radical abstraction thus 2. Ibid.
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 03:28 23 April 2015

3. Rosenberg explains Newman's attitude towards

coincides with an imaginary exploration of the European painting of that time as follows: "Newman
origins of pictorial representation. What the put forward the concept of an ideal art without visual
Kwakiutl artist demonstrates to Newman is the references as a development for which American
possibility of conceiving a space where the artists were particularly fit. Even in its most abstract
modes, Newman contended, European art remained
realm of thought can be made in age ("the I, wedded to its 'sensual nature'; the geometrical forms
terrible and constant, is in my eyes the subject of 'purists', such as Kandinsky and Mondrian, were
of painting" he declared in 1985); a place where actually equivalents of trees and horizons. Against
the abstract forms of geometry can definitely the naturalism inherent in the European sensibility,
disengage themselves from all reference to the a new group of American painters, Newman
asserted, were creating a 'truly abstract world'. For
everyday experience of vision in order to those artists (Gottlieb, Rothko, Still and himself), he
become "a language of passion". 13 From that claimed an art entirely liberated from residues of
point on, technical innovation becomes ever things seen, a virtually dean state of the imagination.
more closely identified with development of The American abstractionists were 'at home in the
thought. world of the pure idea', as the Europeans were at
home among the objective correlatives of sensations."
Today, through the work of other artists, the (op.cit.,p.37-38)
definition of space remains very close to this 4. See Varnedoe's study 'Abstract Expressionism' in
vision of primitive art. Let us look at a last W. Rubin (ed), Primitivism in XXth Century Art,
exhibition catalogue. Museum Of Modern Art, New
sample: Tram Stop, which Beuys first showed York, 1986.
in the 1976 Venice Biennale. In this sculpture, 5. C. Severi, 'Anthropologie de L'Art', to be
all the elements of the image (the tumulus of published in Dictionnaire de L'Ethnologie et de
rubble, the four rounds of wood around the L'Antrhopologie, Paris PUF.
image of a man, the tram cable and the length 6. A. Riegl, Stilfragen, Berlin, 1923 (2 ed.).
of piping which sketch a perspective in a place 7. G. Semper, 'London Lecture: November 11, 1853',
in Res-Anthropology and Aesthetics, 6, 1983, and
which cannot but suggest the apse of a small (London Lecture: December 1853), in Res-
chapel) aim at defining the space of an altar. Anthropology and Aesthetics, 9, 1985.
The traditional coordinates of the place of ritual 8. Should read p.11.
are, however, completely absent. Instead of an 9. H. Rosenberg, Art on the Edge, Chicago, Chicago
icon surrounded by offerings in the half-light University Press, 1983, p.4.
of a chapel, we see the apparently randomly 10. Ibid., p.136.
scattered traces of a private cult whose beliefs 11. On De Chirico's thought, see P. Fossati, La Pittura
Metafisica, Turin, Einaudi, 1988, and G. De Chirico,
we shall never know. In this case, as in Il Meccanismo del Pensiero, Turin, Einaudi, 1987.
American Indian art, the work becomes the 12. "For the surface of things is beautiful, but its
place where a tension between the realistic and imitation is dead matter. Things give us everything,
the invisible is generated. For Newman as for but their representation no longer gives us anything."
(Mondrian, Diaries 1914, cit. in M. Seuphor, Piet
Beuys, primitive art does not constitute a Mondrian, Paris, Flammarion, 1956, p.116).
repertory of terms to imitate; Through the 13. H. Rosenburg, Bamett Newman, op. cit., p.37.
 65

OTHERS ART - OUR ART

SALLY PRICE
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 02:09 24 August 2015

In a few years' time the Western world will be personal lives and the way they related to their
celebrating the discovery of America without, age are worthy of our attention. There is,
however, noticing that what it is celebrating is however, one single exception to this definition
not the discovery, but its discovery of that of the study of art which is centred on
continent. Obviously, for those who were individual creativity and historical chronology.
already living there, the 'New World' was not In this predominant Western conception, a
so new as it was for the Europeans of that time. work of art originating outside the 'world
An identical distinction should be made traditions' is considered to be the product of
about the discovery of 'primitive art' during a nameless person who is representative of his
this century.1 In the following pages I shall be whole community and who unreflectively
examining the proprietal roles that Westerners obeys the precepts of a time-honoured
have bestowed upon themselves when it comes tradition.
to others' art. As a starting-point I shall take Before examining this composite person more
Pierre Bourdieu's observation that "the games closely, it will be useful to take a brief look back
that artists and aesthetes play and their battles over the places accorded to individual creativity
for the monopoly of artistic legitimacy are less and to authority in the tradition of ethnological
innocent than they appear". 2 For, if this literature.
remark can be applied to the heart of a single On the one hand, a great number of
society, then it takes on a far greater descriptions of 'primitive' societies are written
significance when applied to a dominant in the timeless tense described as the
society which both judges and controls the 'ethnographic present' — a mode of expression
artistic output of others. which has the effect of removing cultural
I shall first make some basic points about the expression from its historical dimension and
traditional study of fine art. It is not difficult hence of amalgamating individuals and even
to see that art-historians take, as their main whole generations in order to create a single
subject of enquiry, the life and works of certain figure who is representative of his society's past
individuals and the historical unfolding of and present. Malinowski's Trobriand Island
distinct artistic movements. As with the history native' and Evan-Pritchard's 'Nuer priest' were
of music, of literature or of theatre, the history constructed with the aim of showing us the
of art is seen as a mosaic of contributions made cultural norms and general customs of their
by individuals whose names we know, whose societies rather than to explore the different
works can be distinguished, and whose characters of the individuals or to enable us to
 66

understand chronological developments more to his knowledge of a society, Firth cleared the
clearly.3 This kind of approach survives to this way for the use of proper names in ethnological
day, virtually untouched by the current debate descriptions.
about the role of history in the lives of peoples If we now turn our attention away from
who have no writing. ethnology to history of art, we can see that
On the other hand, there have always been 'primitive art' has often been used to bolster
enthnologists who advocate paying greater the notion of Western art as champion of the
attention to the role of creativity, of innovation artist's individuality. Seen in the light of this
and of historical change, in other societies. comparison, the indigenous artists of Africa,
Franz Boas, for example, whilst affirming the Oceania and America were often merely given
conservatism of 'primitive art' and the powerful the role of passive servants of a tradition,
influence of the traditions that form the basis faithfully following the rules inherited from
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 02:09 24 August 2015

of that art, radically altered the study of 'other' their ancestors. Yet amongst today's art
art when he replaced the work of art by the historians, as amongst contemporary
artist himself as the main object of his enquiry. ethnologists, a general reassessment of these
He emphasized the importance of research ideas has already started; there is at present an
which penetrated the vision of people in a increasing number of researchers (albeit still a
particular society and of a kind of study that minority) who apply their training in history
is attentive to the role of virtuosity, to the of art to the serious study of 'primitive art'
artistic process, and to what he called the (especially in Africa), paying particular
"game of the imagination" in the creation of attention to individual artists' biographical
artistic form.4 His students, who came to details, chronicling changes over the years, and
represent a whole generation of American refining stylistic categories which enable us to
anthropology, went on to develop this view in identify the source and date of their works of
their own fieldwork by defining the relation art. In the United States, Roy Sieber and Robert
between tradition and creativity (and hence Farris Thompson were among the first to lay
their relative weight) as a question to be stress on the dynamism of African art, to
carefully explored in each society rather than emphasize the creative faculty of African artists
as a generalizable feature common to all the and to demand that we judge them in the same
'primitive' world. Their observations began to way as we judge Western artists.7 The results
show to what extent non-Western artists made of this research are beginning to manifest
choices in their work (albeit within the themselves in major changes of emphasis in the
framework of a specific formative tradition) — Western image of 'primitive art', even among
choices which showed an awareness of the the most conservative art historians. William
aesthetic options open to them and which Rubin is not the only historian of modern art
sometimes represented important innovations. to admit (even whilst claiming that "tribal art
Consequently, the readers of a study of Pueblo expresses a collective rather than individual
pottery by Ruth Bunzel became acquainted, not feeling") that "the sculptors enjoy a greater
only with the characteristics of Zuni, Acoma, freedom than many commentators imagine".8
Hopi and San Ildefonso pottery, but also with Amongst art historians, then, as well as
the more specific attributes of the work of amongst ethnologists, there is a new and
certain potters such as Maria Martinez and increasing awareness of the roles performed by
Nampeyo.5 the individuality and the creativity of artists
At the same time, in Britain, Raymond Firth working outside Western society.
— the aim of whose work was a better Having noted this awareness, we can now
understanding of how an individual's freedom focus on views of those students and collectors
is manifested within the framework of his of 'primitive art' who still form a majority and
society's prescriptive norms — was focusing on who still have a less refined picture of the
"the position of the creative faculty in the influence of tradition and the role of collective
indigenous artist in relation to his conformity will among the 'Primitives'. Take, for example,
to local style".6 Referring in his work to the views of Herschel B. Chipp, a distinguished
specific individuals whose lives had contributed specialist in modern art who has also written
 67

on what he calls "the artistic styles of primitive It is interesting to ask for whom these artists
cultures". Amongst the Maoris Chipp are anonymous, since sometimes one is led to
describes believe that anonymity is an inherent trait of
'primitive art' and not a construction imposed
a radical narrowing of the field to which the personal from outside. Take, for example, a newspaper
inventiveness of the artist is restricted. The review of the Center for African Art in New York,
committing of an error of a technical nature — a fault which says, "In our name-oriented Western
committed by a sculptor in the exercise of traditional
work-methods — would jeopardize or even destroy culture, it boggles the mind that such works as
the customary channels of communication with the these are anonymous."13
spirit world, and could only be expiated by severe Should it really boggle our minds, foreign to
penalties, including death. the artist's society as we are, not to have learnt
The denial of individual creativity is his name? No, for what such a statement
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 02:09 24 August 2015

sometimes expressed in somewhat bold implies is that the suppression of each artist's
generalizations. Henri Kamer, for example, identity takes place in his own society, and that
declares that in Africa we, despite our preoccupation with names, are
the innocent inheritors of this 'primitive'
there are no individual creative artists.. .(The African 'insouciance'. The idea that we shall never
artist) produces masks and fetishes according to the know the artists' names makes it easier to
needs of the moment, always by order of tribal elders uphold the notion of the communal character
and never on impulse as would any conventional of 'primitive art'. One commentator has
artist.10 suggested, rather nonchalantly: "Since we
From this perspective any given artist's know very few African artists' names, a work
identity loses its value, because his relation to is generally considered as being the product of
the production of art is the same as the a culture".14
worker's relation to the assembly-line. A Even those who are completely aware of the
conceptual leap is made from his lack of role of the individual artist express themselves
individual creativity to his lack of creativity full in a manner which gently invites the reader to
stop. The artist becomes 'anonymous'. see anonymity as an inherent characteristic of
A large number of 'primitive art' lovers seems primitive societies: Paul Wingert, for example,
to have taken on board this idea of anonymity. writes that "the anonymity of the artist" is one
One occasionally comes across a cultural of "the features common to the arts of all
explanation of the phenomenon: primitive areas", without ever suggesting that
he is in fact speaking about a phenomenon
The identity of the individual African sculptor has outside those 'primitive areas'.15 Furthermore,
tended to become obscured, because he is George Rodrigues' declaration that African art
manipulating forces which exist outside himself, so is "with very few exceptions, anonymous", in
that once he has caused those forces to enter into the the same way fails to point out the Western
sculpture, he sinks into anonymity.11
origin of this anonymity.16
This use of the singular in referring to Whatever its origins, anonymity plays an
'primitive' artists is a common convention important role in the Western image of
whose effect is to suggest their undifferentiated 'primitive art'. A Parisian art dealer with whom
nature — that is, their anonymity — not only I have discussed this phenomenon summed it
within their own societies, but also in the up neatly: "If the artist isn't anonymous, then
broader context of the activity of their fellows the art isn't primitive."
all over the world. It is partly through this This image of 'primitive' artists as a mixture
grammatical convention that it has been of people lacking both identity and artistic
possible to make global generalizations about individuality, as passive servants of their time-
the work (and even the character) of artists honoured traditions, is derived from the use
from all over the world — like, for example, the of 'primitive' societies for legitimizing Western
statement made by Douglas Newton that "the society. To characterize this use as 'racist' or
primitive artist can move unself-consciously 'patronizing' is probably an over-simplification,
from naturalism to abstraction".12 but we can quite categorically state that
 68

anonymity, (and its corollary, the absence of psychological law, which is itself the reflection of the
historical development) attributed to 'primitive universal biological principle of the conservation of
energy. Straight lines involve the least expenditure
art' owes much to the desire on the part of the of energy, and the easiest way to remember any given
commentators to believe that their society is feature of the real world is to reduce it to geometric
clearly superior to others, that their society Shapes, which are basic and universal. African and
represents a higher level in the unilinear Oceanic art is geometric because its creators are
evolution of civilization. An article by Jacques instinctively imitating the ways of nature. It is not
in any way the result of sophisticated and concerted
Darriulat in Realties shows what some of the research, as modern Western art is, but of an innate
results of such an attitude might be. Derriulat way of looking at the world.19
suggests that the suppression of individuality
for the benefit of a homogeneous communal For those who, like Huyghe, think that African
ideology is common to all African and Oceanic and Oceanic art is created by anonymous artists
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 02:09 24 August 2015

societies, and that this feature of these societies who are expressing communal thoughts by
is expressed by means of artistic traditions means of instinctive processes that take place
where personal identity is not preserved: in the lower part of the brain, it only requires one
further step to arrive at the belief that this art
The art of Africa is anonymous... The reason for this has no history. The homogenization of people
lies in the nature of the civilizations that created them and generations is made more complete; as one
(its products). They reflect communal societies, where commentator puts it: "These anonymous
the individual exists only as part of a group. In Africa artists feel they are a link in an unending chain
and Oceania, art is public, it has to offer the of generations."20
community mirror images in which it can recognize
itself. .. .art is the cement that holds the community Even those who try to respect the history of
together; but for it the tribe would die.17 'primitive art' have a certain difficulty in getting
rid of the notion of its absence. Claude Roy,
In another article in the same edition of for example, opens his book Arts Sauvages with
Realties, Rene" Huyghe takes up this theme, the observation that there do exist, contrary to
explaining the absence of individuality by popular opinion, "primitive societies that
means of an evolutionist schema the racist possess both writing and a history", but
implications of which are hardly disguised by straight away undermines the effect of that
his statement that "African and Oceanic art is statement by saying: "These are not peoples
in no way inferior to Western art". 18 Huyghe with a memory, but simply peoples with a poor
declares that in these societies "little value is memory."21
set on individuality, which in more developed A sequence of events that took place in
societies plays an increasingly important role", Australia serves to illustrate the consequences
and that this phenomenon can only be of this tendency to homogenize 'primitive'
understood by distinguishing the language of artists and to exclude them from the passage
words ("connected to thought-processes which of time.22 It started in 1963 when a Hungarian
take place in the upper brain") from the collector bought a bark painting by an Arnhem
language of images (which originate in those Land artist called Malangi in order to donate
areas of the brain where the drives, instincts it to the Museum of African and Oceanic Arts
and emotions are based"). Linking this latter is Paris; in the course of the same year photos
kind of language to what he terms "less of several paintings by the same artist were sent
developed peoples... where words are less to the director of the committee in charge of
clearly bound to the intellectual process than Australian currency decimalization, who, in
to the imagination", Huyghe lends his turn, sent them on to designers working on the
authority as a member of the Academie new bank-notes. In this indirect way, one of
Francaise to the idea that "in these societies art Malangi's paintings ended up on every
is a complete communal language". He Australian dollar bill, but, in the confusion, the
continues: identity of the artist was forgotten. Thanks to
the efforts of a journalist and a school teacher
There is no room for individual expression in art of who recognized Malangi's hand and discreetly
this kind. Forms can be reduced to their primary mentioned the possibility of legal proceedings,
geometric state, because they are governed by a
 69

the government admitted its error and analysis can help distinguish the work of a
proposed not only financial compensation, but given artist. Similar progress is being made in
also giving him an engraved medal in other parts of the world. In a study of the arts
recognition of his artistic contribution. When of the Igbo in Nigeria, for example, Herbert M.
asked about the reason for its initial negligence, Cole and Chike C. Aniakor state:
the governor of the Bank of Australia replied
— and this is the revealing point for our present Individual hands are recognisable in Igbo sculpture,
discussion — that all those who had seen the as in African art in general, and the artists have been,
and continue to be, well-known in the areas in which
painting had automatically and unreflectively they live.25
assumed that it was the work of "some
traditional Aboriginal artist, long since dead." Given the fact that when an examaple of
The way we distance ourselves from 'primitive 'primitive art' appears on the scene in the
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 02:09 24 August 2015

art', placing it in a remote and anonymous past Western world, it is more often through the
— can be of tangible importance in the lives of intermediary of a dealer or a collector than of
those who produce such art; Malangi's story an ethnologist or an art historian, it is essential
is not unique. to examine those people's commonly-held
What are the alternatives to this view of the beliefs, attitudes and experiences if we are to
artist who cannot be differentiated from his understand the clash that this appearance
fellow artists past and present? Here and there generates. These few pages will not be able to
current research is beginning to suggest some. throw light on all those aspects. Let us, then,
Bill Holm's research, for example, combats the just take the question of 'anonymity' to
notion of anonymity in the artists of the highlight how Western personal and cultural
Canadian North-West coast, particularly with interests determine our view of 'primitive
reference to the Kwakiutl artist Willie Seaweed. artists', and reflect upon the role that an art
Holm makes the following remarks: without signatures might have within the
context of the Western art market.
The indigenous artists of the North-West coast have, When taken away from the society in which
like the 'primitive artists' of other cultures, been it was produced, the 'primitive' art object loses,
rendered anonymous in our time. Moreover, when in most cases, its identity. When placed in ours
modern man (the product of a society which attaches
great importance to names, to fame and to individual it gains a new one. This replacement of a
actions) sees a collection of masks or other works of foreign passport by. a domestic identify-card
art from an exotic culture, he does not tend to think serves to facilitate the introduction of the object
of an individualized human creator behind each into a system which centres around Western
object. Only infrequently do the labels he reads help
him to give personal characteristics to the faceless aesthetics and large sums of money. When we
artists. Sometimes an object is identified as coming erase the object's 'signature' so that it might
from 'the North-West coast' or from 'Alaska' or from have Western 'pedigree', we transfer the
'British Columbia'. At best a tribal identification is responsibility of artistic paternity.26
suggested (although the likelihood of error is quite It is not uncommon to hear collectors of
considerable.) The idea that each object represents
the creative activity of a specific human being, who African and Oceanic art saying that the artist's
lived and worked at a given place and time, whose 'anonymity' adds greatly to their enthusiasm.
artistic career had a beginning, a middle and an end, One of these collectors, with whom I talked one
and whose work influenced and was influenced by afternoon in Paris, became very excited when
the work of other artists, does not readily spring to
mind.23 speaking of this aspect of his passion. "It
thoroughly enchants me", he said. "It gives
Other researchers also started to penetrate me great pleasure not to know the artist's
the mists that envelop the artists of the North- name. Once you have found out the artist's
West coast. Robin K. Wright gives us the name, the object ceases to be primitive art."
histories of individual works by Haida artists The actor Vincent Price (who is also an avid
like Charles Edenshaw, John Robson, John collector) expressed the same feeling:
Cross, Tom Price, Gwaitehl and others.24 In
the case of objects made in the early or mid The anonymity of the creator actually increases the
nineteenth century he shows how stylistic value of the work of art. ... it is our lack of knowledge
 70

about these men that provides part of the mystery tracing the object's movements before its arrival
of their creation.'27 in Western society — this impossibility being
bound up in the communal nature of its origins,
Over several years I have brought up this of the absence of the written word in the
alleged question of anonymity with numerous 'primitive' world and in the carelessness of
'primitive art' lovers. Their opinions can be those explorers of another era who obtained
divided into two groups. One group claims that them in the first place.
only a gifted and qualified connoisseur (by We must recognize, of course, that a large
definition, a member of Western society) can proportion of Western art objects carry
recognize the aesthetic excellence of a 'signatures' of the kind that arelacking in most
masterpiece. One collector went to great objects of 'primitive art'. That said, the slightest
lengths to tell me of the keenness of the reflection is enough to abolish the illusion that
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 02:09 24 August 2015

connoisseur's eye, describing in detail the a signature can easily and incontestably
nature of the aesthetic considerations he makes, establish the artistic paternity of an object.
the role of subjectivity, etc.. When he had Indeed there have been a large number of
finished talking, I asked him whether, in his which have served as a basis for complex
opinion, the creator of a 'primitive' work of art discussions and wide-ranging debates between
might, on occasions, be aware of the things he experts — not only about great masterpieces,
had just pointed out. His response was but also about all that belongs to the artistic
immediate and categorical: "Certainly not!" heritage of Western civilization. Let us take a
"The creator of this sort of object", he said, single example: the 'forgery' called 'the Cellini
"will only be interested in the way it is crafted cup', which provoked a perfectly erudite
and in its conformity to communal standards; discussion over one hundred pages of the
he will not be able to appreciate its artistic Metropolitan Museum ]oumal, which in turn
merit, the discovery of which depends on its inspired a second, equally erudite, discussion
being seen by a Western connoisseur." Or, in by Joseph Alsop, a distinguished authority on
the words of Henri Kamer, "the object made in the history of Western art.29 Research into the
Africa... only becomes an object of art on its identity of this object extended over three
arrival in Europe."28 When the matter is seen decades, occupying all the researcher's
from this perspective, there is no point in working-hours, not to mention (as did one of
seeking to establish the identity of the person the participants in this debate30) all the
who made a 'primitive' object (called artist, but sleepless nights it induced.
it would make more sense to call him artisan", Partly because of the traditional segregation
according to Kamer) because he was neither of the disciplines of ethnology and history of
aware of, nor responsible for, its aesthetic art, we find it difficult to imagine that a
qualities. According to the people that take this comparable amount of energy as that spent on,
view, the Western connoisseur does for African for example, the Cellini cup, could produce
masks (to take but one example) what Marcel significant results outside the domain of
Duchamp did for urinals. Western art. Yet this idea, which is beginning
The second group of opinions mentions to take root in the minds of some contemporary
neither the artist's intentions nor his aesthetic researchers, could help to uproot the cultural
awareness, but claims that all clues to his ethnocenrrism which has been so firmly
identity are, sadly, lost for ever. According to embedded in the Western study of art. Like the
this point of view, the custom of putting the exhibition Magiciens de la terre, this idea reminds
name of the collector, but not that of the artist, us that the distinction between 'centre' and
on an exhibition case (or, as in a case like 'periphery' is a structure determined by the
Malangi's, of paying the Western collector and observer and that it often works as an
not the Aboriginal artist..., or even to give impediment to human understanding. In
African and other indigenous sculptures the finally giving up the view of the study of art
names of distinguished collectors, so that we as a private reserve, this exhibition clears the
can speak, for example, of the 'Brummer way for an appreciation of 'other' art which is
Head') simply comes from the impossibility of as deep as that of our own.
 71

NOTES

1. For a critical discussion of the notion of 'primitive 17. J. Darriulat, 'African Art and its Impact on the
art', see S. Price, 'Primitive Art: Civilised Views, Western World', RMitts (English edition). No 273,
Gradhiva, VOL IV, 1988, p 18-27, and Primitive Art p 42, 45.
in Civilised Places, University of Chicago Press, 18. R. Huyghe, 'African and Oceanic Art: how it
Chicago, 1989. looks from the West', Rialith (English edition), No
2. P. Bourdieu, La Distinction, editions de Minuit, 273, 1973, p 67.
Paris, 1979, p 60. 19. Ibid., p 67.
3. 'First of all, it has to be established that we have 20. O. Bihalji-Merin, 'Art as a Universal
to study here stereotyped manner of thinking and Phenomenon', in World Cultures and Modern Art
feeling. As sociologists, we are not interested in what (Siegfried Wichmann, ed.), Bruckmann Publishers,
A or B may feel qua individuals, in the accidental Munich, 1972, p 7.
course of their own personal experiences — we are 21. C. Roy, Arts Sauvages, Delpire, Paris, 1957, p 7.
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 02:09 24 August 2015

interested only in what they feel and think qua 22. D.H. Bennett, 'Malangi: the man who was
members of a given community.' B. Malinowski, forgotten before he was remembered', Aboriginal
Argonauts of the Western Pacific, 1922, p 23. History, Vol IV, No 1, 1980, p 42-47.
4. F. Boas, Race, Language and Culture, The Free 23. B. Holm, "The Art of Willie Seaweed: a Kwakiutl
Press, New York, 1940, p 589. master', in The Human Mirror (Miles Richardson, ed.),
5. R. Brunzel, The Pueblo Potter: a Study of Creative Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 1974,
Imagination in Primitive Art, Dover, New York, 1972 p60.
(original edition 1929). 24. R.K. Wright, 'Anonymous Attributions', in The
6. R. Firth, Art and Life in New Guinea, AMS Press, Box of Daylight (B Holm, ed.), Seattle Art Museum
New York, 1979 (original edition 1936). and University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1983,
7. In order to appreciate this new attention to p 139-142.
history in the study of 'primitive art', we must start 25. H.M. Cole and C.C. Aniakor, Igbo Arts:
by giving up certain prejudices which are all too easily community and cosmos, Museum of Cultural History,
attached to societies which do not possess the written Los Angeles, 1984, p 24.
word. The fact that the history of art in such a society 26. As a Parisian art dealer said to me: 'Pedigree is
displays an interested and selective memory (strongly worth a signature'.
influenced by a cultural ideology that deals with 27. "The Vincent Price Collection', African Arts, Vol
politics, kinship, the roles of men and women, the V, No 2, 1972, p 22-23.
relationship between gods and mortals, etc.) should 28. H. Kamer, op cit., p 33.
only underline its resemblance to history of art in the 29. J. Aslop, "The Faker's Art', New York Review, 23
Western world; see S. Price, 'Sexism and the October 1986, p 25-26, 28-31.
Construction of Reality', American Ethnologist, Vol 10, 30. S.E. Lee, 'Reply to Alsop 1986', New York Review,
1982, p 460-476, and 'L'esthetique et la temps', 18 December 1986, p 76.
Ethnologic Vol LXXXII, 1986, p 215-225.
8. W. Rubin (ed.), 'Primitivism' in 20th Century Art:
Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, The Museum of
Modern Art, New York, 1984.
9. H.B. Chipp, 'Formal and Symbolic Factors in the
Art Styles of Primitive Cultures', in Art and Aesthetics
in Primitive Societies: an Anthology (C.F. Jopling, ed.),
E.P. Dutton, New York, 1971, p 168.
10. H. Kamer, 'The Authenticity of African
Sculptures', Arts d'Afrique Noir, Vol XII, 1974, p 168.
11. D. Duerden, African Art, Feltham/Middlesex,
Paul Hamlyn, 1968, p. 16.
12. D. Newton, The Art of Africa, the Pacific Island, and
the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, 1981, p 16.
13. G. Glueck, 'Show from France opens new Centre
for African Art', New York Times, 21 September 1984,
p Cl, C28.
14. L. Sigel, 'A Private Collection at the Art Institute
of Chicago', African Arts, Vol 5, 1971, p 50-53.
15. P. Wingert, Primitive Art: its Traditions and Styles,
Oxford University Press, New York, 1962, p 377.
16. G. Rodrigues, 'Evolution et psychologie des
collectionneurs d'art africain', Antologia di Bella Arte,
Vol XVII/XVIII, 1981, p.23.
 72
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 02:09 24 August 2015

>*>»..'

The Tomb of Mahafel & Alouals (South-East Madagascar)

(Photo: A. Magnin)
 73

THE OTHERS
BEYOND THE 'SALVAGE' PARADIGM
JAMES CLIFFORD
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 23:23 05 February 2016

The subtitle of this essay, Beyond the 'Salvage' particular global arrangement of time and
Paradigm, may seem cryptic. To some of you space.
it will recall early twentieth century TIME/space. The dominant temporal sense is
anthropology, the 'salvage ethnography' of historical, assumed to be linear and non-
Franz Boas' generation; A.L. Kroeber and his repeatable. There is no going back, no return,
Berkeley colleagues recording the languages at least in the realm of the real. Endless
and lore of 'disappearing' California Indians, imaginary redemptions — religious, pastoral,
or Bronislaw Malinowski suggesting that retro/nostalgic — are produced; archives,
authentic Trobriand Island culture (saved in his museums and collections preserve (construct)
texts) was not long for this earth. an authentic past; a selective domain of value
In academic anthropology 'the salvage is maintained in a present relentlessly careering
paradigm' has an old-fashioned ring about it. forward.
Still, many ethnographies and travel accounts SPACE/time. A dominant 'theatre of memory'
continue to be written in the style of apris moi organizing the world's diversities and destinies
le deluge, with the exotic culture in question has been described in Johannes Fabian's Time
inevitably undergoing 'fatal' changes. We still and the Other: How Anthropology Makes its Object,
regularly encounter 'the last traditional Indian 1984. Speaking very schematically, in the global
beadworker', or the last 'stone age people'. The vision of nineteenth-century evolutionism the
salvage paradigm, reflecting a desire to rescue world's societies were ordered in linear
something 'authentic' out of destructive sequence (the standard progression from
historical changes, is alive and well. It is found savage to barbarian to civilized, with various,
in ethnographic writing, in the connoisseurship now arcane, complications). In the twentieth
and collections of the art world, in a range of century, relativist anthropology — our current
familiar nostalgias. 'common sense' — emerged. Human
My essay's subtitle names a geo-political, differences would be redistributed as separate,
historical paradigm that has organized Western functioning 'cultures'. The most 'primitive' or
practices I'd like to call 'art — and culture — 'tribal' groups (the bottom rungs of the
collecting'. Seen in this light, it denotes a evolutionary ladder) could now be given a
pervasive ideological complex. I'll sketch some special, ambiguous, temporal status: call it the
of the paradigm's underlying conceptions of 'ethnographic present'.
history and authenticity, conceptions that need In Western taxonomy and memory the
to be cleared away if we are to account for the various non-Western 'ethnographic presents'
multiple histories and inventions at work in the are actually pasts. They represent culturally
late twentieth-century. What's at issue is a distinct times ('tradition') always about to
 74

undergo the impact of disruptive changes general contrast may contain, it becomes rigid
associated with the influence of trade, media, and oppressive when ranges of difference —
missionaries, commodities, ethnographers, both within and between societies — become
tourists, the exotic art market, the 'world frozen as essential oppositions. The history of
system', etc. A relatively recent period of anthropology is littered with such oppositions:
authenticity is repeatedly followed by a deluge 'we' have history, 'they' have myth, etc..
of corruption, transformation, modernization. Anthropologists now challenge the
This historical scenario, replayed with local assumption that non-Western (even small-scale
variations, generally falls within the 'pastoral' 'tribal') peoples are without historical
structure anatomized by Raymond Williams in consciousness, that their cultures have scant
The Country and the City. A 'good country' is resources for processing and innovating
perpetually ruined and lamented by each historical change. I'll quickly list a few
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 23:23 05 February 2016

successive period, producing an unbroken important recent works. In llongot Headhunting,

chain of losses leading ultimately to...Eden. 1883-1974, Renato Rosaldo, 1980, discovers a
In a salvage/pastoral set-up, most non- distinctive historical idiom among nonliterate
Western peoples are marginal to the advancing Philippine highlanders, a concrete way of
world-system. Authenticity in culture or art narrating real past events and of using the
exists just prior to the present (but not so landscape as a kind of archive. Richard Price's
distant or eroded as to make collection or First Time: the Historical Vision of an Afro-
salvage impossible). Marginal, non-Western American People, 1983, probes an elaborate local
groups constantly, as the saying goes, 'enter historical memory and discourse among the
the modern world'. And whether this entry is descendents of escaped slaves in Surinam. A
celebrated or lamented, the price is always that strong historical sense is crucial to the group's
local, distinctive paths through modernity identity and its continuing resistance to outside
vanish. These historicities are swept up in a powers. In Islands of History, 1985, Marshall
destiny dominated by the capitalist West and Sahlins argues that 18th century Hawaiian
by various technologically-advanced socialisms. mythic and ritual structures, far from being
What's different about peoples seen to be timeless and unchanging, were concrete forms
moving out of 'tradition'" into 'the modern through which forces of historical change (like
world' remains tied to inherited structures that the arrival of Captain Cook) could be locally
either resist or yield to the new but cannot processed. Work by sociologists like Anthony
produce it. Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu has introduced
In American anthropology a growing body an increased awareness of process and
of recent work has begun to unravel the inventive agency into formerly synchronic and
assumptions about tradition, history, and holistic theories of culture. A seminal work of
authenticity that underlie 'the salvage mid-1970s by Roy Wagner, a work deeply
paradigm'. The result has been to displace influenced by Melanesian processual styles,
global dichotomies long 'orienting' geo- • gives its title to a whole new perspective: The
political visions in the Occident. One of these Invention of Culture.
dichotomies sorts the world's societies into Of course, I'm painting with a broom here,
people with or without history. The inheritors glossing over a number of important debates.
of Thucydides, Gibbon, Marx, Darwin, etc., Suffice it to say that, for me, the importance
are endowed with 'historical consciousness', of the new anthropological attention to
others have 'mythic consciousness'. historical process has been to reconceive
This dichotomy is reinforced by other 'cultures' as arenas not merely of structural
oppositions: literate/non-literate; developed/ order and symbolic pattern but also of conflict,
underdeveloped; hot/cold. The last pair, coined disorder and emergence. Several of the
by Levi-Strauss, assumed that, for good or ill, essentializing, global dichotomies I've
Western societies are dynamic and oriented mentioned are complicated. For example,
toward change, whereas non-Western societies Sahlins has spoken of 'hot' and 'cold' sectors
seek equilibrium and the1 reproduction of within specific societies: people may, in fact,
inherited forms. Whatever truth this sort of be willing rapidly to discard or change whole
 75

areas of traditional life, while guarding and 34.33.5), probably originating among the Fox
reproducing others. Indians of North America. The skin turned up
Another dichotomy is displced by Trinh T. in Western collecting systems some time ago
Minh-ha in the special issue of the review in a Cabinet of Curiosities; it was used to
Discourse she has'edited (No. 8, Fall-Winter educate aristocratic children and was much
1987: She, the Inappropriate/'d Other). She writes admired for its aesthetic qualities. Vitart-
in her Introduction: "There is a Third World Fardoulis tells us that now the skin can be
in every First World, and vice versa." (A walk decoded ethnographically in terms of its
in many neighbourhoods of Greater New York combined 'masculine' and 'feminine' graphic
easily confirms the first part of her statement!) styles and understood in the context of a
Old geo-political oppositions are transformed probable role in specific ceremonies. But the
into sectors within Western and non-Western meaningful contexts are not exhausted. The
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 23:23 05 February 2016

societies. Hot/cold, historical/mythic, story takes a new turn:

modern/traditional, literate/oral, country/city,
centre/periphery, first/third,...are subject to The grandson of one of the Indians who came to Paris
local mix and match, contextual/tactical with Buffalo Bill was searching for the [painted skin]
shifting, syncretic recombination, import- tunic his Grandfather had been forced to sell to pay
export. Culture is migration as well as rooting his way back to the United States when the circus
collapsed. I showed him all the tunics in our
— within and between groups, within and collection, and he paused before one of them.
between individual persons. Controlling his emotion he spoke. He told the
A significant provocation for these changes meaning of this lock of hair, of that design, why this
of orientation has clearly been the emergence color had been used, the meaning of that
feather...And this garment, formerly beautiful and
of non-Western and feminist subjects whose interesting but passive and indifferent, little by little
works and discourses are different, strong, and became meaningful, active testimony to a living
complex, but clearly not 'authentic' in moment through the mediation of someone who did
conventional ways. These emergent subjects not observe and analyze but who lived the object and
for whom the object lived. It scarcely matters whether
can no longer be marginalized. They speak not the tunic is really his grandfather's.
only for endangered 'traditions', but also for
crucial human futures. New definitions of I don't know what's going on in this encounter.
authenticity (cultural, personal, artistic) are But I'm pretty sure two things are not
making themselves felt, definitions no longer happening: 1) The grandson is not replacing
centred on a salvaged past. Rather, authenticity the object in its original or 'authentic' cultural
is reconceived as hybrid, creative activity in a context. That is long past. His encounter with
local present-becoming-future. Non-Western the painted skin is part of a modern re-
cultural and artistic works are implicated by an collection. 2) The painted tunic is not being
interconnected world cultural system without appreciated as art, an aesthetic object. The
necessarily being swamped by it. Local encounter is too specific, too enmeshed in
structures produce histories rather than simply family history and ethnic memory. Some
yielding to History. aspects of 'cultural' and 'aesthetic'
What kinds of cultural and artistic histories appropriation are certainly at work. But they
are being produced? I'll end with a few occur within a current tribal history, a different
examples drawn from the ongoing invention temporality (and authencity) from that
of Native American culture and art. governed by 'the salvage paradigm'. The old
Anne Vitart-Fardoulis, a curator at the Muse"e painted tunic becomes newly, traditionally,
de l'Homme, recently published a sensitive meaningful in the context of a present-
account of the aesthetic, historical, and cultural becoming-future .
discourses routinely used to explicate This currency of 'tribal' artifacts is becoming
individual museum objects. (See the new increasingly visible to non-Indians. Many new
journal Gradhiva, No. 1,1986, published by the tribal recognition claims are pending at the
Archives Division of the Musie de l'Homme.) Bureau of the Interior. And whether or not they
Vitart-Fardoulis discusses a famous, intricately are formally successful matters less than what
painted animal skin (its present name: M.H. they make manifest: the historical and political
 76

reality of Indian survival and resurgence, a developed for the curio trade, quilts, and
force that impinges on Western art-and-culture decorated leather cases (peyote kits modeled
collections. The 'proper' place of many objects on old-fashioned toolboxes).
in museums is now subject to contest. The Zuni Since the Native American Church, in whose
who prevented the loan of a War God from ceremonies the peyote kits are used, did not
Berlin to the Museum of Modern Art in 1984 exist in the nineteenth-century, their claim to
were challenging the dominant art-culture traditional status cannot be based on age. A
system. For in traditional Zuni belief, War God stronger historical claim can, in fact, be made
figures are sacred and dangerous. They are not for many productions of the 'curio trade', for
ethnographic artifacts, and they are certainly the beaded 'fancys' (hanging birds, mirror
not 'art'. Zuni claims on these objects frames) made by Matilda Hill, a Tuscarora who
specifically reject their 'promotion' (in all senses sells at Niagara Falls:
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 23:23 05 February 2016

of the term) to the status of aesthetic or

scientific treasures. "Just try telling Matilda Hill that her 'fancies' are
I'm not arguing that the only true home for tourist curios," said Mohawk Rick Hill, author of an
the objects in question is in 'the tribe' — a unpublished paper on the subject. "The Tuscarora
have been able to trade pieces like that bird or beaded
location that, in many cases, is far from frame at Niagara since the end of the war of 1812,
obvious. My point is only that the dominant, when they were granted exclusive rights, and she
interlocking contexts of art and anthropology wouldn't take kindly to anyone slighting her
are no longer self-evident and uricontested. culture!"
There are other contexts, histories, and futures
"Surely," Coe adds, "a trade privilege
in which non-Western objects and cultural
established at Niagara Falls in 1816 should be
records may 'belong'. The rare Maori artifacts
acceptable as tradition by now."
that recently toured museums in the United
Coe does not hesitate to commission new
States normally reside in New Zealand
'traditional' works. And he spends
Museums. But they are controlled by the
considerable time eliciting the specific meaning
traditional Maori authorities whose permission
of objects, as individual possessions and as
was required for them to leave the country.
tribal art. We see and hear particular artists; the
Here and elsewhere the circulation of museum
coexistence of spiritual, aesthetic, and
collections is significantly influenced by
commercial forces is always visible. Overall,
resurgent indigenous communities.
Coe's collecting project represents and
This current disturbance of Western advocates ongoing art forms that are both
collecting systems is reflected in a new book by related to and separate from dominant systems
Ralph Coe, Lost and Found Traditions, Native of aesthetic-ethnographic value. In Lost and
American Art: 1965-1985,1986. It is a coffee-table Found Traditions authenticity is something
book: we have not transcended collecting or produced not salvaged. Coe's collection, for all
appropriation. And once again, a White its love of the past, gathers future.
authority 'discovers' true tribal art — but this A long chapter on 'tradition' resists
time with significant differences. The hundreds summary. For the diverse statements quoted
of photographs in Coe's collection document from practicing Native American artists, old
recent works, some made for local use, some and young, do not reproduce prevailing
for sale to Indians or White outsiders. Beautiful Western definitions. Let me end with a few
objects — many formerly classified as 'curios', quotations. They suggest to me a concrete,
'folk art' or 'tourist art' — are located in nonlinear sense of history — forms of memory
ongoing, inventive traditions. Coe effectively and invention, re-collection and emergence,
questions the widespread assumption that fine that offer a different temporality for art — and
tribal work is disappearing. And he throws cultural collecting.
doubt on common criteria for judging purity
and authenticity. In his collection, among
Whites think of our experience as the past. We know
recognizably traditional katchinas, totem poles, it is right here with us.
blankets, and plaited baskets we find skillfully
beaded tennis shoes and baseball caps, articles We always begin our summer dances with a song that
 77

repeats only four words, over and over. They don't Our job as artists is to go beyond, which implies a
mean much of anything in English, "young chiefs love of change, [always accomplished with] traditions
stand up." To us those words demonstrate our pride in mind, by talking to the elders of the tribe and by
in our lineage and our happiness in always being with your grandparents. The stories they tell
remembering it. It is a happy song. Tradition is not are just amazing. When you become exposed to
something you gab about...It's in the doing... them, everything becomes a reflection of those
events. There's a great deal of satisfaction being an
artist of traditions.
Your tradition is 'there' always. You're flexible
enough to make of it what you want. It's always with
you. I pray to the old pots at the ruins and dream
about making pottery. I tell them I want to learn it. We've always had charms; everything that's new is
We live for today, but never forget the past... old with us.
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 23:23 05 February 2016

A slightly longer version of this article was published in English in Discussions in Contemporary
Culture, No. 1, Ed. Hal Foster, Dia Art Foundation, Bay Press, New York & Seattle, 1987.
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 23:23 05 February 2016
 79

OTHER CARTOGRAPHIES
JEAN FISHER
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:30 16 April 2016

He reaches the unknown, and when, bewildered, he cartographies by which Eurocentric societies
ends by losing the intelligence of his visions, he has
secured their economic dominance of the world
seen them. Let him die as he leaps through unheard remain largely in place. Current liberal or 'New
of and unnameable things.1
Arthur Rimbaud Age' enthusiasm for what it calls native
'spirituality' or 'mysticism' not only obfuscates
the nature of different belief structures, but
Are we capable now of leaping through works to conceal a political relation between
"unheard of and unnameable things", of metropolitan capitalist enclaves and the rest of
responding to the demands of the other who the world. In effect, it perpetuates native
is the other side of consciousness, the Outside disempowerment. To recognise the spiritual
that is always interior to our thoughts? We and ecological failure of the capitalist
might hope that this is what is augured by enterprise, or to acknowledge the validity of
Magiciens de la Terre; but why do we hesitate, non-European belief structures, does not
throw doubt upon the authenticity of this reinstate the legitimacy of others still
project? The recent interest shown by our subjugated by alien forces. Our language
cultural institutions in creative work outside the continues to map a landscape of fictive
paradigms of modernism raises the suspicion identities from the fragments of history and
that, as so often in the past, the West is turning fantasy in the interests of Western power
to other worlds to revitalize itself in the face of structures.
a spiritual and sociopolitical bankruptcy. The That cultural and academic institutions are
crisis of modernity, according to postmodern complicit in these structures, despite their
debates, involves not only a loss of ethical and claims to neutrality, has been well argued by
historical consciousness to the vacuous signs Edward Said, who maintains that "political
of mass consumerism — a paralysis of the will, imperialism governs an entire field of study,
but a loss of the world to the voracious geo- imagination, and scholarly institutions — in
political machine of multinational capitalism. such a way as to make its avoidance an
In Magiciens de la Terre, the conjunction of multi- intellectual arid historical impossibility."2
ethnicity with an invocation of spirituality does Within the field of art, objects have simply been
not allay fears that another chapter in the relocated from the trading-post to the museum,
narrative of global annexation is in process. The and remapped according to Western codes of
West's traditionally anthropocentric search for aesthetic pleasure. This ahistorical
lost Utopias has never resulted in an equal homogenising process is antagonistic to the
exchange with others; and the racial, human rights agendas of indigenous
ideological, historical and physical populations seeking self-empowerment and
 80

identity from among the fragments of This is what I feel to be the productive
traditional values adrift in the murky wake of intention of a short film, Harold of Orange,
colonialism. The question here is not how do 1984,3 scripted by the Anishinabe writer,
we make the artefacts of others 'fit' our Gerald Vizenor. Vizenor is by no means
institutions, what universalizing principles can representative of a Native American point of
we invent to incorporate them into our view; there is no such homogeneous
exhibitions, but how do we interrogate and constituency outside a shared experience of
dismantle the assumptions upon which our colonialism. Vizenor's perspective is drawn
institutions are based. perhaps from the borderlands of a dual cultural
Foremost on the agendas of indigenous experience, that of urbanised and educated
peoples is the struggle for land rights. For Native Americans and metis. But while it is a
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:30 16 April 2016

many, it is the earth that legitimizes cultural perspective that particularly concerns us here,
identity; and creative acts are the events which it must be said that it does not necessarily find
map an intimate bonding of bodies — earth, approval from those who strongly believe that
community, self. This hardly constitutes a the only 'authentic' Native American voice can
mystical, superstitious or supernatural relation come from the reservation. This internal debate
to the world. Rather, it concerns what is between the pastoral and the metropolitan,
intrinsic to nature perceived as a material or with all its complex ramifications, remains
concrete reality. If we have imposed a largely unresolvable as a result of the divisive
terminology of fear and superstition on the policies of government agencies who have
artefacts and ceremonials of others it is because crippled those structures by which indigenous
our own language is inadequate to describe people traditionally conducted their debates.
what is outside a narrowly interpreted Judeo- But since the repression of the American Indian
Christian tradition that has lost touch with the Movement, and in the absence of an effective
real, with nature as the embodiment of life- juridical or political platform, cultural activism
force. When, for instance, a Native American (whether it takes the form of a regeneration of
elder states that he has 'swum with the fishes' tribal ceremonial or an engagement with
he indicates that it is in his relation to the contemporary forms of communication) has
natural world that he comes to understand acquired a double task: to fight against national
himself and his place within it. Metaphor here indifference to the economo-political situation
functions not as a rhetorical trope but as a literal of indigenous Americans; and to mobilise the
truth in a conceptualization of the world that peoples themselves to fight against what Asiba
the West has not only poorly understood but Tupahache has astutely argued to be a tragic
has too often actively held in contempt. Can internalisation of the "victim-perpetrator-
we seriously, and without cynicism, still believe facilitator" cycle of abuse against ethnic
'of the earth' to be a matter of aesthetics or minorities.4
'spirituality' without acknowledging that for Harold of Orange is a satirical tale of cultural
others, suffering the consequences of Western terrorism which explores the possibility of
barbarism, it is fundamentally a political issue? remapping native identities in and against a
The legacy of the West's assault on the 'no-man's land' of untenable cultural signs.
territorial bodies of others is a topography of The storyteller and major protagonist, Harold
ambivalent and .often paradoxical signs, a Sinseer, presents the Warriors of Orange
mutilated body across which a coherent whose veiled war of attrition deploys the
identity can no longer be mapped. Not psychological strategies of Indian warfare
surprisingly, cultural bricolage has become a (doubling back, laying false trails, and setting
common strategy among cultural workers decoys) to confuse the enemy. The Warriors are
trying to make sense of the paradoxes of their "tribal tricksters" who, "word-driven" from
own experience; and if there is a role for a the land, are now "returning in mythic time
'magician' here, it is to 'conjure' a critical space to reclaim their estate from the white man."
in which cultural difference may be The action takes place in and around a
comprehended and nurtured in all its reservation that might be somewhere in
heterogeneity and ambiguity. Minnesota. It is assumed that the audience is
 81

aware that reservations, controlled by the and loss — that circulate around the recurrence
Bureau of Indian Affairs, typically have the of a debt. There is the smug account by one
highest mortality rate, poverty, unemployment committee member of his family's 'acquisition'
and alcoholism in the USA. This form of control of tribal artefacts: as the people were 'word-
is not fortuitous. The reservation was instituted driven' from the land, so they were cheated out
as the site of cultural difference: the non-place of their past. There is the Warriors' 'giving' of
assigned to the Indian body — a body removed 'Indian' names — place names, representing a
from its homeland, enclosed, domesticated, roguish return of another 'property' belonging
observed, robbed of its cultural memory, and to the history of native dispossession. In
reinscribed with non-threatening signs of Harold's previous association with Fanny, we
'Indianness'. are told, he assisted her research into oral
literature. There is a resonance here of the
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:30 16 April 2016

The Warriors' School of Acupuncture is

dedicated to tapping into the resources of a Indian 'gift', an economy of sharing wealth,
liberal American foundation that funds worthy wholly incompatible, if not thoroughly
projects on the reservation, and it has no incomprehensible, to individual capital
compuncture about manipulating white guilt accumulation upon which Western economy is
and ignorance, pious charity, or taste for the based. Then, finally, there is the passage of the
exotic. Seeking imaginative ways to secure a cheque itself — the flow of capital as it maps
foundation grant, the Warriors have devised a the relations of power.
fictitious scheme to grow 'pinch' beans and to Emerging from this web of im-proper
install coffee houses on the reservation in a exchanges is the recounting of a debt that
parody of white gentility. The winning card in repeatedly produces the absent figure of the
their game is that coffee will assist in the 'sober unburied grandmother. What precisely is called
revolution' to eradicate alcoholism. To support forth here? The colonised body is a vampirised
their proposal the Warriors invite the grant body; it arises as a debt — a depletion of blood,
approval committee on a tour of 'Indian sites' of identity — and it cannot be settled or buried
and 'tribal ceremonials', which include such since it perpetuates an inexhaustible demand.
'traditions' as eating Indian fry-bread in a car- If we consider the symbolic function of the
park (it is not uncommon to find such facilities grandmother in relation to this draining of
built on sacred sites); giving 'Indian' names; colonised communities, then she appears as the
visiting an anthropological museum (the site of recollection: of the recounting of stories
inaccessible repository of tribal heritage); and that are the bearers of beliefs and values. She
playing soft-ball where each team wears the is the sign of continuity: a genealogy, a line
other's colours while Harold, as the back to cultural memory. Hence in Harold of
polymorphous instigator of this charade, wears Orange what otherwise refuses to be laid to rest,
both.5 what constantly appears, is tradition —
The Warriors' scheme almost fails when the tradition, not in the sense of nostalgia for what
committee's adviser, Fanny, who has prior once was, but as a production of meaning. The
experience of Harold's trickery, .threatens to debt, the circulating residue in the exchange
withdraw her support from the project unless between disparate cultural entities, is the
he repays a financial debt incurred during their constant production of otherness.
earlier encounter. After several unsuccessful It is here that the figure of trickster (whom
attempts, Harold wheedles a cheque from the we will call 'he' but our gender distinctions are
foundation director using the same deception probably inappropriate) takes on a particular
he used earlier with Fanny — that he needed resonance. Harold's trickster-warriors mean to
money to bury his grandmother. This cheque reclaim their 'estate' from the white man.
is reluctantly handed over to Fanny. Vizenor, whose use of the English language is
It is in the implications of this sub-plot that uncommonly subtle, means, I imagine, more
the satirical mask shifts beyond the verbal play than a simple reclamation of territory or landed
on Anglo racism to reveal something of the real property (a white man's concept). In any case,
issues at stake. Vizenor's text describes a in the present political climate such an
number of exchanges of property — possession aspiration is at best a fantasy, and trickster is
 82

too canny to dream the present-impossible. No, wherever the West has made reservations of
what trickster means to reclaim as his 'estate' repression, although we may not always
is his right to difference, his right to map his recognise him. And his disguises may not
identity according to the myriad of traces that always be benign. But whenever we tremble
have constituted him as the product of a at the sound of a diabolical and savage laughter
historical process. Bewildered, he has seen his we will know he is close by. He is in the
visions, and understands well that the more he obduracy of Nelson Mandela, the blood
undermines and disseminates confusion in the sacrifice of the IRA, the merry laughter of
language of the Other, the more he produces African women as they invent the 'traditional'
difference. And in difference he can dream stories to accompany their tourist baskets:
other cartographies of the self. wherever a piece of life, a handful of earth, a
Downloaded by [Library Services City University London] at 00:30 16 April 2016

Is trickster a magician? Perhaps. But he is thought, is snatched from the all-consuming

more certainly 'of the earth'. A pragmatist, a vampiric machine of capitalism and its
cultural terrorist, a dice-thrower and supporting institutions. Trickster does not
manipulator of the main chance, not a conjuror always win his game; but then, as the earth
of the supernatural. His self-appointed role as fragments before the onslaught of unrestrained
sauvage savant is a masquerade designed to fulfil abuses, we also shall lose.
a more serious purpose. Trickster is not, and
never was, an anthropocentric subject
possessing mastery of his world; rather, he Footnotes
exists in a dialogical relation with it. In oral
tradition he often appears as a transformer, 1. Arthur Rimbaud, 'Lettre au Voyant', in Completed
harmonizing (but by no means eradicating) the Works and Selected Letters, ed. W. Fowlie, University
contradictions of life. Most importantly, he of Chicago Press, 1966, p.307.
2. Edward Said, Orientalism, Routledge & Kegan
seems to be a figure who refuses inertia; one Paul, London and Henley, 1978.
who acts, not always to his own advantage, 3. Harold of Orange, 1984, 16mm colour film, 30min.
upon the circumstances in which he finds duration. Directed by Richard Weise, scripted by
himself. As such, one might speculate that Gerald Vizenor, and starring the Native American
trickster's resurrection in contemporary actor and comedian, Charlie Hill. Distributed by Film
in the Cities, Minneapolis.
indigenous American art and literature is 4. Asiba Tupahache, Taking Another Look, Spirit of
symptomatic of the collectivity of selves that January, Great Neck, NY, 1986.
constitutes 'Indian subjectivity' as an effect of 5. The game is played to the strains of the William
Anglo-Indian history, and of a renewed Tell Overture which, as some of us may remember,
was adopted as the signature tune of the TV cowboy
demand for positive action. Lone Ranger whose side-kick was the polite and
Trickster is everywhere in the world, trusty savage, Tonto.
 83

DOCTOR EXPLORER
CHIEF CURATOR
YVES MICHAUD
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:38 16 April 2016

We need exhibitions that question the boundaries of It is not that it is particularly inherently
art and of the art world, an influx of truly indigestible exciting to break rules,3 but, once started, one
'outside' artifacts. The relations of power whereby
one portion of humanity can select, value, and collect should not stop half way. If anything can be
the pure products of others need to be criticized and art, a signature, a telegram, a safe, a bit of
transformed. This is no small task. In the mean time ochre, a smile or a piece of tent-canvas, if the
one can at least imagine shows that feature the central maxim of aesthetic anarchism is just the
impure, 'inauthentic' productions of past and present same as that of epistemological anarchism, if
tribal life; exhibitions radically heterogeneous in their
global mix of styles; exhibitions that locate themselves 'anything goes', if all is difference and
in specific multicultural junctures; exhibitions whose fragmented discourse, why should we hold
principles of incorporation are openly questionable.1 back by granting a certain dignity or giving our
particular blessing to the great white (and
preferably Anglo-American) magicians whilst
In any case an exhibition such as Magiciens de ignoring the magicians of the periphery?4 Why
la terre will have some positive aspects. do we always have to make fetishes of those
Whatever reservations one might have had or awards made by white (and preferably Anglo-
might continue to have about its title, about the American) intellectuals which sanctify the very
spirit of the project, about the selection of artists market they perpetuate?
and goodness knows what else, it will have the In short, we should continue to break down
one initial healthy effect of undermining all distinctions — and, to ensure that they
various received truths about art. The twentieth disappear for good, we should exhibit not only
century will be seen as the century that the work of the sorcerers of the slums and of
questioned aesthetic norms and academic the 'beaux quartiers' side by side, but,
codes.2 This questioning must be continued. alongside them, the work of those
Frenchmen, Frenchwomen, the revolution still stakhanovites who churn out the paintings in
has some way to go! The next step will be to hotel corridors, of retired railway employees
place high art and popular art on the same and of producers of Virgin Mary statuettes. If
level, to challenge the sacrosanct distinction all is art, then let's go all the way and let
between 'avant-garde' and 'kitsch'. From this Lourdes meet the Aborigines, let everyone
point of view Magiciens de la terre continues that indulge in his or her own dream. If we take one
process of de-defining art and has already further step then perhaps explorers will cross
started that next step, because much of what the bocage of the Vendee on their way to New
is exhibited here is both art and kitsch, both fine Guinea. After all, the place where Levi-Strauss
art and decorative art, both high art and popular felt most at home as an explorer was New York.
art, kitsch and not avant-garde — art and not art. This really isn't a joke.
 84

Centre and periphery. It is also one of the no essence except as a political, cultural
strong points of the exhibition that it exposes invention, a local tactic."6 The exotic is within
this false distinction and tackles it head on. The striking distance, not only by a charter-flight
generation that saw the triumph of art as a to the other side of the world, but right here,
cultural phenomenon has also witnessed first in our midst. We are just as exotic to others as
the polarization of the two superpowers, they are to us.
followed by the further polarization of Whether one likes it or not, the merit of
industrialized countries and Third World. We Magiciens de la terre will be to show this cross-
failed to notice what was already right under fertilization and this generalization and this
our noses, the fact that the Third World is also general reciprocity. In his excellent article on
here with us, within virtual spitting distance, the exhibition 'Primitivism' in 20th Century Art:
on the edge of our cities, in our high-rise blocks Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern (The
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:38 16 April 2016

of flats. Neither did we notice that the Third Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1984),
World will not always be the Third World, that Thomas McEvilley expressed this reciprocity of
it sells us not only the obvious raw materials, 'borrowing' in a memorable phrase: "our
tourism and immigrant labour, but also T-shirts garbage is their art, their garbage is our art". 7
and televisions, gadgets and computers. For his part Clifford sees surrealism from the
Surely, the centre will always exist: it will be point of view of an ethnology of "Cultural
just where we are, a simple indicator of impurity and disruptive syncretisms."8 He
subjectivitiy. Yet this clearly shows that we can speaks of a surrealist moment in ethnography,
never really tell where it is amongst the "that moment when the possibility of
multiplicity of levels of activity, tension and comparison shoots up in an immediate tension
stimulation. There are cross exchanges like with the pure and simple incongruity."9
multiple circuits, few of which are regulated Magiciens de la terre should produce that
and few of which are organized, and even surrealist moment of incongruity found in
fewer that occur in a way that we would choose contemporary art, and in a considerably more
if we could control them. This much is, of striking manner than do ready-mades artily
course, already known. We know about arranged amongst paintings; that, after all, is
borrowing in art; we know that Pergamon's still our world. Needless to say, in the two
sculpture borrowed from Hindu sculpture, that exhibition sites, some compartmentalization
Roman art borrowed from Greek art, we know has taken place; the architects have made their
about the recycling of Italian Renaissance own arrangements, everything is managed so
architecture, neoclassicism, orientalism, that no feelings are hurt, but that will not affect
japonism, primitivism etc. It is essential to the "pure and simple incongruity". Those who
realize, though — and Magiciens de la terre will have no stomach for the surreal, the
help us in this — that these exchanges are not polylogical, the Bakhtinian "carnivalesque"
just one-way. Culture, to use the title of James will not like it — starting with those artists who
Clifford's book, is a predicament.5 Adapting earnestly trace their own career and artistic
the first line of a William Carlos Williams poem, roots in a past that they do not authentically
he says "The pure products of culture have despise.
gone crazy." The apparently pure products Despite the cautious words and intentions of
probably never were. In any case nowadays the organizers, the exhibition's effects will be
there is certainly not on the one hand a lost beyond their control. Indeed the actual effect
world, whether spoiled or authentic, and on of the exhibition never quite matches the
the other a glorious or ruined future. The organizers' aims: many visitors are ignorant or
notion of two equally pure identities is just a unobservant, display-cases are badly lit, works
fantasy. Our roots are not pure and they will have had to be transported from God knows
be even less so in the future. Everywhere new where or when in space and time, or the
identities are under construction. This does not museum director has just failed to make himself
happen painlessly and, in any case, these understood.
constructions will be composite. As Clifford Yet here the scale of disorientation changes.
says, "if authenticity is relational, there can be The organizers of the exhibition present us with
 85

a collection of objects for which either we have transparent in the interpretation of gestures,
no criteria for perception, or for which we have behaviour or belief, that is to say, in the
confused criteria, or for which we have no interpretation of works of art. We must accept
relevant criteria. Do we actually have any that when we perceive aesthetically, we are
criteria by which to perceive an Australian using clearly defined criteria.11 For Buren we
Aborigine dreaming? For most of us it is the possess some of these criteria, derived in
same infantile and elementary criteria which particular from the recent history of this sort
attract us to multicoloured bead necklaces and of artistic activity, for Jeff Wall a few as well,
small glass objects.10 By what criteria can we and as for Che'ri Samba we can at least believe
judge Chen Samba? Might not these be the we have them. For the Aboriginal artists we
same as those by which we perceive Jeff Wall could always read John Mundine's article in
or Cucchi? Conversely, are we so certain about this edition of Cahiers, and so on. In fact,
what there is to be seen when we look at Buren uncertainty, far from disappearing, snowballs,
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:38 16 April 2016

or Polke? Disorientation works in all directions: and in addition to all these heterogenous
it is what we feel before an 'exotic' work, also uncertainties is the effect caused by this
the feeling which is produced when we look melting-pot of different items, this Tower of
at the exotic from much closer to home. Babel of different places. You'd have to be
A fascinating feeling of otherness will follow, pretty smart even to begin to imagine you could
as long as it is accepted as a disorientating force master all these effects. Magiciens de la terre will
and not channelled into a conventional make people think, strike them dumb or
• aesthetic discourse. It is on this point that I bewilder them; the exhibition is in no danger
have, I confess, had reservations about the of giving any clues as to "the general
organizers' aesthetic discourse. contemporary tendencies in world art". As we
could tell, the exhibition will be the ruin of
They claim not to have included in the those experts currently in fashion.
exhibition those works "which completely But for all that, it is not the aesthetes who
escape all our aesthetic categories and criteria", will win the day. The exhibition will also be the
nor to have included those which depend too downfall of taste, since there will be no norm
heavily on their context. They also claim to except what is socially determined by the
have privileged the value of intrinsically visual public. It will trigger off deep-rooted desires,
communication in objects. I must confess to fantasies, whims; those strange motives at the
being unable to understand in what the value heart of both the desire to collect and the
of intrinsically visual communication might pleasure derived from curiosity. Everyone will
consist, especially if what is meant is something be confronted by himself or herself and each
analogous to the 'natural' or immediate work will become part of a personal mythology.
meaning of a gesture, a posture or an The whole thing will be a lovely mess.
appearance. The analyses of philosophers like That is probably not the way the organizers
Wittgenstein or Davidson have more than see it. They have adopted a universalizing
amply demonstrated the presence of aesthetic — an aesthetic that is articulated in the
convention in what seems completely natural very title: Magiciens de la terre. I do not wish to
and obvious. If a gesture has immediate go into detail about what Jean-Hubert Martin
meaning, it is because we decide "charitably" said in his interview with Benjamin Buchloh,
— that is to say in virtue of what Davidson calls but merely to note the key points of this
a "charity principle" — to give it the meaning aesthetic since it plays a major role in the whole
that we give it in our tribe. That is the only way project.
to start a process of interpretation, so that, by It is a matter of the individual creator's
degrees, we can see that we are wrong, or, confidence, the radical energy of his work, his
more bizarrely, that something does not 'fit' sense of adventure or of danger, of the work's
without us really knowing why. Without originality in its cultural context, its
touching on philosophical considerations, inventiveness, of the degree of adequation
Badandall's Painting and Experience in Fifteenth between the man and his creation and of the
Century Italy, shows that there is nothing value of resistance and opposition to its
 86

environment. To which we might add that any kind of criteria, except when the explorer
these are generally the criteria by which we wishes to give the impression of being learned
judge contemporary art.12 and of having a mission, that he is not doing
One can make all kinds of criticisms of such all he does for fun, or because he is uncertain about
criteria. I shall set aside the fact that they are his mm identity.
overtly ethnocentric, which contrasts both with What is this mission?
the stated desire not to be ethnocentric, and Two ways of describing it can be identified.
with the general spirit of the project itself. I First of all, it is a humanist mission. When
wish rather to concentrate on what I believe to one reads the different accounts of the Magiciens
be an essential flaw: the vague, and indeed de la terre project and the emphasis placed on
functionally vague character of all these criteria. remarkable men, magicians, creators, those
After all, what exactly do we mean when we who endow objects with a spiritual value, one
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:38 16 April 2016

say that a work is inventive or original in its cannot help but hear faint echoes of Malraux's
cultural context, or that we can see an aesthetics in that celebration of the exemplary
adequation of man and work? We could mean individual, that conception of art as questioning
so many things that a whole range of artists of the world, that affirmation of the permanent
could be represented in Magiciens de la terre. value of the creative act.13 My remarks are not
Personally I am not sure whether artists such intended as a criticism for one very simple
as Buren, Oldenburg, Cucchi, Kirkeby or even reason, that it is very difficult, once one has
Haacke can really meet these kinds of criteria. started down the road of general aesthetics, to
As I write I cannot be sure whether my avoid two kinds of equally seductive and
doubts apply to the artists of the 'periphery' equally illusory discourses, Malraux's brand of
or not, but whether or not one has used two humanism and Greenberg's brand of
'aesthetic' yardsticks is not really what matters. formalism, two discourses which are, in spirit,
What has happened is that either one has used very closely related. In 1984, 'Primitiwsm' in
two aesthetic yardsticks, each appropriate to a 20th Century Art depended on a formalist
particular cultural domain, in doing which one universalism. The very universalism of
has, in effect, allowed any number of Magiciens de la terre almost inevitably, it seems
yardsticks: judgements will then have been to me, leads it to adopt the humanist version
made individually and empirically, and, at the of this universalism. This first interpretation is
end of the day, the result arrived at (which will certainly what comes to mind if one takes the
be no bad thing) will be that Teshigahara is, as organizers' stated aesthetic criteria seriously.
they say, 'worth exhibiting'. Or what it means A second interpretation, however, both
is that one has applied the same criteria and complements and extends the scope of the first.
it is just the same kind of art. These criteria are, One is led to ask if this opening up of our ways
however, so vague that they can perform any of seeing might not in fact be characteristically
function: their whole point is that they can postmodern. By postmodern Itobviouslydo not
either be presented as 'the same criteria' which mean the name that might be given to a style
can perform a proper function in every case, — which, except in the domain of banal
or as variable criteria which are adaptable to architecture and, moreover, taking into account
particular situations and flexible enough to cope the fact that degeneration of the postmodern
with the whole diversity of specific cases. It is into banality and kitsch is already fairly well
here that, paradoxically, universalization meets advanced, would be rather difficult to identify
casuistry. — but rather a way of looking, a sort of
How can we fail to see that these criteria are approach, which is fundamentally empiricist,
not criteria at all? Since, these days, the and, as I have already said, hyper-empiricist.
admission of an arbitrary, rhapsodic or In this respect, one must bear in mind that
subjective choice is just not the done thing, we postmodernism has a conceptual history that
feel obliged to foreground criteria, an aesthetic, largely overlaps the domain of aesthetics.
which may be no more than a sham, but which Feyerabend's first pieces defending an
cover anything we want them to. To put it epistemological anarchism and prefiguring the
another way, hyper-empiricism has no need of main slogan of Against Method ("Anything
 87

goes"), were written in 1963. They asserted phenomenon of official selections and the trap
nothing but the right to be "a good empiricist" of official art. But what at root does all of this
in the philosophy of science, in other words a mean? That they wanted to avoid the
radical opening up of our way of looking at phenomenon of displays that are only officially
scientists' actual procedure and approach. representative? Isn't that easier said than done?
Nothing here was open to criticism, except And in any case, who is representing what?
possibly that a little more reflection on They wanted to avoid the machinery of
relativism was needed. I do not believe that, making official nominations ("You will
in what followed, the postmodern position has represent us"), and also avoid the effects of any
ever wandered far from this constant calling fixed idea that official committees might have
into question, in the name of hyper-empiricism, developed about how a country should be
of canonical accounts in any field. The trouble properly represented ("You will be
is that if one commits oneself to a method that representative"). In this last sense, it is clear
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:38 16 April 2016

is anti-authoritarian, anti-obscurantist, anti- that many countries will consider themselves

monological, anti-nomological, anti-dogmatic, to be badly represented, or not to be
anti-anything, one soon ends up either in represented by good artists, these being the
undifferentiated darkness, like Hegel's night official artists, and, moreover, the presentable
where all the cows are black, or in what I shall and representative artists — one just cannot get
call 'dogmatic tolerance'. What I mean by this away from this vocabulary of representation.
is that starting from a pluralist, tolerant, open- But just suppose we have already succeeded
minded position, which is as yet quite flexible in doing so. Buren and Boltanski do not, in that
and unarticulated, one naturally goes on to case, represent France at the Magiciens de la terre
make a universalized representation in terms exhibition any more than the Yuendumu
of partial accounts, of differences, of local ways community represents Aboriginal Australians.
of understanding, to proclaim the reality of a Yet this last sentence straight away betrays its
world where all is possible, where all is own obvious impossibility. The Aborigines
interesting and all has a certain merit, just remain Australian Aborigines, and Buren and
• because our criteria make us see the world in Boltanski become what they are: French
that way. We cannot escape this new trap set Aborigines, or European Aborigines, or
by ethnocentrism, this trap set by a mild and Western Aborigines.
creeping form of ethnocentrism. Tolerance is Finally, if one asks what the exhibition is
of course present, because one is so open to so representative of, one is forced to admit that
many things, but dogmatism is present too, it actually gives a representation of the state of
because it is still in fact our point of view that creation, in the strong sense of the word, as it
legislates on the world. There is no great crime is seen by members of commissions and their
in this — except perhaps that it might be the assistants who are entrusted with the task of
case that things just do not happen like this. bureaucratizing the universal. It does not
To come to the point, what is that which matter that these bureaucrats will admit that
corresponds, in the domain of art, to what I they are fallible, that they did not see
have just described? A representation of a everything, that they were unable to show
world of art where the artists are, each in his everything, that they had to pick and choose
or her own manner, and in his or her own field and so forth; it is their very open-mindedness,
and genre, interesting, creative, innovative: a their empiricist spirit, which represents both
representation of a world of art where there is the best and the worst of their enterprise. They
a plurality of criteria founded on a bedrock of open our eyes to the diversity they have found.
aesthetic value. Yet whose words are these? Thank you. And I mean that most sincerely.
They belong to those who have both found that The explorer has completed his mission; he
world and chosen that world. In the case of comes to confirm and to strengthen our belief
Magiciens de la terre, since it is hardly a Biennale in the power and diversity of creation: as doctor
and even less of a world fair, the choice of explorer chief curator, as the title of my article
national selection committees was challenged suggests. He is explorer of the world in order
(and rightly so) in order to avoid the to be curator of our vision of the world, to look
 after it, to strengthen it. But perhaps even This is just one of the artifices of self-definition. In
though this is what interests us, it is not this any case the standards and principles that we both
that really matters; perhaps what is of local dream up and call into question, that we probably
dream up in order to question, have only served to
interest to people is a different matter, and it cover up a considerable diversity of kinds of art: high
would have been better to side not with a world art, popular art, decorative art, art as fetish, religious
which came to us because we brought it here art, secular art.
(who us?), but with a world where, here and 3. Because, in the final analysis, one ends up by
now, people are deeply engaged in political, seeing nothing: in that night where all the cows are
black... I shall come back to this in the course of the
social and creative acts which cannot be torn article.
from their context and whose aesthetic 4. Despite a considerable effort to give them a larger
significance is not universalizable, with a world role than usual, the relatively low number of women
which remains immovably there, where it artists is regrettable: there are clearly more magicians
Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 00:38 16 April 2016

belongs, even when it is brought here, to us. than magiciennes. Perhaps, though, the feminine of
'magician' is 'witch'... .
I do not know how one could show a world 5. James Clifford, op. cit.
as it is, where it is. Perhaps we should simply 6. Ibid., p.12.
align ourselves, committedly, with certain 7. Thomas McEvilley 'Doctor Lawyer Indian Chief
forms of expression in just the same way those Artforum, November 1984, p.59. The title of my article
who produce them do. is obviously inspired by McEvilley's work.
8. James Clifford, op. cit., p.131.
I do not want to make unfair criticisms of the 9. Ibid., p.146.
organizers, for their exhibition will, in any case, 10. Which ironically inverts the situation of the
for the reasons I have given, be a success. I savage being fascinated by our glass beads.
11. Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in
simply wish to ask the question as to whether Fifteenth Century Italy, Oxford, 1972. The whole book
artistic — and not aesthetic — values are local or is an exercise in identifying and reconstructing the
global. And to add that, for my part, I am criteria in a specific case in order to learn to see what
convinced they are local, that I am convinced the Italians saw, to enter into their vision of the world
that, to borrow a title of a book by Guy Brett, and in particular their vision of the artistic world.
12. See the exhibition's official press statement, p.6.
it is always a matter of seeing "through our own 13. "Though always tied up with history, the creative
eyes", which is to say, through their own eyes. act has never changed its nature from the far-off days
And to add, moreover, that it makes me sad of Sumer to those of the School of Paris, but has
to believe that there is really no centre except vouched throughout the ages for a conquest as old
as man. Though a Byzantine mosaic, a Rubens, a
there, where we just provisionally happen to work by Rembrandt and by Ce'zanne display a
be, where provisionally they happen to be, mastery distinct in its kind, each imbued in its own
every one of them. The world Magicians then run manner with that which has been mastered, all unite
the danger of being either very, very close to with the paintings of the Magdalenian epoch in
us, or very, very far away. speaking the immemorial language of Man the
conqueror, though the territory conquered was not
the same. The lesson of the Nara Buddha and of the
NOTES Sivaic Death Dancers is not a lesson of Buddhism or
Hinduism, and our Museum Without Walls opens
1. James Clifford, The Predicament of Culture, Harvard up a field of infinite possibilities bequeathed us by
University Press, 1988, p.213. the past, revealing long-forgotten vestiges of that
2. These codes were never quite so strict. I feel we unflagging creative drive which affirms man's
have invented a standardized past, a world where victorious presence." (A. Malraux, Voices of Silence,
standards were clear and respected in a similar way trans. S. Gilbert, St. Albans 1974, p.639). Take away
to the way we dream of a supposedly lost world, the proper names and one is left with something very
where values were respected, where things made similar to the declared aims of the Magiciens de la terre
sense, where things could just be what they were. project.
 89

EARTH AND MUSEUM

LOCAL AND GLOBAL?
GUY BRETT
Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 22:21 12 March 2016

The title of the proposed Paris exhibition, as a place from which to speak, and the second
one of the few pieces of information available is detached: the terre of privilege, of power,
in advance, inevitably made one ask oneself: which with every passing day seems to become
who is speaking, and to whom? more abstract, mobile, and in fact harder to
Magiciens. To describe any Western artist 'localise'.
today as a magician (Picasso, say) would The terms move quickly to a polarized
probably be found only in advertising copy. In antithesis. At one end of the scale is the
current art discourse it would be considered experience of peoples who traditionally have
trite, paradoxically a dis-empowering word that "a concept of self as an integral part of the
would weaken the relationship between the social body whose history and knowledge are
aesthetic and social dimensions in an artist's inscribed across a particular body of land", as
practice. 'Magician' appears in the title as a way Jean Fisher has described for Native Americans.
of cementing links which the exhibition In this view "territory is a living entity to be
apparently intends to make between nurtured and respected as the literal body of
metropolitan artists and those working in the self".1 The other end of the scale is at an
religious contexts in certain African, Asian and extreme of technological overdevelopment,
Latin American societies. But in doing so the revealingly expressed by Jean Baudrillard in
term rebounds, and inexorably reveals its terms of the pilot's or driver's perception,
nature as a 'primitivist projection'. radically alienated from the earth as also from
De la Terre. In its close association with the body.2
Magician as a message/massage of evocative These antagonisms, in their extreme form,
words, the word 'land' {terre) has obviously seem to enter into the very definition of art. In
been used here with a double meaning: terre the world today indigenous peoples —
as the physical substance, signifying the aboriginal groups in Australia, Maori in New
elemental, the basic; and terre as the world, the Zealand, Native Americans in North and South
planet. But as these two meanings begin to America — are engaged in a continuous effort
diverge, the one standing for the concrete, the to maintain the association of their cultural
particular, the local (or in art-language the 'site legacy with their present predicament,
specific'), the other for a general concept of especially their struggle for land rights. At the
totality, of overview — a gulf appears between same time certain institutions — museums and
two different kinds of experience. The first more recently the giant corporations which
associates terre with a desperate struggle, a sponsor museum exhibitions — are trying
'land-rights' struggle, either to regain equally hard to disassociate these two realities.
appropriated land or simply for a place to live, Canada has recently been the scene of some
 90

clear examples. At the 1986 World Fair, the metropolitan exhibition-goer, are in fact both
authorities decided they could not allow the being duped by the same corporate power
native peoples themselves to control a space in which, as it grows, integrates the production
the projected 'Indians of Canada' pavilion plant, the museum, the state and the media in
. because they would use it to draw attention to a single hegemony (the underlying meaning of
their present-day struggles, especially land 'corporate sponsorship of the arts'). The threat
struggles. And last year, an exhibition of of this power at a local level, as well as its ever-
historical Native American artefacts at the widening circles, can be vividly felt in an
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, associated with illuminating short book by Eric Michaels about
the Winter Olympics, was boycotted by the the efforts of an aboriginal group in central
Lubicon Cree Indians. Oil companies involved Australia — the Warlpiri — to set up a local TV
Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 22:21 12 March 2016

in sponsoring the show operate in the area of station.5 The Walpiri were implicated not only
Northern Alberta where the Lubicon Cree live, in a power struggle — to transmit
and where they have been fighting a bitter land autonomously their own programmes in the
claim dispute with the federal and provincial face of the official national media — but also
government for 50 years. a cultural struggle, to articulate alternative
The Calgary exhibition's title, The Spirit Sings, 'aboriginalities' to the standardized and
contrasted strangely with the words of Bernard ethnicised images of themselves issuing from
Omniak, the Lubicon Cree Chief: "What's the same centralized sources. Michaels
happening now is that our people are slowly describes how, in assisting the Warlpiri video-
being killed. I think a lot of times our people maker Francis Jupurrurla Kelly to make tapes,
would be far better off if someone came up to he realised that aboriginal history is intimately
them and got rid of them instantly. Anything related to land and place: "Any story comes
so we wouldn't be dying a slow death." And from a particular place, and travels from there
he himself pointed out the glaring to here, forging links which define the tracks
contradiction: "Our culture is being glorified over which people and ceremonies travel."6
by the same people who are doing the damage Contradictions immediately arise, and indeed
to the Native people in our area." 3 The oil Michaels reports that Francis Jupurrurla Kelly
companies are deeply implicated in the local, and the Warlpiri themselves see TV as a two-
but their appeal is to the general, universal edged sword, both a blessing and a curse. They
space of 'culture' which corresponds to their wish to "identify their art and describe it to the
own abstract and global power. The Native rest of the world", but at the same time to avoid
Americans on the other hand have to move losing control of it in the process of
from the universal to the local: from our reproduction and circulation which video
celebration of their artefacts as masterpieces of makes possible. Will it remain a cultural
'world art' to what is actually happening in experience based in material history or be
their territory. Naturally the big corporations swallowed up
show their 'dependency' — on an artistic
vitality and beauty they could not produce in a particular named future whose characteristics are
themselves and to which their logo is quite implied by that remarkable word 'Lifestyle'? This
superfluous and marginal. But they have term now substitutes everywhere for the term culture
to indicate the latter's demise in a period of ultra-
clearly realized that they can make use of the merchandise...Lifestyles are...assemblages of
way our culture creates an aesthetic centered commodified symbols, operating in concert as
on the object and its contemplation, isolated packages which can be bought, sold, traded or
from the rest of reality.4 Their real power lies lost...Warlpiri people, when projected into this
in the narrow specialization they count on in lifestyle future, cease to be Warlpiri: they are
subsumed as 'Aborigines', in an effort to invent them
their public: our refusal to take responsibility as a sort of special ethnic group able to be inserted
for the whole. We begin to read the verbal into the fragile fantasies of contemporary Australian
message of the Calgary's exhibition's title, not multiculturalism.7
as uplifting, but as almost sinister: a sign that
we are being duped. It is not difficult to recognize in this 'lifestyle
In this process the colonized group, and the future', the same process, mediated perhaps
 91

by the same transnational corporations, at work Helio Oiticica's work was in the mid-'60s at
in 'our own' culture. For have not the the forefront of modernity. At the Sao Paulo
subversive and emancipatory projects of the Biennale of 1965 he had exhibited some
20th century avant-garde — from the surrealists mysteriously beautiful works which were like
at one pole, with their proposals to 'liberate no other objects around at that time: glass
desire', to the constructivists at the other, with containers, or flasks, filled with red earth or a
their plans to transform the environment — mass of brilliant pigment around a core of
been reduced, first by the art market and then flame-like gauze and cloth, Oiticica's generic
by the wider market of lifestyle, to the same
bland range of designer-commodities? And has
this not necessitated new strategies by artists
which resist, or at least reflect on, exactly this
Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 22:21 12 March 2016

HELIO OITICICA Mosquito of Mangueira

process in order to regain the social value and
wearing Cape 6, 1965
efficacy of art which the earlier generations had
searched for? The 'ethnic' package and the
'modernist' package are side by side on the
shelf.
This fact, I think, has not been lost on a
number of artists of the avant-garde in the last
20 years. Their explorations of the "relationship
between cultures" (one of the stated themes
of the Paris exhibit) has been inseparable from
an attack on the inherited bourgeois concept
of art (which is so entwined with the modern
forms of colonialism and oppressive power).
Whether the Paris exhibit will bring such work
to light, or will treat the whole subject as an
'instant' phenomenon, remains to be seen. It
is important to grasp the historical moment and
social context of its first appearance, and the
problematics in which it intervened. Not that
we are merely talking here about points in a
debate, or about single issues. The
characteristic of art is to search for complexity
and depth of metaphor.
I would like here, in the space available, to
draw attention to such complex metaphors in
the work of three artists of different origins,
who have viewed the "relationship between
cultures" from different positions: Helio
Oiticica, a Brazilian who died in 1980 at the age
of 43 and who positioned himself audaciously
between the avant-garde, Brazilian popular
culture, the realities of 'underdevelopment'
and '60s radicalism; the American artist Susan
Hiller, who was perhaps the first to incorporate
an ironical anthropological critique as a visual
art practice, in a criss-crossing network of
themes she is still developing, and the Filipino
artist David Medalla, who over 25 years has
continually re-inyented the terms of an
experimental dialogue between art and life.
 92
Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 22:21 12 March 2016

SUSAN HILLER Fragments (Installation detafl) 1978

Courtesy PAT HEARN GALLERY, New York

the frame. His early experiments were to move

in Portugese) conceived of the object, not in from that plane to the environmental space,
terms of formal relationships, but as an 'energy and from a purely optical to a 'bodily' sensation
centre' which draws spectators close ("like a of colour. From then on, his acute analysis of
fire", as he . once remarked) and invites the new art movements in Europe and North
manipulation. America became closely bound up with his self-
Oiticica had participated in the concrete and exposure to Brazil's popular culture, and to the
neo-concrete movements of the 1950s, when powerful contradictions in the social reality of
Brazil had received a first-hand exposure to the Rio de Janeiro. Crossing class barriers and
inter-war European avant-garde (the work of living for periods in Manueira (one of Rio's
Mondrian, Klee, the Bauhaus, de Stijl, the favelas, or shanty-towns), becoming accepted
Dadaists and Futurists was seen in depth at the and making friends there (a near-impossibility
early Sao Paulo Biennales). He had begun with in Brazil), joining the Escola de Samba and
a Mondrian-like formal analysis of the pictorial rising to the level of passista (one of the leading
order: the plane, figure/ground relationships, dancers in the Carnival parade) issued in new
 93

work concepts. Among these, ParangoU is pinned various charts and documents,
perhaps the most daring. including hand-written transcripts of reflections
Although ParangoU took the physical form of on their work by Pueblo women potters which
'capes', and sometimes banners and brought out their imaginative freedoms and
'standards', the word stood for a mode of restrictions within their traditions. Spatially,
creative-expressive behaviour rather than materially, the installation seemed to mock, or
objects as such. The Brazilian critic Frederico to release one from, the imposition of mastered
Morais called it "a programme, a vision of the 'wholes': either of a sculptural or of an
world, an ethic". 8 Here, in a hybrid, he archaeological/anthropological kind. The
brought together his refined assimilation of material appropriated from another culture was
European constructivism, his advanced notions not used in order to build up either
of spectatpr-participation (that creation is a autonomous 'primitive-looking' art objects, or
Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 22:21 12 March 2016

dialogue and the object has no status ouside the 'scientific' displays of ethnographic
its 'relational' role), Brazil's popular culture of . museums. It remained in fragments: a moving
the body, and the exaltations and sufferings of assertion of knowledge both as incomplete and
the mass of people as he had intuited them. as shared.
The Capes (incorporating cloth, plastic, earth, There was also another level to Fragments,
words and so on) are internal-external, and underlined by the inclusion of two
individual-collective, dialogues. Wearing them, photographs. One taken from an old National
running or dancing in them, reveals things to Geographic Magazine was of a white woman
the wearer, at the same time as it projects at a camp table, with a caption underneath
messages to those around, as a kind of running something like: "Here Mrs....patiently
'clothing-utterance'. sorts the pieces of pottery of the archaeological
I think the implications of Oiticica's work are expeditions led by her husband." The other
many. Here was an advanced avant-garde art, photo was of Susan Hiller sorting the pieces as
rooted in the culture and reality of Brazil but an artist. These images linked with the
which had thrown off colonial mimicry and statements of the potters to establish a struggle
depedence. No doubt there was an element of by women to be seen as "primary makers of
'romance' in his exaltation of Mangueira and meaning".10 In this sense the work was a
the marginal, but Oiticica's was no 'aesthetics collaboration. As Caryn Faure-Walker wrote at
of poverty*. Mangueira signified revolt against the time, the shards "function as analogous
oppressive authority, and for Oiticica it cross-references to broader notions of culture
mirrored his own artistic revolt against the in which we ourselves are involved".11 And
Philistinism and consumerism of the Brazilian indeed the work of Susan Hiller as a whole
bourgeoisie. Mangueira was also for him a would hold up to question the notion of an
symbol of a communal creativity and festivity. exhibition dealing with the West's relationship
His work, however, is not 'populist'. It always to other cultures, unless it was dialectically
kept an abstract, 'model', quality. For him this related to an 'anthropology' of our own society.
was a necessary defence against the folkloric, The view of another culture is taken from inside
the 'tropical', and other packageable images; one's own culture. Both 'at home and abroad',
abstraction signified an "open condition", and perceptions are concealed and marginalised by
"the living potentiality of a culture which is the patriarchal law and official voice.
being formed".9 One of the ways Susan Hiller has examined
My first sight of Susan Hiller's work the patriarchal law and official voice 'at home'
Fragments (in 1978, at the Museum of Modern has been in a subtle questioning of the
Art in Oxford) was similarly a revelation, conventional boundaries between the public
though of a rather different kind. In a startling and domestic domains. Her installation
mise-en-scene, hundreds of small broken pieces Monument, 19 refers to a tradition of public,
of Native American Pueblo pottery were laid official culture, though in an unexpected, off-
out on low platforms in a large space. They centered way: the photographed inscriptions
were accompanied by painted versions of the which form its basis — Victorian memorials to
individual pieces, while on the wall were people who died saving or trying to save the
 94
Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 22:21 12 March 2016

DAVID MEDALLA in front of Eskimo Carver, Installation at Artists

for Democracy, 1977

lives of others — tell of unknown lives which gender-based indoctrination of values by

became public and heroic in an instant. Hiller appeal to ancient themes: language (ABCs),
tries to recover their lost voices and their lives love (Pierrot Lunaires, hearts and cosmetic
outside the official discourse of the monument colours for girls), and death (guns, robots and
in her own taped reverie which is part of the war scenes for boys). Her own superimposed
work. Her more recent series Home Truths painting both accentuates and scrambles up the
moves right into the domestic enclave, to its mechanical stereotypes. In a subtle artistic
skin so to speak, via the appropriation of mass- strategy, beauty transfigures a kitsch
produced childrens' wallpapers which she uses expression at the same time as it testifies to the
as a painting ground. Has anyone paid much social power of this kitsch and thus ridicules
attention to these leisure products before? a response of mere aesthetic delectation.
Hiller proffers them as evidence of the growing David Medalla's Eskimo Carver first appeared
importance of the home as the place where in London in 1977, in the immediate context of
ideology is imbibed. She has sorted out a Artists for Democracy, which was an artists'
 95

group and exhibition space active at the time of the whole problematic of matter, energy, the
in providing "material and cultural support to ephemeral, the random and the relationship
liberation struggles throughout the world". between the machine and nature. In the '70s
Eskimo Carver was an event in three parts; an he translated his concern with movement and
exhibit of Medalla's drawings and change from an 'elemental' to a 'social' field
transcriptions of Eskimo poetry, a performance of metaphor. The mechanical sculpture which
— "Alaska Pipeline" — based on the grew and changed outside the direct control of
superpower incursions into the Arctic as the artist became the participatory proposition
mediated by the English 'gutter press', and a which, based on the artist's idea, took an
'participation-production' piece in which unpredictable form from the contributions of
visitors were invited to make knives out of a many people, and thereby threatened to burst
pile of waste and refuse collected in the the protocols of the museological concept of art:
Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 22:21 12 March 2016

neighbourhood. Each person's 'knife' was "I could easily inundate, say, the Tate
titled and pinned to the wall in a playful parody Gallery...", as Medalla said of Eskimo Carver,
of ethnographic museums. "there is no end to people coming in and
Madalla's kinetic sculptures of the 1960s, making knives."12
using foam, mud, sand and so on, had been The invitation to make knives in Eskimo Carver
one of the most radical and poetic explorations paralleled the Eskimo practice of composing

DAVID MEDALLA Eskimo Carver (detaU) 1977

 96

poetry, which traditionally is democratic and to work which refuses simple oppositions (we-
participatory (although it is considered very they, self-other, artist-public) and proposes a
difficult to produce a good new song). The dynamic complexity for understanding and
sheer diversity of contributions it produced, acting in the world. These differences would
ranging from the literal to the fantastic and seem to be the stuff of conflict rather than the
poetic was a revelation. In fact the model of dubious unity of Magicians.
creativity proposed in this piece wittily
challenged our museum culture in two of its
guises simultaneously; showing up on the one
hand the bourgeois notion of the isolated NOTES
genius and the sanctification of art objects
Downloaded by [University of California Santa Barbara] at 22:21 12 March 2016

in 'museums of modern art', and on the other 1. Jean Fisher, Jimmie Durham, 'The ground has been
the 'objective' representation of other covered', Artforum, Summer 1988. p.102.
2. "...each person sees himself at the controls of a
cultures made in ethnographic museums! The hypothetical machine, isolated in a position of perfect
intelligence of this dual strategy becomes all the and remote sovereignty, at an infinite distance from
more pertinent when you compare it with his univese of origin...our body appears simply
other, more one-sided positions; for example superfluous, basically useless in its extension, in the
the later sculpture of a formalist kind made multiplicity and complexity of its organs, its tissues
and functions, since today everything is concentrated
from industrial fragments by artists like Tony in the brain and in genetic codes, which alone sum
Cragg or Bill Woodrow, or Eduardo Paolozzi's up the operational centre of being. The countryside,
1986 exhibit at the Museum of Mankind in the immense geographic countryside, seems to be a
London, combining pieces of his own sculpture deserted body whose expanse and dimensions
with items from the British Museum's appear arbitrary (and which is boring to cross even
if one leaves the main highways)...etc, etc. Jean
ethnographic collections — where he effectively Baudrillard, 'The Ecstasy of Communication' in Hal
'museumified' even his own work. Foster (ed.) Postmodern Culture. London: Pluto Press,
The theme of the relationship between 1985, p.128, 129.
3. Quoted in Last Issue, Alberta, Autumn 1987.
cultures did not disappear from Medalla's work 4. It is revealing to see that CANAL +, one of the
after Eskimo Carver, but it was posed in a new sponsors of Magiciens de la terre, despite the rhetoric
way. From participatory propositions for of the "abolition of all frontiers", can still, in its
'others', he moved towards himself and his promotion material, remain wedded to a distinctly
place in the world. His long series of Western bourgeois concept of art: "A tous ses
abonne's, CANAL + a choisi de d£dier ce plaisir
performances and photoworks of the 1980s unique qui s'attache a la possesssion des objets d'art
have been a kind of masquerade using objects et de leur offrir cette jouissance extreme qui nait de
and even the environment itself to make visible leur contemplation".
the "the infinity of traces"13 which constitute 5. Eric Michaels, For a Cultural Future — Francis
Jupurrurla Kelly makes TV at Yuendumu, "Art &
identity. Its witty and incongruous 'conflation' Criticism Monograph Series, vol 3. Melbourne:
of cultures, and of the exalted and kitsch, Artspace, 1987.
seemed designed to rescue a notion of creativity 6. Ibid, p.49.
from all forms of essentializing, cloning and 7. Ibid, p.71.
finalizing discourse; whether of academic art 8. Frederico Morais, Pequeno roteiro cronológico das
invençóes de HélioOiticica. Rio de Janeiro, 1986, p.2.
history, of the art market and bureaucracy, of 9. Helio Oiticica, 'Crelazer', in Aspiro Ao Grande
ideas, or of lifestyle. Labirinto (selected essays by Oiticica), ed, Luciano
The Paris exhibition is being organized in the Figueiredo, Lygia Pape and Waly Salomao, Rio de
midst of a wave of artistic neo-primitivism; the Janeiro; Rocco 1986, p.116.
10. Susan Hiller, Interview with Paul Buck,
appropriation of spaces, images, motifs, from Centrefold, (Toronto), November, 1979.
faraway, which is closely connected with 11. Caryn Faure-Walker, 'Fragments', in Susan Hiller:
reviving the myth of the artist's unique and Recent Works, exhibition catalogue, Oxford: Museum
singular identity, and of art's autonomy within of Modern Art, 1978, p.25.
the social field as a whole. The 'local' in time 12. David Medalla, Interview with Steve Thorn, 1977
[unpublished].
and space again becomes the 'global' of 13. The phrase is Antonio Gramsci's, from his Prison
Western taste. Here we have drawn attention Notebooks.