Globalization and Mixing in the Visual Arts An Empirical Survey of 'High Culture' and Globalization

International audienceWhile there has been an increasing amount of research into globalization since the 1990s, empirical sociological studies in this area remain all too scarce. By analysing specific cases in contemporary visual art, this article shows that the widespread art world discourse on globalization, mixing and the abolition of borders is to a large extent based on illusion. By objectifying the positions occupied by different countries in the field of art, the article brings to light a marked hierarchy that reveals that, beyond the development of international exchanges, the art world still has a clearly defined centre comprising a small number of western countries, among which the US and Germany are pre-eminent, and a vast periphery, comprising all the other states. The specific example empirically analysed here leads to a reconsideration of earlier studies of cultural globalization, most of which are essentially abstract

As exposições internacionais de arte brasileira: discursos, práticas e interesses em jogo International exhibitions of Brazilian art: speechs, practices and interests involved

Nos anos 90, a presença da arte brasileira tornou-se cada vez mais freqüente na cena artística internacional. Curadores e demais agentes internacionais vêm adotando um discurso politicamente correto, segundo o qual as fronteiras entre centro e periferia, que sempre organizaram o campo artístico internacional, teriam desaparecido, permitindo assim a valorização da arte de países periféricos pelas instituições mais prestigiosas dos países centrais. Contudo, a maior parte dos diferentes eventos em torno da arte brasileira servem muito pouco à democratização do campo artístico ou à difusão da cultura brasileira no plano internacional. De fato, eles refletem a globalização em seus efeitos perversos, servindo para aumentar o prestígio e o poder econômico de algumas poucas instituições e indivíduos, limitando a cultura brasileira à reprodução de seus estereótipos. Neste artigo, para demonstrar essa idéa, analisam-se em detalhe quatro exposições de arte brasileira organizadas na exterior: Brazil Body and Soul (Museu Guggenheim, Nova Yorque), Hélio Oiticica Quasi-Cinemas (New Museum, Nova Yorque), Un art populaire (Fundação Cartier, Paris), Tunga/Mira Schendel (Galeria Nacional Jeu de Paume, Paris).<br>During the 1990's, the presence of Brazilian Art became more and more visible in the international art scene. Curators and other international agents adopted a kind of "politically-correct" discourse according to which borders between center and periphery - that always organized the international artistic field - would disappear, thus allowing peripheral art to enter the most prestigious institutions of central countries. Nevertheless, most of the exhibitions, including Brazilian art, do not correspond to a democratization of the international artistic field and do not help to promote Brazilian art internationally. In fact, they reflect the perverse consequences of globalization, serving to raise the prestige and the economic power of a few institutions and individuals and to reduce Brazilian culture to stereotypes. In order to illustrate this idea we will analyze the following exhibitions in this paper: Brazil Body and Soul (Guggenheim Museum, New York), Hélio Oiticica Quasi-Cinemas (New Museum, New York), Un art populaire (Cartier Foundation/Paris), Tunga and Mira Schendel (Galerie National du Jeu de Paume, Paris)

Complex membrane remodeling during virion assembly of the 30,000 years-old Mollivirus sibericum

International audienceCellular membranes ensure functional compartmentalization by dynamic fusion-fission remodeling and are often targeted by viruses during entry, replication, assembly and egress. Nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs) can recruit host-derived open membrane precursors to form their inner viral membrane. Using complementary 3D-electron microscopy techniques including focused-ion beam scanning electron microscopy and electron tomography, we show that the giant Mollivirus sibericum utilizes the same strategy but also displays unique features. Indeed, assembly is specifically triggered by an open cisterna with a flat pole in its center and open curling ends that grow by recruitment of vesicles, never reported for NCLDVs. These vesicles, abundant in the viral factory (VF), are initially closed but open once in close proximity to the open curling ends of the growing viral membrane. The flat pole appears to play a central role during the entire virus assembly process. While additional capsid layers are assembled from it, it also shapes the growing cisterna into immature crescent-like virions and is located opposite to the membrane elongation and closure sites, thereby providing virions with a polarity. In the VF, DNA-associated filaments are abundant and DNA is packed within virions, prior to particle closure. Altogether, our results highlight the complexity of the interaction between giant viruses and their host. Mollivirus assembly relies on the general strategy of vesicle recruitment, opening and shaping by capsid layers similar to all NCLDVs studied until now. However, the specific features of its assembly suggests that the molecular mechanisms for cellular membrane remodeling and persistence are unique.ImportanceSince the first giant virus Mimivirus was identified, other giant representatives are isolated regularly around the World and appear to be unique in several aspects. They belong to at least four viral families and the ways they interact with their hosts remain poorly understood. We focused on Mollivirus sibericum, the sole representative of "Molliviridae" which was isolated from a 30,000 years-old permafrost sample, and exhibits spherical virions of complex composition. In particular, we show that (i) assembly is initiated by a unique structure containing a flat pole positioned at the center of an open cisterna; (ii) core packing involves another cisterna-like element seemingly pushing core proteins into particles being assembled; (iii) specific filamentous structures contain the viral genome before packaging. Altogether, our findings increase our understanding on how complex giant viruses interact with their host and provide the foundation for future studies to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of Mollivirus assembly

Global Markets and Contemporary Art

Today’s contemporary art world has to come to terms with a highly unstable socioeconomic context that is evolving rapidly and constantly, with the result that any analysis to establish the state of the demand and supply of artistic goods and services ina global scenario is quite complex. The supply of contemporary art is renewed and must continue to be renewed, in line with the recent requirements of demand and with economic and technological changes

Cultuurberichtgeving in een tijdperk van globalisering

This article aims at charting and elucidating key developments and cross-national variations in the coverage given to foreign and indigenous cultural products (classical and popular music, dance, film, literature, theater, television fiction, and visual arts) in American, Dutch, French, and German newspapers between 1955 and 2005. Using content analysis, it is first explored to what extent the explosive growth of international cultural traffic in the second half of the twentieth century has been accompanied by increased newspaper coverage of foreign arts and culture in the four countries under study. Second, the article examines the assumption that the degree and direction of international orientation differs among countries according to their size, the centrality of their cultural production or their production in particular cultural fields, and their cultural policy framework. Third, the article qualifies the evolving patterns of dominance in the international orientation of arts journalism in each country, in terms of countries and regions represented in arts and culture coverage