Art and Sovereignty in Global Politics [Hardcover]

This volume aims to question, challenge, supplement, and revise current understandings of the relationship between aesthetic and political operations. The authors transcend disciplinary boundaries and nurture a wide-ranging sensibility about art and sovereignty, two highly complex and interwoven dimensions of human experience that have rarely been explored by scholars in one conceptual space. Several chapters consider the intertwining of modern philosophical currents and modernist artistic forms, in particular those revealing formal abstraction, stylistic experimentation, self-conscious expression, and resistance to traditional definitions of Art. Other chapters deal with currents that emerged as facets of art became increasingly commercialized, merging with industrial design and popular entertainment industries. Some contributors address Post-Modernist art and theory, highlighting power relations and providing sceptical, critical commentary on repercussions of colonialism and notions of universal truths rooted in Western ideals. By interfering with established dichotomies and unsettling stable debates related to art and sovereignty, all contributors frame new perspectives on the co-constitution of artworks and practices of sovereignty.

1. Introduction: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Art and Sovereignty .- 2. Space and Sovereignty: A Reverse Perspective .- 3. The International Movement to Protect Literary and Artistic Property .- 4. Dongbei, Manchukuo, Manchuria: Territory, Artifacts, and the Multiple Bodies of Sovereignty in Northeast Asia .- 5. Claims .- 6. Stolen Buddhas and Sovereignty Claims .- 7. Art by Dispossession at El Paso Saddleback Company: Commodification and Graduated Sovereignty in Global Capitalism .- 8. Claiming Sovereignty through Equestrian Spectacle in Northern Cameroon .- 9. Identity and Sovereignty in Asian Art Cinema: Digital Diaspora Films of South Korea and Malaysia .- 10. Re-viewil32