'So Be It"

My belief is that we only bump up and question our own ideologies when we are outside of own safe ideological sphere.

For me, it happened when I went and lived in Germany and, to a lesser extent, when I moved to the US. It is only at that time that I even questioned the ideologies I had been unquestioningly living. To this extent Althusser's statement "ideology = misrecognition/ignorance" is so true.

Simone de Beauvoir is a Goddess - which is, sadly, a lesser relative state of being than a God. Unfortunately, despite great strides being made since de Beauvoir wrote her text, our language structure perpetuates the male dominance and female oblique.

Of all the discussions, I am most interested in the debates concerning colonial discourse particularly with respect to the dominance of the western perspective. Artists who are working in this sphere are creating some of the most interesting work right now. A couple of favourites of mine are Yinka Shonibare whose image titled "Scramble for Africa" is shown above. And of course many of the current crop of Chinese artists are questioning the dynamics of the consumer oriented Western Art Scene. As Artist Zhou Tiehai stated: "The relations in the art world are the same as the relations between states in the post Cold War era. Just as wealthy nations have controlled trade barriers, tariffs, and other international trade mechanisms to promote their own interests, Western curators and critics have controlled the standards for what is deemed 'world class' art." (from Cantor Arts Center Press Release about their exhibition: On the Edge: Contemporary Chinese Artists Encounter the West). Shown is Zhang Huan's 'My New York #4'.

Of course the current fad of embracing the Chinese artist is also a form of colonial paternalism. I predict shows on African Artists viewing the West within the next decade.

So the question is once you recognise that there is a power structure, how can we form a resistance. In the case of the fictitious upcoming African Art show at the Cantor Arts Center (or wherever), it would mean the museum would give up control of how the art show is shaped. The museum would hire a curator based in Africa - preferrably one not educated in the West and preferably from an African State that has shed the majority of its colonial ties. The museum would supply the space and pay for shipping. All the framing of the show - from wall labels, to display - would be entirely given over to the African curator. Would we then view be able to view the art away from the lens of Western discourse? Of course not. As Zizek writes "the ideological construction always finds its limits in the field of everyday experience" and therefore we are "unable to shake so-called ideological prejudices by taking into account the pre-ideological level of everyday experience" (71).