art, science & business/podium debate: »Ungleiche Voraussetzungen. Zur Globalisierung der Künste« [Unequal Conditions. On the Globalization of Art]

Does contemporary art in Japan, China, India, Cameroon, or Nigeria differ from that in Europe or America? Dietrich Heißenbüttel’s answer to this question is that modern art was never a solely European invention. From the beginning, it is one of those »third spaces« that Homi K. Bhabha speaks of, a space in which various notions of art are negotiated. But the prerequisites for this differ greatly from country to country.

Kerstin Meyer reports on two exhibitions in Dakar, Senegal, that she initiated during her activity as an economic-political consultant for the Senegalese government. They dealt with the developmental policy in Senegal, a very concrete political space. They also addressed the relationship between country, artist, art and the public.

Dietrich Heißenbüttel (*1956 in Hamburg) received his PhD in art history at the Martin-Luther-Universität in Halle/Saale, and has worked as a journalist at publications including springerin. Hefte für Gegenwartskunst as well as for Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. In his art-historical and journalistic works, he tries to think of the development of art in a global perspective. Dietrich Heißenbüttel was a fellow of the Akademie in 2003/2005.

Kerstin Meyer (*1969 in Saarland) studied macroeconomics, development economy, and visual art. She was trained as a socio-political governmental advisor in Cotonou, Benin and Mbabane, Swaziland. Kerstin Meyer has worked as a consultant at the Ministry for Economics and Finance at the Republic of Senegal and as project director on behalf of the German Society for Technical Cooperation. She is a fellow in the art, science & business program in 2008/2009.

Moderator: Michael Werner, Stuttgarter Zeitung