Globaloney: Economic Versus Cultural Convergence Under Conditions of Globalization

Using the theory of the commons and social obligation theory of inclusion, this article critically examines current art museum fundraising practices in the United States that rely too much on traditional White, wealthy patrons. This leads museums to emphasize the limited interests of traditional donors, neglecting the needs of and potential support from their broader communities. This results in the tragedy of the anticommons, where museums are underused by diverse publics. The article advocates for more inclusive relationship-based fundraising practices that build relationships with local community members and include their perspectives on fundraising practices through diversifying fundraising leadership, understanding diverse giving patterns, and utilizing innovative fundraising methods while remaining sensitive to cultural differences.     

Democratic Practices in Arts Organizations

This article uses democratic political theory to compare three types of arts management practices. When art is treated as an elite status good, it is likely to have antidemocratic effects that largely reproduce status hierarchies. When art is treated as an exclusive group identity good, as in the case of identity politics, it is likely to contribute to democracy by giving voice to marginalized groups. Finally, when art is treated as an inclusive social good, it is likely to contribute to democracy by producing solidarity and encouraging commonality. The article concludes by encouraging an ecological approach that fosters multiple voices and multiple goals.     

Conceptual art and language: introducing a logico-semantic analysis

This article suggests a logico-semantic analysis of Keith Arnatt's Trouser-Word Piece and Victor Burgin's Room, based on Ludwig Wittgenstein's examination of the logical relationship between propositions and the world and M.A.K. Halliday's discussion of social semiotics. It reconsiders the use of language in conceptual art practices from a wider sociological and interdisciplinary perspective, and aims to show how their juxtaposition of different voices within a public context negotiates the space of art as a social space. Focusing on how artworks communicate in context, the following discussion presents the historical as well as the discursive environment in which Arnatt's and Burgin's works are situated and received; moreover, it examines how these works critically manipulate viewing and reading regimes, frameworks of evaluation and patterns of communication in order to create a situation of particular tension between perceptual and conceptual apprehension. In wider terms, this article demonstrates how critically engaged artworks manipulate the conditions of communication by utilizing loan rhetoric (a rhetoric external to the art context) and displace associate meaning in order to challenge the institutionalization of art's production and function. In doing so, they critically stage and contest the power structures that support corresponding hierarchies across producer, audience and mediator, and bring art's social modality into focus. Investigating the manipulation of language in conceptual art, this article proposes a method of analysis that becomes fundamental in studying contemporary multi-modal art production, and in understanding the dialectics of art'But the difficulty is to remove the prejudices communication and critical potential.     

Camera as sign: on the ethics of unconcealment in documentary film and video

When we look at a documentary, what do we see? Probably not the apparatus that gives us images to view. If we did, then perhaps questions about the ethics of documentary cinema would be easily answered. The goal of this article is to broaden the moralistic purview of image ethics debates with a semiotic phenomenology of the visual mode of address of documentary. I describe how “doubling” and “redoubling” the visual mode of address undermines the authority of documentary and helps to overcome debates about two main ethical issues – participant consent and the audience's right to information. Unconcealing the viewpoint of documentary also broadens media ethics debates by bringing attention to the implied viewer, asking of it to reflect on the consequences of the communicative act of looking. Examples of widely available documentary film and video are discussed.     

Book reviews

This paper analyzes practices of counter-surveillance—particularly against closed-circuit television systems in urban areas—and theorizes their political implications. Counter-surveillance is defined as intentional, tactical uses, or disruptions of surveillance technologies to challenge institutional power asymmetries. Such activities can include disabling or destroying surveillance cameras, mapping paths of least surveillance and disseminating that information over the Internet, employing video cameras to monitor sanctioned surveillance systems and their personnel, or staging public plays to draw attention to the prevalence of surveillance in society. The main argument is that current modes of activism tend to individualize surveillance problems and methods of resistance, leaving the institutions, policies, and cultural assumptions that support public surveillance relatively insulated from attack.     

Trace element fingerprinting of Australian ocher using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for the provenance establishment and authentication of indigenous art

The expansion of indigenous art and the interest it has generated both at a domestic and international level means large monetary transactions are taking place between art galleries or centers and purchasers. As such, an accurate and conclusive method for provenance determination of traditional indigenous artistic materials must be established that can, if necessary, be used to assist in authentication of artworks. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was utilized for elemental differentiation and provenance establishment of ocher samples. This research was used to develop a robust scientific protocol which facilitates definitive and accurate determination of provenance of Australian ochers and the artworks created using them. Analysis of the results obtained through this study show that the trace metal distribution patterns alone appear to be sufficient evidence to establish provenance of specific ochers, although additional differentiation between ocher samples, using major element distribution patterns, was achieved through the utilization of X-ray analytical techniques.     

论我国民族民间文学艺术表达法律保护模式的构建

本文具体界定了民族民间文学艺术表达的概念和特征 ,并立足于我国实情提出了“知识产权法、反不正当竞争法和特设法定权利”的综合法律保护模式。     

论电影作者的法律确认——以我国《著作权法》第15、21条的修改为背景

在电影〔1〕作者的确认上,各国有浪漫主义与实用主义两种不同的立法理念。两种不同的立法理念使得各国在电影作者的确认上出现差异。有国家主张电影作者只能是自然人,有国家确信电影作者可以是法人或其他组织;有国家明确电影制片人的作者身份,有国家立法则否认制片人的电影作者身份。从我国的实际情况来看,我国立法应以创作作为基本原则来判定谁是电影作者,并从举证便捷与法律安全的角度出发,列明电影作者的基本名单。     

红水河流域文化艺术遗产保护及其衍生载体的建设

至今仍然传承在黔桂两省区交界处的壮、瑶等民族的铜鼓艺术、蛙神崇拜以及民间歌咏习俗,具有重要的作为人类口头与非物质遗产的保护价值,很有必要将其中的一些文化元素融入体现区域族群生存智慧和文化理想的现代生活空间的建构之中,让千百年来生生不息的民族文化艺术资源在新的衍生载体中焕发生机活力。