Contemporary Art: 1989 to the Present. Edited by Alexander Dumbadze and Suzanne Hudson. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, UK, 2013; 512 Pages. Price £22.99, €27.60, ISBN 978-1-4443-3866-9

The following paragraphs are reproduced from the website of the publisher [1].

An engaging account of today’s contemporary art world that features original articles by leading international art historians, critics, curators, and artists, introducing varied perspectives on the most important debates and discussions happening around the world.

• Features a collection of all-new essays, organized around fourteen specific themes, chosen to reflect the latest debates in contemporary art since 1989
• Each topic is prefaced by an introduction on current discussions in the field and investigated by three essays, each shedding light on the subject in new and contrasting ways
• Topics include: globalization, formalism, technology, participation, agency, biennials, activism, fundamentalism, judgment, markets, art schools, and scholarship
• International in scope, bringing together over forty of the most important voices in the field, including Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, David Joselit, Michelle Kuo, Raqs Media Collective, and Jan Verwoert
• A stimulating guide that will encourage polemical interventions and foster critical dialogue among both students and art aficionados

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction

  • Alexander Dumbadze and Suzanne Hudson, “Contemporary Art: 1989 to the Present”
• 2. The Contemporary and Globalization

  • Tim Griffin, “Worlds Apart: Contemporary Art, Globalization, and the Rise of Biennials”
  • Terry Smith, “'Our’ Contemporaneity?”
  • Jean-Philippe Antoine, “The Historicity of the Contemporary is Now!”
• 3. Art After Modernism and Postmodernism

  • Julian Stallabrass, “Elite Art in an Age of Populism”
  • Monica Amor, “’Of Adversity we Live!’”
  • Pauline Yao, “Making it Work: Artists and Contemporary Art in China”
• 4. Formalism

  • Jan Verwoert, “Form Struggles”
  • Anne Ellegood, “Formalism Redefined”
  • Joan Kee, “The World in Plain View: Form in the Service of the Global”
• 5. Medium Specificity

  • Sabeth Buchmann, “The (Re)Animation of Medium Specificity in Contemporary Art”
  • Irene Small, “Medium Aspecificity”
  • Richard Shiff, “Specificity”
• 6. Art and Technology

  • Michelle Kuo, “Test Sites: Fabrication”
  • Ina Blom, “Inhabiting the Technosphere: Art and Technology Beyond Technical Invention”
  • David Joselit, “Conceptual Art 2.0”
• 7. Biennial

  • Massimiliano Gioni, “In Defense of Biennials”
  • Geeta Kapur, “Curating in Heterogeneous Worlds”
  • Caroline Jones, “Biennial Culture and the Aesthetics of Experience”
• 8. Participation

  • Liam Gillick and Maria Lind, “Participation”
  • Johanna Burton, “The Ripple Effect: ‘Participation’ as an Expanded Field”
  • Sofia Hernández Chong Cuy, “Publicity and Complicity in Contemporary Art”
• 9. Activism

  • Andrea Giunta, “Activism”
  • Julia Bryan-Wilson, “Knit Dissent”
  • Raqs Media Collective, “Light From a Distant Star: A Meditation on Art, Agency, and Politics”
• 10. Agency

  • Juliane Rebentisch, “Participation in Art: 10 Theses”
  • Tirdad Zolghadr, “Fusions of Power: Four Models of Agency in the Field of Contemporary Art, Ranked Unapologetically in Order of Preference”
  • T.J. Demos, “Life Full of Holes: Contemporary Art and Bare Life”
• 11. The Rise of Fundamentalism

  • Sven Lütticken, “Monotheism à la Mode”
  • Terri Weissmann, “Freedom’s Just Another Word”
  • Atteqa Ali, “On the Frontline: The Politics of Terrorism in Contemporary Pakistani Art”
• 12. Judgment

  • Joao Ribas, “Judgment’s Troubled Objects”
  • Frank Smigiel, “A Producer’s Journal, or Judgement A Go-Go,”
  • Lane Relyea, “After Criticism”
• 13. Markets

  • Olav Velthuis, “Globalization and Commercialization of the Art Market”
  • Mihai Pop, Sylvia Kouvali, and Andrea Rosen, “Three Perspectives on The Market”
  • Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, “Untitled”
• 14. Art Schools

  • Katy Siegel, “Lifelong Learning”
  • Anton Vidokle, “Art without Institutions”
  • Pi Li, “Will the academy become a monster?”
• 15. Scholarship

  • Our Literal Speed, “Our Literal Speed”
  • Chika Okeke-Agulu, “Globalization, Art History, and the Specter of Difference”Carrie Lambert-Beatty, “The Academic Condition of Contemporary Art”