The New Politics of Art: Artworks in an Age of Corporate Globalism

Dear Colleagues,

World politics are changing rapidly, but we rarely discern what catalyzes these changes. Despite our traditional emphasis on nations, borders, laws, and democracy, an unseen corporate power is restructuring these entities and their global networks. This profit-driven power normalizes injustice, dismisses basic human rights, and commodifies laws. Yet, we still speak of democracy as if it exists.

The same predatory powers have commoditized art, even protest art, turning works into investments locked away from view. Artworks whose combined value surpasses billions of dollars are sequestered in special tax-exempt, duty-free warehouses. Not all art meets this fate. But when an existing order is restructured, the context shifts for all. This new structure of global power fundamentally reshapes our relationships on every scale, from the smallest object to geography itself, from personal to national. Our understanding of individual artworks changes as our conditions change. This might generate unease or a liberating awareness.

Works of art, whether physical objects or actions, derive meaning from their contexts. Each time period sees shifts in art style and content. What are signs of our own time? This awareness does not have to be addressed to contemporary artworks but can also be found in how we view art of any period. Even a slight shift from a traditional context can create a break in ideology, perhaps helping us see previously unnoticed connections from the past. Small moments of insight can challenge us to reconsider roles, not as mere spectators of art but as active participants through art. Can new artworks—or new insights about older artworks—offer insights or activate pathways of resistance to current challenges? How do we interact with artworks now?

This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts on topical and historical subjects related to artworks, art practice, visual culture, economics, and theory. Submissions may address any place or time but must reflect, either overtly or just tacitly, that art meanings are inflected by our new economic conditions.

I look forward to receiving your contribution.

Dr. Lenore Metrick-Chen
Guest Editor

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