Multiculturalist Aesthetics and Criticism Writing Art Criticism AE

Western European Homogenization in the US: How Irish became white? Assimilating into the Dominant

Two Realities in the Art World What we are given – Male Western European artist as apex artist – Art from other cultures or countries as “diverse” or “folk” – Appreciate, don’t question What is real – Male Western European artists, while skilled and talented, are not the apex of creativity – Art from other cultures and countries has been systematically processed so as to reserve the highest positions in art museums to the dominant – The placing of art in a museum should be questioned on more than its aesthetic value.

Four Questions of Multiculturalist Aesthetics For whom was the art created? For whom does it exist? Who is represented? Who is doing the telling? The hearing?

Multiculturist Theory rightly claims that an undercurrent of thought and bias propagated by the capital controlling elite have developed stereotypes and implicit biases which subconsciously position white male western European dominated art as the epitome of creativity and skill and the standard by which all “other” art should be judged and appreciated. Multiculturist Art pushes this subconscious into view, forcing the viewer to question and acknowledge a work of art so that the value attributed to it will no longer be tainted by biases or stereotypes.

Multiculturalism is an opposition to an institutionalized structure of power intentionally seeking to suppress that which threatens its hierarchy, NOT an attack on any one race or people

Fred Wilson Cultural representation of ethnic minorities in museums Born to African American and Native American parents “Mining the Museum” – Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD Indianapolis Public Art Project - Video

Why is this Aesthetic and Criticism beneficial to Society?

David Bailey – Three elements of a Stereotype The stereotyping of African Americans Fragmentation – defines the whole group by one small aspect Objectification – places the group outside what is considered normal Name Substitution – demeans the group entirely

Postcolonialism

Postcolonial critics investigate the cultural situations of peoples or nations that have been or are under the imperialist territorial control of a colonizing power Considers the effect of colonization and decolonization on the colonized and the colonizer.

Edward Said ( ) Palestinian born in Jerusalem Orientalism 1978

Edward Said How are colonized cultures represented? What is the power of such representations in controlling cultures? What is the discourse by which colonizers and the colonized construct their subject positions? Three Questions of Postcolonialism