Under (de)Construction: Introduction

This book is based on the conference Under Construction – a Nordic Conference on Cultural Diversity organised in Helsinki on October 12-13, 2001, as a part of the Finnish Nordic Presidency. Cultural diversity has been present in the Nordic societies, too – for a long time. We need to accept the fundamental reality that we do not belong to a single cultural entity, but that we are part of the culturally diverse Nordic area, which in turn forms an integrated part of the globalising world. Under Construction included experts in the field of internationalism in the visual and performing arts, artists, politicians, art historians and museum directors. The conference did not intend to institutionalise cultural diversity, which might increasingly be seen administrating diversity as the social and cultural norm of post-modernity. We preferred to aim at avoiding the hyper-politicisation of the concept of difference.

The contributors to this book are mainly the keynote speakers from the conference; some of the writers were invited outside of the context of the conference. They all - artists, critics, curators, institution leaders and researchers - are treating Western modernity with a healthy scepticism, questioning the blithe laxities of post-modern relativism. Various writers are sharing with us their personal experiences of multiculturalism, and their visions on the shift of moral judgements. Rasheed Araeen and Thomas McEvilley start the book by discussing the history of multiculturalism and the multicultural discourse of art in the field of visual culture. Especially in the early days of multiculturalism, ‘others’ were treated as uninvited and unwanted beings, or in order to ‘access’, they had to accentuate cultural difference in order to be able to enter the space of cultural significance and legitimation. McEvilley highlights how difficult it is to turn art based on the concept of otherness into art for us all. The crucial question is: Whose art history? According to Araeen, modern art history is still a Eurocentric narrative. Nevertheless it is inside the history of art that we can see what is new and what is repetitive, what is discovery and what is imitation; only inside history a work can exist as a value capable of being discerned and judged. This is to say that all the artists should have the same right to do whatever they want to do within the discourse of art history.

Researcher Bülent Diken concludes his article with the phrase “We are all immigrants”, referring to the thoughts of Slavoj Žižek. Diken raises the issue of current post-modern identity politics, in which the ‘immigrant’ or ‘other’ plays the role of catalyst, which also implies that the aim of the immigration debate cannot really be to ‘integrate’ immigrants - because if the immigrant disappears, the culturalist definitions of ‘our’ identity cannot be sustained in their present form. Diken points out that it is necessary to step beyond the plain idea of otherness, and to deconstruct the concept of identity.

The second chapter opens with an essay by critic and curator Simon Sheikh. He, too, considers deconstruction as a keyword, applying it to institutional practices in the Nordic context as well as to the concept of identity. Simon Sheikh points out how the environment of artists, museums and art institutions has shifted dramatically since the early years of multiculturalism in the arts. What they face now is an entirely different situation: a world based on trans-national global techno- and financial capitalism, alongside a liberal democracy. In these changing surroundings it is not just a question of including ‘other’ identities in cultural institutions, but rather of contesting the institutions as empowering themselves towards notions of radical rather than representational democracy. The same precarious situation of museums and art institutions, particularly in the Nordic region, is discussed by Jette Sandahl and Gavin Jantjes from their particular point of view as Nordic museum directors.

In chapter three, writers relate to the New World Order and to new activist practices, partly in the aftermath of September 11, and examine the problem of how to re-forge political and social issues into collective action, in order to rethink existent liberal democracy. In his article “A War-Machine Against the Empire”, Gerald Raunig refers to the anti-globalist movement – a movement which cannot be reduced to a single ideological core or to one particular homogenous worldview. Rather, it is structured as a collection of a plurality of demands, and is driven by the conviction that democracy can hardly be realised on the conditions of Western corporate power. This conviction runs parallel to the antagonism between actually existing liberal capitalist regimes which claim to have realised democracy on the one hand, and ongoing processes of and demands for radical democratisation on the other.

Curator Jens Hoffmann stresses the importance of being alert and of acting consistently within and against the frame of existing society. If not, we run the risk of behaving like the unsuspecting public during the legendary Welles’ broadcast The War of the Worlds, playing a role in another person’s drama and mistakenly believing that we are reacting to something indisputably real. For her part, artist Pilar Vilella argues that art should engage more actively with society, without turning into brainless propaganda. The desirability of a return to politics based on radical democracy is one of the statements made by writers.

Chapter four concentrates on cultural diversity from the perspective of performing arts. In their essays, writers are asking for equality and at the same time for the recognition of the notion of difference. This also involves a new double demand for democracy. In the varieties of the notion of democracy, equality has been traditionally juxtaposed with difference. For the artistic director Maarten van Hinte, the starting point is that diversity is normal, not ‘special’. The real issue for the cultural institutions is not how to deal with cultural diversity, but how to deal with change in general. Hinte is arguing that the real challenge to arts and cultural institutions is to reflect the urban reality of the streets.

In the Nordic region as well as everywhere else in Europe, the evident and recurring problem is the issue of defensive nationalism. The crucial question is who is asking about identity and to what purpose? E.g. in Denmark, discussions regarding Danishness became prominent in the 90´s, due the interest of majority cultures in maintaining their dominant identity position. The most important challenge is to take a real effort to construct and develop positive visions for the future; also based on the points of view presented in this book, visions open towards alternative versions of universality, and towards a new political logic. These visions cannot be constructed otherwise than by defining them over and over again.

The conference was organised by the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art (NIFCA), in collaboration with the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Finnish Ministry of Education and Teater och Dans i Norden (TODIN). Part of the conference was supported by the Danish Centre for Culture and Development, The Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs and the Norwegian National Council for Cultural Affairs. In collaboration with the Arts Council of Finland, NIFCA published a special issue of cultural political magazine ARSIS, which highlighted the themes of the conference beforehand. Best thanks are due to all of you who attended the conference and to the contributors of this book.

Marita Muukkonen
Project co-ordinator

Søren Friis Møller
Director