Expanding Internationalism - A Conference on ... - Mary Jane Jacob

Chris Dercon (Director of Witte de With, a new contemporary
exhibitions space in Rotterdam) , Gary Garrels
(Director of Programs at
the Dia Art Foundation in New York) , and Moira Roth (involved with artists
in the U.S. West Coast area) enlarged the debate by mentioning their
experiences or projects with artists coming from non-occidental countries
or local communities.
At this point in the discussion it became clear that the consciousness
and the res}ect of "The Other" (and the others) was closely tied with the
consciousness and the difficult relations we had with ourselves (if we
remember Rimbaud: "Je est un autre"). Discussing the issues of modern
identity (and alterity) , Bhabha insisted on the very important lessons of
French philosophers ( eS}eciall y the ontology of E. I..evinas) and
deconstructi vist theoreticians (J. Derrida) who made us less secure and
confident in the unity and solidity of our self and more conscious of our
unceasing construction in the relation with the other. Difference and
identity are far more complex than the already difficult differences of
culture, race, class, and sex.
Far from any naive or easy consensual
solution, I would like to quote again Bhabha:
"Culture is a painful
process of becoming: as much an uncomfortable disturbing practice of
survival and supplementarity, between art and politics, past and present,
the public and the private, race and sexuality, the known and the
numinous, as its resplendent being is a moment of pleasure, enlightenment,
or liberation."
-112-