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

INTRODUCTION
International exhibitions have gained vitality and taken on a new
irrportance in the field over the past decade.
Their frequency, scale,
attendance, costs, and press coverage have all escalated; they now play a
central role in the exhibiting, making, and distribution of contemporary
art. At the same time, we have also become more aware of aesthetic and
cultural issues that can no longer be contained within the definitions of
national boundaries nor identified with a single type of artist today.
Now after a series of critically and commercially influential
international exhibitions in the 1980s, and in light of events of the
recent past that have reshaped political, economic, and cultural
boundaries around the world, it seemed particularly timely to take up the
subject of international forums and look at them from today's changed
perspective as it reflects a new era of internationalism. Venice, the
site of the longest running international show and occasion for the
international art world to gather, was an especially appropriate place and
moment for this meeting.
The impetus for this conference carne in 1989 from the museum and
arts professionals serving on the Federal Advisory Committee on
International Exhibitions who expressed a feeling of isolation and lack of
dialogue with their colleagues worldwide.
Knowledge of major periodic
international shows beyond the biennials of Venice, S~o Paulo, and Sydney;
Gennany' s "Documenta; " and the U.S. ' s "Carnegie International" is scant
and their irrpact is greatly diminished.
From a wide range of sources,
recommendations of possible participants were received.
The delegates
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