Abstract
In this paper I advance the position that art history ought to be reframed as a heritage discourse. I contend that viewing art history through a critical cultural heritage studies lens erodes the naturalness of the discipline’s categories that developed during its global expansion and consolidation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and its definition of “Art.” In doing so this paper elaborates a methodology for approaching culturally diverse aesthetic systems that have historically been relegated to the margins of the field and/or seen as existing in the past, and it highlights how such marginalized traditions—including those labeled as “traditional,” “primitive,” and non-western, among others, or placed into the genres of craft, folk, or tourist art—are intrinsically part of modernity and the contemporary moment. All too often, when these categories are discussed or brought into the art historical narrative they must conform to certain expectations or be recontextualized within dominant Euro-American conceptions of “Art.” A critical heritage perspective reveals this and the continued dominance of particular genres, representational formats, and viewing practices. It also sheds light on structural inequalities both in the public perception of art—what constitutes “Art”—and the academic discourse on “Art.” Thus, the primary goals of the proposed alternative approach are to: (1) identify traditional art history as historically-contingent “authorized heritage discourse” (Smith 2006); (2) expand the academic and popular engagement with other aesthetic traditions; and (3) understand their position within the contemporary global art system.
Presenters
Michael CarrascoAssociate Dean, Associate Professor, Interim Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, College of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Florida, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Art History, Critical Heritage Studies, World Arts
