Ethnic Marketing

How to assess the vicissitudes of the gradually "globalizing" art circuit without repeating recent curatorial cliches? Having watched one example of critical internationalism after another reduce itself to postcolonial platitude or self-congratulating adventurism, the participants in this book and its accompanying exhibition took on that tricky subject with an inquiry into Euro-American xenophilia. Rather than trying to build the proverbial Third World "platform," "forum," or "bridge," they asked, what makes bridging so attractive in the first place? Who stands to gain from searing critiques of the North and Northwest, and upholding the aims of the East and South? This project was organized by Tirdad Zolghadar, born in California, raised in Iran, England and Switzerland, and recently co-curator of the 2005 Sharjah Biennale. Participating artists include the Atlas Group, Shirin Aliabadi and Farhad Moshiri, Jens Haaning, Lisl Ponger, Shahrzad and Erik van Lieshout.