Abstract/Summary

This PhD research – triggered by the rise of reactionary, identitarian political movements worldwide – posits complex inquiries that traverse the disintegration of neoliberal hegemony and its potential impact on (“Western”) art, its artistic and curatorial practices, its institutional apparatus and the broader infrastructure of the exhibitionary complex. This study dissects the emergence of new roles for artistic and curatorial practices beyond the purview of neoliberal paradigms, expanding the definition and artistic-curatorial practices of the exhibitionary complex towards governmental thinking to envision more sustainable, power-sensitive and equitable cultural projects. The study analyses the exhibitionary complex (Tony Bennett) under contemporary curatorial discourse and within its global (translocal) entanglements. With an in-depth analysis of the concepts of governmentality (Michel Foucault) and situated knowledges (Donna Haraway), the thesis aims to decipher forms of knowledge production within the exhibitionary complex. Through the research, the argument is made for a repositioning of conventional universalised knowledge production in favour of more nuanced, situated and networked forms of knowledge production and dissemination and their governmental infrastructures. The thesis therefore proposes the concept of the “post-exhibitionary complex”, which sees exhibitions as active social spaces – as contact zones –, reaching outside the aesthetic “autonomous” art field. In this sense, the concept of the post-exhibitionary complex expands the exhibition space and favours transversal, participatory and direct modes of learning, which are articulated by artistic and curatorial practices of making things public, over traditional hierarchical teaching methods. This scholarly narrative advocates for a vision of research-based methodology grounded in a renewed (scientific) discourse of truth in feminist thought, that is, as embodied, situated knowledges (“feminist materialism”). Methodologically, an analytical tool kit is introduced to assess exhibitionary projects and their intricate institutional frameworks by scrutinising the degrees of relationality between art– institution–audience according to their governmental and economic aspects. The investigation concludes with two case studies of curatorial-artistic projects: Philadelphia Assembled demonstrates the complicated power dynamics within collaborative artistic practices, while documenta fifteen highlights the many complex challenges that the commons approach, and thus more horizontal forms of knowledge production, bring to the art field. Overall, the thesis offers an in-depth examination of the evolving landscape of art and curatorial practices in response to changing global political and economic conditions, emphasising the need for transversal and post-exhibitionary approaches.