Media Mindfulness

As reported earlier, things are heating up in several oil rich countries on the Arabian peninsula to become new Vegas-like destinations of the global jet set (for what it’s worth, now Halliburton Co. is reportedly moving its headquarters to Dubai). Now Abu Dhabi is trying to outdo Dubai in capitalist swank, art being a new weapon of choice. Turns out the country inked a deal with France’s prestigious Louvre to build a new museum. The following article, though, discusses more in depth France’s strategy to promote its legacy around the globe through its cultural heritage. Also on tap is a Pompidou Center in Shanghai.

I’m not going to jump the gun and call this cultural imperialism, as may be the case in some knee-jerk circles. Rather, it’s befitting a trend in which the global arts market is already cross-polinating. Hardly an international biennial is dominated by Westerners anymore. Rather than the artists going to New York or London, for a change, let the art go to them. I would argue that the concept of an “avant-garde” is specific to the historical development of Western culture, but obviously is not limited to Western artists. For better or for worse it is now the visual and symbolic language of electronic media. My hope is that as stodgy art establishments interact more with global cultures that they will inevitably be changed by them; a reverse kind of colonization, if you will. Apparently, though, for some French, that’s a bit of as problem.

As for these new desert outposts in which the reality of the new global capitalist elite is being literally constructed, it remains to be seen what these “nonspaces” will produce culturally, or if they will remain deserts…. on the spiritual plane, or of the “real” as Baudrillard would put it. Incidentally.

PS If I were France, I’d hold off on shipping its cultural heritage until the US cools its heels. After all, there is a possibility of locating its treasures a stone’s throw from WWIII!
Plans for ‘Desert Louvre’ Provoke Outrage in France - washingtonpost.com:

The Abu Dhabi Louvre will be housed in a French-designed, domed building resembling a giant flying saucer — or a mushroom, depending on one’s perspective. The complex, scheduled to be completed in five years, will include the world’s largest Guggenheim Museum, 29 luxury hotels and three marinas with berths for 10,000 yachts. Sheik Sultan bin Tahnoon al-Nahyan, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, said the emirate’s ambition is to “reach an arts and architectural level never before achieved.”

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