Making Art Global (Part 2): 'Magiciens de la Terre' 1989 (Exhibition Histories)

"Magiciens de la Terre" was an exhibition held at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Grande Halle at the Parc de la Villette in 1989. Curated by Jean-Hubert Martin, it aimed to counter the ethnic bias and colonial complicity of the contemporary art world. Martin chose 100 artists from around the world: 50 from first-world cultures such as the U.S. and Europe and 50 from cultures then routinely ignored by the art market, in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Australia. "I want to play the role of someone who uses artistic intuition alone to select objects which come from totally different cultures," Martin explained. "I also want to incorporate into that process the critical thinking which contemporary anthropology provides on the problem of ethnocentrism." With photographs and gallery plans, this volume revisits the exhibition. With a main essay by Lucy Steeds and including 107 colour images and 28 black and white. Additional contributions by Pablo Lafuente and Jean-Marc Poinsot, previously unpublished essays by Jean-Hubert Martin and Gayatri Spivak, responses from Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Alfredo Jaar and Barbara Kruger, and archival texts by Rasheed Araeen, Jean Fisher and Thomas McEvilley. In 1989, an exhibition in Paris united the work of over a hundred artists and, since only half would be described as Western, it radically challenged the Western art system from within. 'Magiciens de la Terre' argued for the universality of the creative impulse and endeavoured to offer direct aesthetic experience of contemporary works of art made globally and presented on equal terms. Photographs and gallery plans reconstruct the exhibition in detail, and an essay by Lucy Steeds provides an extended examination of its history, context and choices. A new essay by Jean-Marc Poinsot looks at the discursive legacy, while another by Pablo Lafuente inscribes 'Magiciens de la Terre' within the wider history of exhibition practice. Additional texts include a programmatic statement by curator Jean-Hubert Martin, and an interview with Benjamin Buchloh addressing his plans right before the opening. These are accompanied by responses from the time by Rasheed Araeen, Jean Fisher and Thomas McEvilley, as well as a previously unpublished paper Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak presented at the colloquium that accompanied the exhibition. Recent reassessments of the show by participating artists Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Alfredo Jaar and Barbara Kruger are also included. This title is a companion to Making Art Global (Part 1): The Third Havana Biennial 1989 Cover Title Copyright Contents Introduction: From the Outside In - ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ and Two Histories of Exhibitions ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ and the Development of Transnational Project-Based Curating Review of the Paradigms and Interpretative Machine, or, The Critical Development of ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ Magiciens de la Terre, 1989 List of Artists Centre Georges Pompidou: Floor Plan Installation Views Grande Halle de La Villette: Floor Plan Installation Views Catalogue Cover The Death of Art - Long Live Art, 1986 The Whole Earth Show: An Interview with Jean-Hubert Martin Our Bauhaus Others’ Mudhouse Fictional Histories: ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ – The Invisible Labyrinth Looking at Others Marginalia: Thomas McEvilley on The Global Issue Responses from Exhibiting Artists Statement on ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ Interview with Alfredo Jaar Statement on ’Magiciens de la Terre’ Authors’ Biographies Selected Bibliography Picture and Text Credits Acknowledgements Index In 1989, a large scale exhibition in Paris bringing together over 100 artists, around half from the 'West' and half from elsewhere, contributed to a radical shift in the Western art system. 'Magicians de la Terre' argued for the universality of the creative impulse and offered direct aesthetic experience of contemporary works of art made globally. In this book, photographs and gallery plans reconstruct the exhibition in detail. Essays provide an extended examination of its history and context to look at the discursive and curatorial legacy, and responses from the time