Overview

For most of the twentieth century, art historical discourse remained Eurocentric and was defined by a linear narrative spanning ancient to medieval to modern and contemporary. Faculty and curatorial positions in most western institutions have been premised on such a chronological periodisation. Consequently, few art history specialists of Asia, Africa and Latin America have been afforded the opportunity to research, teach and curate their areas in a comparative register that situates them as an integral dimension of global modern art historical narratives. In the past two decades, the pushback against such a hegemonic perspective towards Eurocentric art history has yielded a more global and comparativist approach that considers these imperatives and exists in dialogue with the parallel emergence of queer, feminist and Indigenous art histories.

Accordingly, the panelists will reflect on the cartographies of art history and the efforts towards more global and comparativist approaches to the discipline. They will reflect on the nature and critical discourses of what could be described as ‘new art histories’ in the making.