Globalization & the Contemporary World Essay

, 2009, p. 80). Even the smallest museums in some of the most out-of-the-way locations "can and do participate in the globalized arena," Holo explains. The leaders of these remote museums, for example the "indigenous communitarian museum leaders in the remote mountains of Oaxaca," who have zero staff, somehow go to meetings at very obscure locations, just to link up with others in the world of art (Holo, 80).

However, when globalization becomes what Holo calls "conventionalized homogenization," that is, everything in museums in remote places in the world become mirrors of "the Western perspective of modern art," there is a necessary response to that negative dynamic. That's not to say that militant nationalism automatically comes into play in this situation, but as Holo explains, globalization can bring "negative baggage" and when it does, as Manuel Borja-Ville explains (he is the director of the Reina Sofia, Spain's national museum of contemporary art), something has to change. In Borja-Ville's instance, he did not want to continue spreading Western reflections of art so he embraced "alternate art histories from Latin America and Africa." He also believed that globalization should truly be an embrace of other cultures, especially those cultures that have not been fully recognized or displayed (Holo, 81).

Should ethnicity determine what an artist creates? Certainly not. Art belongs to the world and artists, while they may represent and reflect the culture and ethnicity around them, and give respect to their nationality, and indeed museums that only show art from their particular culture and nation are missing an opportunity to participate in the positive side of globalization. Holo writes that some countries no doubt will find that the "universal museum" is an "unpardonable exploitation of their cultural heritage in favor of richer countries." In that case, local artists should "lead the conversation" about expressions of property rights, social justice, political power and more, through their art.

In conclusion, globalization and the response to it, the perspective of it, certainly should be (and often is) the subject that writers and artists embrace through their creative powers. There also seems to be need for artists to rebel against the homogenization of art that only reflects the West. Globalization can bring new cultures across borders in a positive way, educating and bringing people into contact with each other in a way that has never before been possible. But there must be a point where individuals and their cultural heritage are protected against a bland transfer of Western values, or values from any other culture, becoming intrusive and dominant.

Works Cited

Gharebaghi, Ali-Asghar. The Globalization of Art? The Same Old Story? Tavoos

Online / Art Quarterly / Iran's First Bilingual Art Magazine. Retrieved October 6,

2011, from http://www.tavoosonline.com. 2008.

Holo, Selma, and Alvarez, Mari-Tere. Beyond the Turnstile: Making the Case for Museums and Sustainable Values. Landham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009.

Lynn Anne's. "Art & Globalization." Lynn Anne's Blogspot. Retrieved October 7, 2011, from http://lynnanneverbeck.blogspot.com/2010/04/art-globalization.html.

Pushparajah, T.A., and Manobaven, M. "Globalization and Contemporary Literature." Daily

News. Retrieved October 7, 2011, from http://www.dailynews.ik. 2010.

Scholte, Jan Aart. Globalization: A Critical Introduction. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.…