Performing Otherness in Contemporary Art

In today’s globalised contemporary art, more artists from marginalised, formerly colonised territories are gaining global visibility. Yet, the asymmetric relationship persists, resulting in a condition where institutional power structures, often situated in the Global North, continue to dominate the production and validation of art, and what art historian Piotr Piotrowski (2008) called “vertical art history” continues to persist. In some cases, it leads to what Lisa Lau (2009) termed “re-orientalism”, or the tendency of native cultural producers to comply with and perpetuate orientalist stereotypes themselves. This, in turn, leads to reinforcing the dynamics between centres and peripheries. Similar tendencies could be found in art historical discourse, which led Eric Michaud (2019) to consider whether the growing ethnicization of contemporary art differs from the nation-state discourse that fuelled the emergence of art history as an academic discipline.

This panel raises questions on identity politics in contemporary art in the wake of growing importance of indigenous art and seeks to reconsider the potential of transcultural or transnational discourses in the context of institutional demand to perform cultural difference. It examines how artists, curators, and scholars navigate this condition, addressing the potential effects of over-employing the ideas of cultural identity, authenticity and ask questions such as: What are the opportunities and challenges that artists and cultural practitioners face when they raise questions on such notions? How can we use these to rupture the centre-periphery relation and find cross-border solidarities?

We invite papers from a range of geographic contexts and inter-disciplinary perspectives, particularly encouraging submissions by artists and curators.

Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:

Assel Kadyrkhanova, University of Amsterdam, a.kadyrkhanova@uva.nl

Mehmet Berkay Sülek, University of Amsterdam, m.b.sulek@uva.nl