Shifting Perspectives

  • Beau Dick's Multi-Layered Strategy of Agency on documenta 14
Artikel

Datum

2019

Schlagwörter

contemporary art, documenta14, post-colonialism, decolonisation

ISBN/ISSN/ISMN, DOI

text

This article examines the participation of Kwakwaka’wakw hereditary chief, wood carver, political activist, and contemporary artist Beau Dick at documenta 14 held in 2017. On this occasion, Beau Dick produced masks for ritual use as well as for the art market. To mediate the ongoing dispute between artwork and ethnographical object, and to overcome this historically conditioned binary opposition, this text examines artistic practices stemming from a non-Western background. Kwakwaka’wakw rituals, practices, and myths shape the analysis of Beau Dick’s work and his position within the field of contemporary art. The article recuperates the complex history between First Nations people and the West as a framework for Beau Dick’s masks. Thus, it puts old-fashioned ideas about Othering that were reiterated in the press coverage of documenta 14 into perspective and advocates for a more inclusive approach.

Band, Seiten

15

Sprache, Format, Material, Ausgabe/Auflage

Englisch

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Veröffentlicht Von: Sophie Publig | Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien | Veröffentlicht Am: 09. Mai 2022, 11:21 | Geändert Am: 24. November 2022, 09:24