The reception of "nationalist" art: a response.

I appreciate the measured responses to my piece on medium and its effect on whether an artwork is designated global or local in its content ("The (Dis)Placement of National Art in a Transnational Artworld," African Arts 41 [3]:10-12). However, the bulk of the resistance to my argument arises from a misreading of my position. In my introduction I stress that I am interested in the reception of art with regards to this particular debate. That is, I am not arguing--nor do I believe--that the medium of an artwork itself can be essentially national or global. I am interested in a much more nuanced discussion of medium and content in so-called African art. My own difficulties in locating the current state of the nation in art have arisen in part by the contention by many people--and I mentioned specifically the Angolan art critic Adriano Mixinge--that certain "avant garde" art works are not apropos to the nation. My objective was to open a discussion about avant game media's economic and political support and where this support might position the art work in relation to the "nation."

I began my argument with the example of the "Lunda Tchokwe" project of the Trienal de Luanda, stating that it was a nationalist collective artwork directed by Fernando Alvim. Indeed, as David Bunn notes, Alvim is deeply interested in the state--psychological and political--of Angola after several decades of traumatic war. Memorias Intimas Marcas (1994-2000) is an important piece, as is Alvim's work "on the ground" in Luanda with the Trienal de Luanda. Given my familiarity of earlier work such as Memorias, "the nation" as such was not on my mind when I visited the Trienal de Luanda. Indeed, I asked Alvim why he chose what seemed to be an outdated model as a theme for the exhibition after I saw "old world" post-independence African artists, writers, and politicians posted on billboards all over the city of Luanda in their "Outdoor" project. His response: nationalism is a tactic. In that sense, the notion of the "citizen" that Bunn forwards as an alternative to the nation is appropriate. It allows for more mobile artists to thematize their work instead of constantly being read as operating under an essentialist national identity. It also allows for and encourages innovation in medium and the search for more potent means of expressing aspects of belonging, trauma, violence, etc.

If that were the end of the story, it would make our work on contemporary art in Africa a lot easier. As I stated in my introduction, avant game art is at times seen as suspect among artists who are invested in nationalism. I brought up Angola because of the strong sense of nationalism in the arts that is coupled with the scarcity of resources for art making. Self-identification is less pressing for these artists than the issue of what types of media are available, who funds the art, and subsequently how artworks are chosen for exhibitions. This gap between, for example, painting and digital art--if you believe in that gap--becomes a problem for artists who do not work in one or the other when they look for places to exhibit. It is in this realm of reception, after the production of art, where "nationalist" art is received and its content negotiated. Therefore, Steven Nelson is correct in pointing out that the content of the medium itself is not necessarily tied to the nation (though we can debate whether displays of technological innovation in art extol the creative capacity of a nation). The nation is more compellingly debated in shows such as the Trienal de Luanda, the second Johannesburg Biennale, and many other such "international" exhibitions.

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Thus Rosalind Krauss's article on William Kentridge's The Rock is useful to the extent that she pushes the discussion of the "palimpsest" in Kentridge's work beyond its common reading as a metaphor of memory in South Africa. She shows how the palimpsest, in its form and its metaphorical reference, drags against the progression of technology. Technology itself, in Kentridge's work, is not divorced from ideology. Filmic animation, for Krauss, is a support or ground for the drawing process and Kentridge slows it to a near standstill. Similarly I am interested in the infrastructural support of art and what it says about the possibilities of an ideologically stable art. I would love to open up a discussion on the troubles of citizenship figured in certain artworks themselves, and how these artworks articulate with more celebratory works on the nation. For now, however, this particular essay focused on how the medium of an artwork effects idealistic notions of the "nation" after its inception by the artist. In fact, it is this realm of negotiation that is most salient to notions of citizenship--global and national.

DELINDA COLLIER is a PhD student at Emory University studying Chokwe art, Angolan identity, and the Trienal de Luanda. [e-mail]