‘Reconsidered: Dhaka Art Summit 2020’, Arts of the Working Class


Pangrok Sulap unveil the collectively produced print.
Originally titled ‘Collective entanglements’, my review of the 2020 Dhaka Art Summit: Seismic Movements published in Arts of the Working Class

Friends often joke that when bankers get together they talk about art, but when artists get together they talk about money. Given how the interests of private collectors, philanthropic funds and state initiatives align to bankroll contemporary art spectacles, it is impossible to have a critical discussion about biennales and major periodic art events without raising their entanglements with corporate interests. 

The globalising system of contemporary art brings economic interests, political power and institutions for the production of culture and knowledge together with organisations and individuals dedicated to the novel production of the new. The term ‘culture washing’ describes how corporations and philanthropic organisations financed by those who profit from exploitative practices, fund art events to manoeuvre their name brands, align themselves with prestige culture and improve their social capital. Alternatively, such arrangements also make contemporary art available as a form of activism for the rich, as it is a means by which the wealthy can flex their financial and political muscle to promote issues such as climate change, gender justice and decolonisation.