The Importance of Local Art in the Construction of Diverse World Narratives

Abstract

Humans are social beings, whom come together in societies and produce collective constructions of meaning. These societies, will be equally marked by the construction of the ‘self’ as its relationship with others. Thus, globalization has existed since the first exchanges between multiple cultural groups. However, over the past twenty years with the appearance of internet and fast communication the world has acquired a great opportunity in which faster interactions and interconnectivity have influenced both the local and the global dialogue. This interconnectivity brings the opportunity to give visibility to multiple narratives, and, gives us the occasion to address how world stories have been constructed and how we can enhance a world dialogue based on the diversity of its participants. It is in this quest of the articulation of multiple narratives that this thesis discusses local art as the visualization of a local discourse, and explores its challenges when confronted with a fast moving narrative. It is in this tension of defining the self and being part of a bigger dialogue that my thesis question is How is local art being used to claim a place in a globalized context? In order to answer this question, I will build a theory that frames how the world narrative and dialogue has been constructed from a scholarly perspective and, what are the elements that will build on a society. Secondly, I will contrast this perspective with three examples, which are Japan, Mexico and Romania in order to test how the theory applies to concrete constructions of social narratives, and how, through art local people relate to their story whilst also claiming a place in a world discourse.