Art journalism and the impact of 'globalisation': New fugal modalities of storytelling in Austral-Asian writing

Abstract

The writing of art journalism has played a key yet little acknowledged role in the ongoing expansion of the international contemporary art world, and the multi-billion dollar global art economy. This article discusses some contradictory impacts of globalisation on art journalism - from extremes of sensationalist record-breaking art market reporting in the global mass media to the emergence of innovative modalities of story-telling in Australian independent journalistic art writing. Using aspects of Bourdieu's field theory, the article discusses complexities of overlapping fields of economic and cultural production in art journalism and proposes a new modality of cultural criticism based on musical fugue form. Reflecting on two case studies - magazine feature stories on contemporary artists, Guo Jian from China, and Charlie Co from the Philippines - the article considers the attribution of value, 'the new global aesthetic', and new forms of autonomous independent art journalism as cultural production