Kuratorisk Aktion, a.k.a. Frederikke Hansen og Tone Olaf Nielsen, would like to welcome the Provincialists. A reevaluation and discussion of the old dichotomy of ”provincial” versus ”cosmopolitan” is an important initiative, which allows the tracing of potential changes in the prejudices and biases acting between the metropole and the province. We truly appreciate the fact that this event – and the dialogue it seeks – encourages a trans-Nordic investigation, and that the Nordic aspects are viewed in light of the ongoing globalisation. We would nevertheless like to challenge the prevailing notion of ”global”, in the following essay and in our participation as members of a critical audience at the seminar in Tórshavn.
When the term globalisation is used in current Nordic debate, it is rarely accompanied by any further clarification of what the phenomenon involves. In most cases it is suggested that the world is shrinking as a result of technological advances in communication, mass media and transportation, thereby causing a certain cultural homogenisation. This lack of a definition intentionally or unintentionally hides an underlying cultural Darwinism that enables the co-occurrence of cultural homogenisation with the notion of worldwide cultural collision between Christianity and Islam (“the clash of civilizations”).
In our view, cultural Darwinism is both a necessary tool for justifying and maintaining a capitalist world order, and one of its symptoms. The free market has tacitly become the predominant model of cultural, social and political coexistence – everything and everyone is encouraged to engage in healthy competition, given that only (unregulated) supply and demand can ensure justice and democracy. And competition is preconditioned on inequality.
The idea of free competition is used by governments, industry, stock markets, and by individuals to justify the global institutionalisation of inequality and, in our opinion, suppression and exploitation. The neo-liberal assumption that, if wealth is first allowed to concentrate among a few at the top it will subsequently ”trickle” down and benefit even the bottom layers of society, has proven itself to be a disaster for the developing world and for the environment.
We do not in any way doubt that we are currently witnessing an unprecedented level of international and trans-continental exchange of people, ideas, goods and services, and that we therefore need to understand how this affects our culture. We do claim, however, that any discussion of globalisation – also in the arts – has to include an evaluation of such social, economic and political factors as production conditions and resource availability on the one hand, and self government on the other. It should always ask: who has access to resources and authority, and what type of hierarchical structure is implicit in globalisation (be it social, economic, gender, sexual or religious inequality).
Globalisation is deeply rooted in a neo-liberal politics that subsitutes political negotiation with an economic-political rationale. However, in opposition to the neo-liberal dictum ”There Is No Alternative” (to liberalisation and privatisation, to competition and economic growth) are the new social movements with their slogan “Another World Is Possible”, movements that understandably have global aims and functions, despite the umbrella term ”the anti-globalisation movement”.
In short, we would like to ensure that the debate about provincialism takes into account globalisation in terms of common culture, world wide capitalism and ultimately a new global equality.
Kuratorisk Aktion (Frederikke Hansen & Tone Olaf Nielsen)