The ubiquity of the term “globalization” in every sphere of everyday life defies attempts at its definition, since the term acquires different meanings when employed in different contexts but, undoubtedly, there is no shortage of debate on globalization; some see it in a positive light, as an aperture to other cultures which, in the process, minimizes the cultural, political and economic hegemony of the West; others see it as a negative force, as an instrument of capitalism that displaces the idea of the nation-state in favor of the corporation.  In this “new order” of things, capital emerges as the main operative dynamic which regulates the dissemination of information, money, and cultural and economic exchanges in the contemporary world.

Art has also felt the effects of globalization, most notably in the way the peripheries have found their way into the mainstream of international discourse and the biennials that have sprung up around the world in places like São Paulo, Havana, Gwangju, Sydney, San Diego / Tijuana, among others, even though some of these biennales have been taking place for decades. However, this exhibition deals with how contemporary artists approach the dynamics of globalization in their work, and examine the incidence of this phenomenon in many aspects of contemporary life, from the division of labor to the conflicts created by the expansionist policies of the corporation. This exhibition presents a selection of works from the Berezdivin collection that reflects some of these concerns on behalf of the artists. On one occasion Thomas Hirschhorn said that one “must not make political art but rather make art politically” and this way of making art is a common denominator in the works present in the exhibition. While at the same time they explore the conventions and specificities of different mediums such as painting, sculpture, photography, installation and video, these works touch upon a variety of issues and many of them have different possibilities of reading and meaning. Each one of the works exhibited here points towards the dynamics and side effects of globalization, and some even seem to desire to prescribe solutions; in any case, they all warn about the grave consequences of inclining the balance of power in favor of only one of the forces in tension that are reshaping our world.