Toronto Theory Workshop - Global Art Worlds

Global Art Worlds

Cultural production has been increasingly globalized, calling for analytical frameworks that move beyond national boundaries. While many scholars have drawn on the Bourdieusian lens to study “global cultural fields,” this perspective—often centered on competition and domination—can overlook a crucial dimension of global production: collaboration. Extending Howard Becker’s art worlds approach to a global scale, this essay develops an alternative framework for analyzing cultural production in a globalized economy. I introduce the concept of asymmetric collaboration, a negotiated process in which cultural producers from divergent art worlds, shaped by distinct conventions, resources, and constraints, co-create cultural objects for heterogeneous global audiences. Global creative production, I argue, hinges on navigating what I call “creative encounters”: aesthetic, structural, occupational, and ideological frictions that arise in everyday practice. These encounters rarely resolve conflict but transform it into creative compromises and workable relations that enable joint action across asymmetric positions. By integrating cooperation and conflict, this framework offers a grounded lens on how global cultural production unfolds, and what it takes to make art together in an era of deepening geopolitical tension.

Paper Link: TBA

Discussants: Ann Mullen and David Cho

TTW fosters theoretical dialogue, taking theory in a wide sense. We aim to maximize conversation. Papers, usually works in progress, are circulated prior to meetings, and all attendees are expected to come to the workshop having read the paper. Presenters typically provide only a 5-minute introduction and contextualization of the paper. Then, two discussants (a graduate student and a faculty member) provide critical commentary, followed by open Q&A with all participants. Everyone is welcome, whether you see yourself as someone who works in theory or not, and whether you are new to the department or have been around for a long time.