Lecture by Magdalena Radomska

Thursday, April 16, 2026, 12:00 EST

Alterglocal 1989 and Glocal Art: The Dialectics of Rise and Fall

This lecture examines artistic responses to the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, alongside the disintegration of socialist regimes beyond the European context, including Angola and Ethiopia, as well as reactions by artists in contexts where communist systems persisted, such as China and Cuba. It further considers artistic engagements with the disintegration of authoritarian regimes in the non-Northern Americas, Africa, and parts of Asia, drawing on, among others, examples from Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, South Africa and Namibia, as well as Indonesia and South Korea.

Alterglocality is advanced here as a conceptual framework that is analytically distinct from both glocality and alterglobalism—a term introduced into art historical discourse by Piotr Piotrowski. Thus “Alterglocal 1989” is proposed as a reconfiguration of this widely accepted historical caesura. Rather than a singular, universal turning point reproducing the liberal thesis that the Cold War was won by the West, it is conceived as an axis that does not separate binary oppositions but instead enables their dialectical rearticulation. This perspective foregrounds the intertwined processes of the collapse of certain authoritarian regimes and the emergence of new forms of domination, including neoliberal capitalism, resurgent nationalisms, and Western imperialism, as reflected in the revival of far-right movements in Europe.

A comparative analysis of glocal artistic practices allows for a more nuanced understanding of 1989 and its aftermath, while rendering visible how critiques of Western cultural hegemony articulated by Gáspár Miklós Tamás, Marina Gržinić, Walter Mignolo, Achille Mbembe, Boris Buden, Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, Suely Rolnik, Nelly Richard, Rita Segato, Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, Sayak Valencia, Nkiru Nzegwu, N’Goné Fall, Grada Kilomba, and Koyo Kouoh correspond to, and are refracted through, processes in contemporary art across different geopolitical contexts.