By outlining globalization and its possible results, Smiers highlights the impact and influence of economic globalization upon artistic life in the worldwide context. He examines the space for local cultural providers and local cultural autonomy in a world dominated by the monopolization of cultural markets by transnational corporations. In this article he explores how globalization in some ways resembles colonialism. Underlining his arguments he refers to other academics including Jan Pieterse who spoke of “globalization” as “westernization” because it begins and emanates from Europe and the West, where a limited number of transnational enterprises rule the rest of the world’s economy.
Smiers describes the arts in all shapes as “symbolic battlegrounds” which can be socially, emotionally and economically charged. For this reason Smiers testifies that art is not innocent nor is it made up of merely aesthetic or individual decisions. He identifies the arts as socially constructed events provided by social institutions. He further explores how complex and often unequal power relations determine the status of an artwork.
Within the process of globalization, Smiers reveals how the logical relationship between decisions and consequences have been replaced by lines of influence which extend almost everywhere on earth. With this in mind Smiers asks us to consider the relationship between artistic and collective freedom.
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