ABSTRACT
When modernism’s largely white and western paradigm started to crumble at the end of the Cold War, a subtle opening up and broadening of the very definition of art began to unfold. Today, a conjunction of global events and thought coming out of postmodernism has brought us to an exciting moment in time when art is not only off the traditional museum pedestal, both literally and figuratively, but also is engaged in the social fabric of human activity. Questioning the hierarchies inherent to existing economic systems, art works that were not marketable or that challenged commodification – installation art, performance, sound art, and other ephemeral forms – re-established a paradigm of art embedded in the living world’s puzzle, as opposed to being a supplier of aesthetic satisfaction in the market economy.
