Exoticism

Communication effectuée le 15 mai 2010, dans le cadre du Séminaire Pierre Loti, sous la direction de Sophie Basch et Pierre Dupont.
Avec la participation de Suzanne Lafont, Sarga Moussa et Gaultier Roux.
Centre de Recherches sur les Poétiques du XIXe siècle (CRP19). Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle (Paris III).

Early modern India was an economic core region producing manifold textiles for export. During the sixteenth century a new customer entered the stage and expanded its influence from the city of Goa – Portugal. From early times, the Portuguese had bought and commissioned textiles, among them large embroideries from Bengal and Gujarat, which are the focus of this study. By providing European prints as models for the professional local embroiderers they created a novel product that was successful in Portugal and beyond throughout the seventeenth century. The textiles were deemed valuable and rare enough to be included in different travel accounts, letters and inventories, enabling us to trace their place of production, their transportation to Europe and their reception. Their intricate iconographies reflect political problematics of the time and shed light onto the intercultural circumstances of Portuguese colonial life. Barbara Karl is Curator of Textiles and Carpets at the MAK – Museum für Angewandte Kunst/Gegenwartskunst in Vienna. WEITERE INFORMATIONEN UND DOWNLOADS FINDEN SIE UNTER WWW.BOEHLAU-VERLAG.COM. böhlau verlag ges.m.b.h. & co. kg, wiesingerstrasse 1, 1010 wien, österreich, t: + 43 1 330 24 27-0, f: + 43 1 330 24 32-77 [email protected], www.boehlau-verlag.com | wien köln weimar

This paper was presented during the first Rubenianum Work-in-Progress Workshop organised the 20 february 20.

The purpose of this paper is to present my initial hypotheses for answering the question of the role of exoticism in the expression of individuality in the 17th and 18th centuries. Through painted portraits with various exotic objects (porcelain, Persian carpets, oriental costumes, etc.) I will question the aesthetic, social and cultural functions of these objects. The dialectic of reality/representation will also be considered.

Cette communication a été présentée dans le cadre du colloque "Portraits et représentations des anciens Pays-Bas (XVIe - XVIIe siècles)" organisé par le CREHS et l'Université d'Artois les 8 et 9 novembre 2018. Les actes du colloque feront l'objet d'une publication.

This article contributes to the studies of living human exhibitions in Eastern Europe or, more precisely, in Polish territory in the late partition period. The article intends to demonstrate the strategies of presenting Black African women in Warsaw, Cracow, and Poznań. The idea of construing the view has been used as a key concept to look into the processes of the sexualization and racialization of the Others' female bodies and the construction of "savagery" in the context of nineteenth-century visual culture.

This paper intends to provide an analysis of the dark side of cultural tourism in the city of Cartagena de Indias and the damage it has caused. Is Cartagena a diverse, tolerant and open city? (Florida 2003). On paper yes, but the reality is that social inequality is so strong that the sense of control over space by the ruling class has stopped the community capital, ideas and culture to flow freely fostering a rather enclosed, intolerant and racist environment. These​ issues are hidden behind the beauty and paradisiac charm of a city trapped in selling-image discourses. The collateral damaging effects of the tourism industry has changed not only the physical space but also the mental space of the community.


What you see here is the accepted version of the piece that appeared in FRENCH CULTURAL STUDIES, vol. 31, no. 3 (2020), pp. 210-229. I recommend citing the original publication rather than this document.

This essay challenges the French poet, naval doctor, archaeologist and sinologist Victor Segalen’s established image as a literary modernist who broke with colonial exoticism. I use a set of previously understudied primary sources, including Segalen’s own travel journals, archaeological accounts, letters and photo albums, as well as Chinese gazetteers and a stele inscription documenting his excavation of a tomb associated with Bao San Niang 鮑三娘 – the supposed daughter-in-law of the famous Chinese general Guan Yu 關羽. Through a study combining both textual and field investigations, this article not only points out the disjuncture between Segalen’s progressive theory and his actual practice, but also questions the tendency among critics – both Western and Chinese – to overstate Segalen’s contribution to East–West cross-cultural representation, while intentionally omitting his exploitative deeds.

Iz recenzije: Knjiga "Aleksandar Joksimović: moda i identitet" predstavlja prvu monografiju o modnom dizajneru napisanu u našoj sredini. Ona donosi detaljan uvid u istoriju domaće mode socijalističkog vremena i produkciju elitnog modnog dizajnera, ali i sliku političkog, ekonomskog, kulturnog i društvenog miljea onovremene Jugoslavije. U nekoliko zasebnih poglavlja prikazani su različiti fenomeni, od ukidanja mode uzrokovanog posleratnom komunističkom praksom, preko uspona modnih dizajnera tokom 1960-ih, fenomena samo-egzotizacije i samo-orijentalizacije jugoslovenske mode kao tehničkog sredstva za kreaciju samosvojnosti, kompleksan odnos politike, ideologije i mode i drugi fenomeni.

_The Physiology of Love and Other Writings_ is the first English annotated collection of Mantegazza’s selected works. In my extensive introductory essay, Mantegazza’s hybrid contributions from fiction, travel-writing, and ethnography to physiology, medicine, and politics are reevaluated as instances of a proto-cultural-studies approach attuned to the cross-fertilization of disciplines and the circulation of ideas in a period of European intellectual history that defied the notion of specialization.
Table of contents:
The Physiology of Love
And Selections from:
On The Hygienic and Medicinal Virtues of the Coca Plant and on Nervine Nourishment in General
One Day in Madeira
A Voyage to Lapland with my Friend Stephen Sommier
India
Epicurus: Essay in a Physiology of the Beautiful
The Neurosic Century
The Tartuffe Century
Head: Or, Sowing Ideas to Create New Deeds
Political Memoirs of a Foot Soldier in the Italian Parliament
The Year 3000: A Dream
The Psychology of Translation

Taking a feather fan belonging to the Jerônimo Ferreira das Neves Collection at the D. João VI Museum in Rio de Janeiro as a starting point, this article examines a type of featherwork that was produced for export during the nineteenth century in Brazil. The nineteenth-century fashion for adornments made from feathers and stuffed animals invaded major fashion-producing centers such as Paris and London at the time when bourgeois imperialism was helping to multiply intercontinental trade links. For middle-class women, these objects introduced the exotic as a distinct aesthetic, corresponding to a desire for innovation driven by the growing standardization in food, housing and clothing. Rigid feather fans produced in Rio de Janeiro were internationally known from 1830 onwards. However, even when taking into account existing studies, little is known about this Rio-based rigid feather fan industry, which reached its peak between 1870 and 1890. In reflecting on the production, circulation and consumption of rigid fans, this paper aims to identify the symbolic meanings attributed to the products of this industry by Brazilian and European markets.

Zakynthos, niewielka wyspa na zachodzie Grecji, jest obecnie jednym z najpopularniejszych celów wakacyjnych podróży u wybrzeży Morza Śródziemnego. Wraz z liczbą wypoczywających zwiększa się również zasób narracji mówiących o tym miejscu. Kształtują one oczekiwania turystów i sposób ich percepcji. Obraz Zakynthos w wakacyjnych folderach różni się od rzeczywistości i nie znajduje odzwierciedlenia w realiach życia zamieszkującej wyspę ludności. Narracje, służąc interesom touroperatorów chcącym stworzyć alternatywny obraz świata, roztaczają przed wczasowiczami wizję raju. Sposób prowadzenia narracji przekłada się na doświadczenia turystów i formy organizacji ich wypoczynku, a także wpływa na zachowania mieszkańców wyspy, którzy, stając się przedmiotem opisu, dążą do przebudowy własnej tożsamości. Niniejsze studium przypadku oparte jest na kilkunastu miesiącach badań prowadzonych na Zakynthos.

The article examines the evolution of the conception of the journey from  the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, with its consequences on the birth of exoticism. In the Middle Ages, the journeys, of religious inspiration, go from the periphery towards the religious center of the continent. On the contrary, in the Renaissance, the travellers go from the center (the European continent) to the extra-continental peripheries, following the Big Discoveries. This change of scale, orientation and sense of the journey is going to provoke a change of glance on the other one and the distant, which passes from a topophobia in the Middle Ages to a topophilia in the Renaissance.

Assuming that visual media play a crucial role in the construction of “identities” and of colonial imageries, this essay examines how post cards from the first decades of the 20th century represented Cape Verde and its inhabitants. It analyses the europeanising depiction of urban landscapes, the function of gender in the definition of the Cape Verdean “ethnic type” and the artificial staging of a (non-existing) tribal culture. Further, it discusses the relation between texts and images with regard to the subjective interpretation of post cards. And finally, it shows how Cape Verdeans have appropriated iconographic elements, which had emerged in the context of a colonial imagery, and have filled them with new meaning.

Partindo da premissa que os media visuais têm um papel crucial na construção de “identidades” e de um certo tipo de ‘imaginário’ colonial, este artigo examina como os postais das primeiras décadas do século XX retratavam Cabo Verde e os seus habitantes. Analisa as representações europeístas das paisagens urbanas, a função do género na definição do “tipo étnico” cabo-verdiano e a encenação artificial de uma cultura tribal (inexistente). E finalmente, mostra como os cabo-verdianos se
apropriaram de certos elementos iconográficos, que se manifestaram no contexto do imaginário colonial, e as carregaram de novos significados.

El impacto del colonialismo y del recién descubierto Oriente provocó que el continente europeo proyectase en aquellas tierras lejanas, llenas de exotismo, leyendas y sensualidad, sus propias pasiones prohibidas y sus más oscuros deseos. El erotismo que las culturas indígenas despertaban en la sociedad victoriana llevó a la creación de sociedades secretas como el Cannibal Club, conocido por distribuir pornografía de tipo exótica entre sus miembros. Sin embargo, no todo el interés estaba fundamentado en la prohibición y la sexualidad, sino que ese erotismo también tuvo una aproximación académica y científica de la mano de personajes como Richard Burton.

Within Catherine Gore’s vast literary corpus there is an uncharacteristic novel titled Adventures in Borneo: A Tale of a Shipwreck (1849), in which the author experiments with exotic settings and adventures, a fictional subgenre in which she is not entirely comfortable. In the period of its publication, the British press was reporting and commenting on the controversial events involving Sir James Brooke, the White Rajah of Sarawak, and his anti-piracy campaign in the waters of the Malay Archipelago. In this article I try to investigate Gore’s take on such a delicate topic as British conduct in remote foreign lands, vis-à-vis alien cultures; I also refer to one of her unpublished letters, as well as to Brooke’s journal published in 1846 – most likely her primary source for the socio-cultural information on the Borneo population deployed in the novel. This article also seeks to contribute to the critical-literary debate over Catherine Gore providing a starting point for a more thorough study of her attitude towards British colonialism.

“Exoticism” is often used as a passe-partout concept in order to describe music referring to geographic Others. But it becomes especially problematic when applied to Ravel’s music, in which the Other is frequently evoked (whether as a geographical, chronological or stylistic other). Therefore Ravel’s positions and compositional choices should be considered on a case-by-case basis when interpreting his music. By adhering to issues raised by Ralph Locke regarding exoticism and reflecting on how musical topics might be perceived, this essay proposes a reading of Chansons madécasses that goes beyond their exoticism. Ravel’s decisions suggest a reading that accentuates modernist and expressive (and especially erotic) parameters more than exotic ones.

This work is a comparative analysis of the image of the black-African in the novels Der Neger Jupiter raubt Europa of Claire Goll and Batouala of René Maran. It tries to bring answers to questions such as how the two novels present the black-African, how the identity and the cultural position of the authors influence the way the presented images are chosen and interpreted, how the novels put in scene the reaction of the black characters to the discourses which describe, fix and marginalize them. Using concepts and categories from the postcolonial discourse such as Edward Said’s orientalism and Homi K. Bhabha’s mimicry, I’ve come to the conclusion that the two novels portray the black-African under almost the same aspects, namely as primitive, superstitious, barbarian and savage.  However, he appears in Claire Goll’s novel also as the Noble Savage, in difference to René Maran. Hence while René Maran’s novel defends the principle of colonialism as a humanistic mission though denouncing the degrading practices of the colonizers in the colonies, Der Neger Jupiter raubt Europa can be read as Goll’s critic at the French (and in general the European) society of the 1920s which is characterized through its fascination for the black plastic and visual art as well as for the black music, while disdaining and scorning the black-African himself.
The two novels diverge also in the way they put in scene the reactions of the black characters to the colonial and racist discourses. Accordingly, the black characters in Maran’s novel subvert the authority of the colonial master by displaying the so-called “authorized version of otherness” (Bhabha) only in his presence. They appear therefore as partial and false copy of the white man. In Goll’s novel, we have to do with a character who interiorizes the racist discourses which marginalize him and tries to become like the white man, in order to be accepted as ‘normal’ man. However, he also becomes a false and partial copy of the white man, since all his attempts to be assimilated fail.
In conclusion, the two novels give us to acknowledge that identity is everything but fixed, natural and original. On the contrary, it experiences perpetual changes. Thus the encounter with the Other engages always a negotiation process which questions the essentialist conception of identity, as well as the binary opposition of Self and Other.

The paper examines the ways in which the choreography of Moulin Rouge offers a range of gazes to the audience through the perspectives of both the characters and the camera itself. Various gendered and imperial/colonial power relationships that occur within the narrative are heightened in the choreography by referring to discourses inscribed in past dance practices and film musicals. Choreography which can be read as referring to ‘Orientalised’ gendered and imperial/colonial discourses, appears to stabilise or fix an unequal power relationship between the looker and the looked-at by placing a distancing gaze between them. However, choreography read as referring to ‘exoticised’ gendered and imperial/colonial discourses emerges later to destabilise this relationship by acknowledging the capacity of the looked-at to return the gaze. Further analysis reveals the extent to which Orientalising and neo-colonial gazes are initially masculinised in relation to a feminised dancing Other, but the exoticised return of the look destabilises these identities by posing the possibility of a feminine gaze and a masculine dancing Other. The physical movement and the gazes that frame it, are inextricably intertwined through these mutually defining power relationships. Therefore, by inviting the spectator to adopt various gazes during the dance sequences, he/she can enter this interactive space between the gaze and the danced action. This enables the spectator both to critique the various constructed gazes, and to engage actively in the choreography.

The Romantic Period in England can be considered as indicative of 'an age of crises' because the era witnessed several political affairs, ideologies and strategies such as slaver trade, colonialism, American and French Revolutions. These political and social changes all signalled 'chaos' which would dominate European political, cultural, and literary life for the next quarter of a century. Therefore, it was inevitable that Romantic writers were influenced by the political and social events in Europe. They were considerably aware of British expansionism. It would not be incorrect to claim that there is a direct correlation between socio-political revolution and the literary revolution in Britain. No matter what their ideological stance was, some Romantic poets of the era, like S. T. Coleridge, William Cowper, William Blake and Robert Southey, reflected their observations of the colonialist activities in their works. Some other poets of the era, however, like Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, tried to especially avoid subjects concerning European colonialism in their writings. They were concerned with escape from day-today reality, with images and narratives remarkable for their historical or geographical exoticism. This paper will analyse these two reactions of the English Romantic poets; those who directly dealt with colonialism and those who principally presented orientalist and exotic elements in their poems.

The subject of this paper is to explore, organize and differentiate the topic of ‘cultural
representation’ and ‘exoticism’ in feature animation film music. The sources that will
be examined in this paper will mainly be from the musicological field of research and
to a lesser degree from related fields like film and media studies.

How can designers depict a national identity when the national identity itself is in question? It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the Arab world seems to be dealing with an ‘optional’ identity; one that churns and morphs to the whim of the moment. But what is Arab identity? Shaped by Orientalism, moulded by colonialism and impacted by globalism, a unified Arab identity does not exist. As this paper traces the evolution of Self-Orientalism across a variety of communication channels, a prism of individual distorted representations emerge, squeezed by ‘othering’ into a collective dynamic, which Arab designers themselves, seemingly unaware, are nurturing.

The research focuses on the designer’s role and responsibility in depicting a cultural identity, in a world where Hyper-Nationalism is finding new roots in politics and media. Visual communicators have played an extensive role in the identity portrayal of the Arab world, that mirrors in many ways what Orientalists previously did in literature, cinema and academia. The paper highlights problematic design approaches visualizing the Arab world as an exotic place of mystery, erotica and stereotypes. Productions as such are leading a self-Orientalist reductionist wave in design and altering contextual realities.

‘Fancy dress’ could aptly apply to Mason’s “notion of the continually transformable stranger within us all.” The dictionary definition describes it as “a costume for a ball, masquerade, chosen to please the fancy, usually a costume characteristic of a particular period or place, class of persons, or historical or fictitious character.” The object of focus for this paper: a 1911 fancy dress ensemble by Paul Poiret, will allow us to extend both references further in the context of Poiret’s vision of the Orient within the wider context of the Exotic. Beyond a thorough description of the ensemble itself, I aim to explore the historical and cultural context of the time and place, focusing on Poiret’s passion for Orientalism and his role in shaping Parisian fashion. I will explore the concept of ‘performance’ under the following subheadings: Costumes as Everyday Life, Dress as Spectacle and The Department Store as Performative Space, and lastly, I will look at Orientalism in Advertising. Throughout we will see the shifting relationships between ‘self’ and ‘other,’ how dress mediates this changing narrative and how Poiret masterfully utilizes fashion as a vehicle to recreate the Orient for the French at the turn of the twentieth century. Poiret himself epitomizes the very essence of the word ‘Exotic’ along with its accompanying characteristics as not only through his work but in his persona itself, he sought to recreate the aura of the ‘Orient’ via his extravagant collections and lifestyle. He also attempted to bring others into this world, to merge fantasy and reality and offer an experience of the exotic, and the foreign that was unparalleled in the realm of fashion.

Пол Гоген
Записи цивилизованог дивљака у светлу оријентализма, колонијализма и примитивизма

ОБРАЗЛОЖЕЊЕ ТЕМЕ ЗА ДИПЛОМСКИ РАД

Желећи да напишем рад о Гогену, стекао сам утисак да је већина литературе заокупљена уметничко-формалном и биографском анализом његовог дела, под мањим или већим утицајем мита који је остао иза њега до дан данас. У претходне две године, дошавши у додир са постмодернизмом преко изборних предмета са одсека за социологију (постструктурализам, родне студије, антропологија итд.), пронашао сам приступ који ми највише одговара и био сам заинтересован да га проширим и применим на подручије историје уметности. Рад сам насловио: Пол Гоген: Записи цивилизованог дивљака у светлу оријентализма, колонијализма и примитивизма, желећи да се усресредим на следећа питања: 1) порекло филозофске идеје о „племенитом дивљаку“ (као и свест о Другоме) која је била присутна од 18. века као критика западног друштва и која је имала великог утицаја на Гогеново поимање Тахитија и Тахићана; 2)покушај примене система (уз извесне корекције) који је Едвард Саид дефинисао у својој књизи Оријентализам, дискурса који је, по мом мишљењу, кључан за разумевање како односа према Оријенту, тако и према ваневропским културама (империјализам и колонијализам); 3) анализа Гогеновог боравка на Тахитију, његових ставова и дела кроз концепте у уметности (симболизам, примитивизам), егзотизма (онако како га је оцртао Цветан Тодоров у књизи Ми и други) и родних и постколонијалних студија (однос према жени, природи и„дивљацима“, као и репрезетација истих).

Београд, 25. мај 2008. Срђан Тунић (иу/03-67)

In works of both these composers, despite their many different pursuits and style, resulting also from their chronological distance, we can identify as a strong common feature general characteristics of exoticism. More specifically, in their works stereotype orientalistic characters, themes and styles occur, as they are established in the Western European literary and musical works of the 19th and of the beginning of the 20th century. But, since they represent the East being partly Others to the West,because Greece, then as now, was seen as a crossroad between West and East and epistemologically has been identified with an Incomplete Self, the issues of representation of power relationships, or of self-report, also of existence of other attitudes similar to Western ones are particularly interesting. Given that orientalistic Representations sought more or less verisimilitude or artistic truth instead of authenticity, the question of a possibly greater degree of authenticity of the orientalist tropes in Greek works, in conjunction with the searches of the Greek National School, then attempting to balance her orientation between West and East, is particularly interesting. Moreover, this study will be focusing mostly on songs, thus helping to advance the study of orientalism in this genre, which is still overshadowed by opera-centred researches. And, finally, as I will try to demonstrate, some of Riadis' works may have been for Papaioannou, his pupil for a short period of time, not only a connecting link with French exoticism, but also a model for the creation of at least one of his own orientalistic pieces.

The essay Anecdotical Architecture analyses the concepts of 18th-century Exoticism and 19th-century Romanticism, making a case study of Horace Walpole’s book Anecdotes as well as his Neo-Gothic transformation of the villa Strawberry hill into what he considered to be his ‘castle’. This also lead me into the analysis of the contrast between the 18th-century version of trompe l’oeuil and what may be considered as Barok illusionism.

The reader os also referred to my other texts on architecture, on Academia.edu:

- Authoritarian Architecture
- Flexible  Workspace
- Public Space
- Genius Loci
- Point of Few

Questa breve opera deriva da un piccolo ciclo di lezioni sull'estetica contemporanea che ho tenuto all'università di Tor Vergata nell'anno 2012-2013. In questo caso, poiché il testo non si rivolge a un pubblico specializzato, userò un linguaggio divulgativo, colloquiale, informale e ricco di esempi, ma non per questo si vuole rinunciare a un'impostazione metodologica e critica che eviti i cliché delle pubblicazioni che trattano questi argomenti in maniera amatoriale, in modo che possa essere un'introduzione valida anche per gli studenti universitari. Trattandosi di un argomento vastissimo, nelle poche pagine in cui mi è stato chiesto di contenere l'argomento, mi limiterò solo a offrire degli spunti. Infatti, il mio intento non è quello di riassumere un lista di nozioni, come fanno i divulgatori di professione, e di volgarizzarli in un linguaggio chiaro e accessibile elencato per punti in modo didascalico e didattico. Questo tipo di lavoro presuppone delle certezze, ovvero un discorso già deciso e codificato dagli esperti, di cui si accettano le verità in modo indiscusso e si procede pertanto solo alla loro trasformazione in parole povere o in riassuntini. Questo non è quello che sarà fatto qui. Non vi saranno presentati dei piatti pronti alla portata di tutti, in stile fast food, ma sarete portati, anche se solo per una rapida occhiata, nelle cucine. Se dobbiamo scegliere tra

Morocco as an Exotic and Oriental space in European and American Writings

                                   
Rachid Agliz
Faculty of Letters, Sultan Moulay Slimane University
Beni Mellal, Morocco


Abstract:
The engagement of western writers with Morocco is part and parcel of a wider long running encounter with exotic cultures. The exotic world and its chanting appeals stimulated the interest of a host of travel writers and anthropologists around the globe. The exoticist and orientalist appeals associated with North Africa prompted many American and European travel writers to venture to Morocco to embrace a new cultural otherness. This geographical space seems to be totally different from the old and new worlds respectively. This, in fact, is due to the opportunities it offers. After all, both American and European travel writers and novelists headed to this location to look for exoticism and for stories of oriental decadence and splendor.The paper is mainly intended to explore western writers involvement and assessment of the Moroccan cultural difference.
Keywords: cultural otherness. exoticism, orientalism, the exotic

The final shot of German director F. W. Murnau’s 1931 masterpiece, Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, is an especially suitable coda to this silent-era filmmaker’s career – one that, despite its epic heights and lasting influence, was often shrouded in mystery and coloured by misfortune. The four-letter word ‘TABU’ materializes like a spectral apparition over dark and ominous swells, appearing as an esoteric warning against forbidden transgressions (Figure 1). Before one’s eyes the word transforms from mere text into a veritable icon, a cinematic image of impending doom and inescapable destiny. The portentous icon immediately follows the film’s dramatic finale, one that film critic Lotte Eisner called ‘the apogee of the art of silent film’ (Eisner 1973: 203). In this scene, the young protagonist, the native South Islander Matahi, swims after a ship bearing his forbidden love. Just as Matahi finally reaches the boat, Hitu, the priest, cuts the rope dangling from its deck. Ultimately overwhelmed by a dark and hostile sea, Matahi sinks silently beneath its waves as the ship’s white sail can be seen darting off into the distance...

See PDF for full text.

This essay explores two themes played out in Ciro Guerra's 2015 film Embrace of the Serpent, one being: the symbolic madness as a representation of manic corruption or irreconcilable loss between civilisations, and conversely the spiritual imaginary that overrides otherness. Both themes diagnose a moral ambiguity in the narrative demonstrating a subversive representation around post-colonial issues. Furthermore I will examine D.Berghahn's case study on the film regarding cosmopolitanism and exoticism to preface a conjecture on how themes-that subvert problematic representation-might be supressed or brought forward in cinema styles dealing with post-colonial subjects.

This dissertation will investigate in the ways in which contemporary non-European art is perceived in the ‘Western’-dominated international art world and how this leads to a certain portrayal and behaviour of non-European artists as according to limited definitions and confined boundaries. The effect this has is apparent in the area of artistic production and circulation as well as the reception of artwork. It is looked at ‘exoticism’ and ‘self-exoticism’ that are generated and upheld by outdated and mostly inapplicable disciplinary fields of enquiry, involving the demand for a ‘consumable exotic’, not only apparent in the areas of fine art but similarly within aesthetic products of popular culture, transgressing the often supposed boundaries between. The politics involved in (re)producing ‘Otherness’ within the aesthetic and the insights that Postcolonial Theory has to offer are core concerns of the work. The TV-series Game of Thrones as well as the art of Nadín Ospina and Hassan Musa will be analysed. The artists’ work and experience are taken as examples of combining many different cultural elements and signifies the transgression and challenge of notions of authenticity, originality, ethnicity and identity.