Toward these global ends, neoliberals sought to erect an international legal framework that upheld individual private property rights above the sovereign authority of states.
In the grand designs of these theorists, the slow extension of property rights was seen as a way to incrementally link a world society that guaranteed the free movement of capital. Today, shifts in economic policy and increased geopolitical tensions have fractured these once planetary aspirations into distinct and separate blocs.
We are now seeing a rejection of liberal universalisms and the emergence of alternative frameworks for what may constitute political rights.
Similarly, we are beginning to see a divergence in hemispherical art markets. Chinese collectors are now purchasing less American art than in years previous. The invasion of Ukraine has raised significant barriers to moving capital between Russia and the United States. Tariffs have re-shored the fabrication of artworks back to the territories in which they will be exhibited and/or sold.
In the previous model, an artist’s career was measured by their presence within a global network of museums and biennials. (Various websites even calculate reputational ranks based on such metrics.) In this new multipolar order, artists will primarily exhibit or sell their work within one sphere and will be far less likely to appear in others.
“Friend-shoring” describes the withdrawal of certain forms of production from geopolitical competitors (particularly silicon chips and green energy) and their relocation to allied or vassal states.
As a practical matter, artworks function as both discursive and financial objects. They are often rare and expensive to produce. Their monetary value is tied to both their physical materials as well as their cultural and historical significance. In the previous globalized model, capital and culture was allowed to freely move across national borders. But for artworks to function as discursive objects, it necessarily means that these financial assets be allowed to move across state lines with relative freedom. In this way, the multipolar model will obstruct the free flow of ideas and culture when it prevents expensive artworks from moving between zones.
The new model of geopolitics might install a curatorial firewall. Already, decency laws within Russia prevent the exhibition of certain canonical American artworks, specifically those that include queer themes or imagery. The value of such works, discursively, aesthetically and financially, cannot be bridged between these spheres. As more artworks reach similar legal and economic blockades, a hemispherical cleavage will emerge in which professional accolades, cultural capital and prices all become distinct and non-transferable.