Saturday, April 16, 2011

On Global Citizenship

 We are like traveler navigating an unknown terrain with the help of old maps, drawn at a different time and in response to different needs...While the terrain we are traveling on - the world society of states - has changed, our normative map has not.

Seyla Benhabib, "The Rights of Others: Aliens, Citizens and Residents " (2004)

European Art in Beijing

How the detainment of a famous Chinese artists put clouds on a German exhibition traveling to Beijing, strategically referencing“The Art of the Enlightenment”, which shows late 18th century European art from some of Germany’s greatest museums.

Guido Westerwelle explained that the  Enlightenment’s “advance of rationality” had turned Europe’s “ruling elites into governments” and “subjects into citizens” - clever sloganeering against yet another reality check here:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bd7245c0-6780-11e0-9138-00144feab49a.html#axzz1JfLClgXk


More about Ai Weiwei's exhibition "Sunflower Seeds"