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10 - The Cultural Diplomacy of Imaginary Fact

from Part II - Representing Transitional Justice on the Global Stage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2019

Eliza Garnsey
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Chapter 10, The Cultural Diplomacy of Imaginary Fact, theorises the exhibition in the 2013 South Africa Pavilion at the International Art Biennale in Venice as a unique instance of cultural diplomacy. Imaginary Fact plays a paradoxical role in the process of nation building because it presents a dual image of a nation struggling with ongoing internal complexities, while projecting a collective narrative of a state that has undergone a difficult transition and come out the other side to re-assert itself in the international community.By examining South Africa’s conception of cultural diplomacy presented in government white papers, I show how the official image of South Africa as a global competitor (a transitioned nation) sits uncomfortably with the artists’ image of South Africa as a transitioning nation circumscribed by ongoing challenges to human rights.I argue that this establishes a glocal (global–local) image of the state which is in tension with South Africa’s foreign policy agenda.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Justice of Visual Art
Creative State-Building in Times of Political Transition
, pp. 193 - 204
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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