Summary

Australian Aboriginal art is increasingly drawing the attention of international audiences, in part because of the amazing stories the artists tell of human creativity.

John Mawurndjul is one of several Aboriginal artists whose work is collected and displayed in art museums and galleries throughout the world.

As his work is both simultaneously grounded in his country in northern Australia, and internationally, the resulting dual perspective raises basic questions about how art should be viewed and approached in intercultural terms.

From their different perspectives, the authors raise and debate key questions: Is the point of reference for exploring his work the art gallery where the work is displayed, or its place of origin in Arnhem Land? And what are the ramifications of the choice of a specific reference point on the interpretation and understanding of his art works?

Table of Contents

• Painted Energy: John Mawurndjul & the Negotiation of Aesthetics in Kuninjku Bark Painting
• An Arts Adviser Perspective on Producing Art for Balanda
• Brokering Kuninjku Art: A Critical Perspective on the Complex Processes of Mediating with the Market
• Rarrk on Bark: John Mawurndjul's Medium of Power & Beauty
• Art Theory & Art Discourse Across Cultures: The Yolngu & Kunwinjku Compared
• Why We Need an Intercultural Art History
• Intercultural Perspective as Context: Beyond Othering & Appropriation? The Case of John Mawurndjul
• Dilemmata of Otherness
• From Bark to Art: Karel Kupka Between Arnhem Land & Basel
• Translating the Spectacle: John Mawurndjul's Intercultural Aesthetic
• Art of the Aborigines Between New-Age Mysticism & Politics
• What is Local About Local Art? Contemporary African Artists Between International Art World & Local Life-World
• 30,000 Years of Australian Art -- A Neuropsychological Approach
• The Creativity Centre: Where Science Meets Art
• Rendering Visible--New Practices for Old Institutions
• Recognising Indigenous Australians: A New Context for Art