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Sylvia Kleinert looks at historical and contemporary notions of city and country, of centre and periphery, and finds that there is a great deal of entrenched rhetoric surrounding traditional ideas of the role of each. She appeals for a less appositional construct of regionalism which allows for an open flow of information and for cultural specificity.
The concept of regionalism is central to postmodernism. This new affirmation of regional identity stems in part from a re-evaluation of modernism itself and the realisation that its universal aesthetic constituted a dogma which demanded adherence to a monolithic European tradition. The current advocacy for regionalism emerges out of the historical processes of de colonisation highlighting a concern for the self-determination of indigenous people, an acknowledgement of the processes of migration and a reinterpretation of national identity.
But the ideals of regionalism are contradicted by reality. The regional artist knows that the art world is mediated through a network of artists, writers, galleries, curators and a bureaucracy located in a few capital cities, whose taste is authoritatively communicated through media systems and the structures of the art industry. As a result, regional artists find themselves firmly excluded from the avant-garde. When they assert that their work reflects regional differences, this contravenes the prevailing criteria for excellence, bringing accusations of provincialism. Any attempt to justify the contemporaneity of their production is often ridiculed as anachronistic. Apparently the only solution to this impasse is migration to the art world 'centre'. So regionalism operates as two uneven discourses: the centres denigrate the regions as a provincial other, a vacuum which must be filled by exports, while the regions speak to each other of difference and of cultural... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline