The Geopolitical Meaning of a Contemporary Visual Arts Upsurge on the Canada-US Border

Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary (1)

1 PACTE - Pacte, Laboratoire de sciences sociales

Their common border can be seen as a synecdoche of the complex relationship that ties Canada and the United States together: not only is it the longest border in the world (at 8,891 kilometres--5,061 kilometres on land and 3,830 kilometres at sea), but also it represents a line where strong and soft politics and geopolitics converge. One can say that the border not only divides the two states but reflects their relations. Until recently, the border was considered one of the most "benign" the world--an exceptional label, considering the border's length. The changes that have recently affected the Canada-US border are symptomatic of post-9/11 bilateral relations, as well as indicators of more general geopolitical trends. Through analysis of three contemporary art projects, I hypothesize that the visual art upsurge in the borderlands between Canada and the United States represents a strong reaction to a rebordering, which this art both enacts and denounces

Mots clés: United States; Canada; border; visual arts; geopolitics; culture; performativity

Mots clés: Etats-Unis; frontière; géopolitique; arts plastiques; performativité

Domaines: Géographie

Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary. The Geopolitical Meaning of a Contemporary Visual Arts Upsurge on the Canada-US Border. International Journal, Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis, 2012, 67 (4), pp.951-962. ⟨10.1177/002070201206700406⟩. ⟨halshs-00924450⟩