Art in the (post-​) colo­nial in­ter­stice

Through an analysis of how 19th and 20th century European avant-garde art perpetuates and continues to affirm ideas of originality and purity and subsequently the myth that equates modern with Western art in art history, the text exposes how European art discourse argues that non-European art cannot be but «late» modern which «imitates» the Western «original» and «authentic» avant-garde. Following the same logic, the colonial project of civilization, modernization and control of overseas territories is legitimised by formal artistic innovations which at the same time can be found globally but which are claimed exclusively by the European avant-garde. In this context, the text questions and presents examples of post-colonial artistic practices which deal with being in a position which always is framed by the discourse in power as a copy and «weak imitation» of an original.