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Telematic art across the North–South divide

Abstract Telematic artworks are often included in the theoretical framework of relational aesthetics for the ways in which they engender active dialogue and exchange. This study is situated within a critique of the claim that relational art is widely accessible in terms of its formal structure and is thus ‘more or less democratic’ (McIntyre 2007: 35). This argument fails to recognise the political aspect of communication. Particularly because telematic artworks are able to cross geo-political divides, they are imagined within a utopian construction of globalisation. However, all globalisation is mediated and thus loaded with pre-existing power relations that are often merely reproduced and reinforced in telematic artworks. This is explored through a critical analysis of a telematic artwork entitled Urbanet: Jhb–Linz by South African artist collaborative Hobbs/Neustetter as well as its location within the exhibition ‘80+1: A Journey Around the World’, which took place in Austria in 2009. While the exhibition tends to reinforce a privileged gaze of the Global South for audiences, Urbanet: Jhb–Linz destabilises the act of looking and being looked at through a series of aesthetic and structural choices. This provides a particular challenge to the form of power that pervades North–South communication.