Fears of Provincialism and the Desire to Be Global

“Chapter 5: Fears of Provincialism and the Desire to Be Global” draws from the longings of San Diego elites for their region to be perceived as a global cultural destination to establish a direct connection between these motivations and ongoing processes of urban transformation, tourism development, and elite class formation. The chapter analyzes local press materials and artworks by Janet Koenig and Gregory Sholette, Allan Sekula, Andrea Fraser, David Jurist, Thomas Glassford, Melanie Smith, and Francis Alÿs. It argues that inSITE's emphasis on site-specific art satisfied widespread desires to render the US/Mexico borderlands as a pacified region by subjecting the conflicted border zone to an aesthetic imperative.