Under Capricorn: Art in the Age of Globalisation
by Wystan Curnow and Dorine Mignot

Catalogue for the exhibition 'Under Capricorn', June 29 - August 18, 1996 in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. At more or less the same time an exhibition was held in New Zealand: 'The World Over' in the City Gallery Wellington. The Netherlands Design Institute was one of the contributors in this project.

In the face of the present upsurge in the global traffic in words and images, public art institutions - in a sense the immovable fixtures of the art world - have had to reconsider their modus operandi. 'The World Over - Under Capricorn' proposes a number of ways for an art institution to remain not only viable but pivotal in a world that is close to becoming what André Malraux called a 'museum without walls'. It is an exhibition aimed at showing how contemporary art sheds light on living on a shrinking planet. 'The World Over' links two cities, Amsterdam and Wellington, and two countries, the Netherlands and New Zealand. 'The World Over - Under Capricorn' is 'Under Capricorn II', the second in a bi-annual series of international art events.