{"product_id":"trading-on-art-cultural-diplomacy-and-free-trade-in-north-america-9780774868921","title":"Trading on Art: Cultural Diplomacy and Free Trade in North America","description":"\u003cb\u003eExplores how the art world navigated North American free trade.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The 1989 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement reinvented the concept of North America as a cohesive whole, united by free trade. But within the bold concept of continental unity lay a paradox. While art was mobilized to frame the new narrative, culture itself was explicitly excluded from the agreements that implemented this vision. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eTrading on Art \u003c\/i\u003ebrings culture to the foreground by examining how artworks, exhibitions, and museum programs from the 1980s to 2010 mediated North American free trade, from government-supported cultural diplomacy initiatives to activist art that confronted impending US hegemony. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Sarah E.K. Smith reveals how Canadian artists engaged with, contested, and reflected on free trade, paying particular attention to the ways in which art was used to forge ties between Canada and Mexico and to circulate ideas about North American identity. Her nuanced analysis convincingly makes the case for the centrality of art in conceptualizing continental unity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSarah E.K. Smith\u003c\/b\u003e is associate professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University, where she holds the Canada Research Chair in Art, Culture, and Global Relations and leads the Practitioner Media Lab. She is the author of\u003ci\u003e General Idea: Life \u0026amp; Work\u003c\/i\u003e and coeditor, with Sascha Priewe, of \u003ci\u003eMuseum Diplomacy: How Cultural Institutions Shape Global Engagement\u003c\/i\u003e. She is also a co-founder of the North American Cultural Diplomacy Initiative.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of British Columbia Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51676075000082,"sku":"9780774868921","price":37.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e2f3bec1-ebf3-4826-b2a1-5b9e2cf3750f.jpg?v=1761041818","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/trading-on-art-cultural-diplomacy-and-free-trade-in-north-america-9780774868921","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}