Contact Zones: Art History in a Global Network?

Abstract

The idea of the contact zone is a productive concept for thinking about the configuration of the contemporary world as a space of heterogeneous and diverse dimensions that are in a continuous process of interaction and mutual production. The field known as Digital Art History, inherently a contact zone, offers a compelling context to explore and draw conclusions about the conditions that both enable and constrain the existence of global networks and communities in our hyperconnected world. Recognizing that addressing today’s complex challenges demands crosscutting perspectives and large-scale collaboration, this editorial article delves into the factors hindering the formation of global networks in Digital Art History. It poses the question of what common horizon could foster cohesion and shared meaning on a global scale. Viewing Digital Art History as a political project, that is, as a key actor in the configuration and discussion of our hypertechnological present and future, I argue for the need to confer on it a mission (a question–problem) that unites us as a diverse community, but articulates around a common project.