This special issue of the Swiss Journal of Social and Cultural Anthropology explores how the arts, by engaging with the public sphere, foregrounds issues situated at the intersection of the local and the global. By bringing together texts drawing on diverse contexts—in terms of the artistic practices observed (dance, circus, music, visual arts), their economic models (pass-the-hat, cultural industries, public commissions) and geographical areas, this special issue seeks to explore how the interconnected aesthetic and political issues surrounding the circulation of art in public spaces help to shape transnational art spaces.
