"Someone, somewhere has said that modernism is dead but dominant. But it is not modernism that is dead, but only European modernism. It is this dead body of European modernism which has become a highly desired and precious commodity," Rasheed Araeen commented. Araeen had been observing what has been described as the "demise of modernism". What he has witnessed within his observations is the emergence and development of contemporary art that is defined and depicted as the "changes" following the "demise of modernism". These changes are none other than simply variances and modifications in the practice and discussion of modern art; however, the substance remains the same, and continues to dominate.

However that may be, contemporary art is seen as the dominant development in art in the age of politically correct. The practice of contemporary art is critical indeed, and questions and re-examines everything perceived as modern or as a subject or condition of modernism, including the various value frameworks inherent within the canon of modernism: the ethic of individualism, the linear narratives of historicism, the homogeneity of the social, the sovereignty of the rational. In terms of the political practice and development of contemporary art, there exists that "which is no longer believed" within the canon of modernism, or, at least, elements and forms that seem to contain contradictions within them or around them. Contemporary art changes the method of creation and appreciation of art along with the models for the production and the consumption of artistic creations in one fell swoop. The overall medium and idiom of art have been explored to the most radical extremes imaginable, until there remain only the conventional forms, such as painting and sculpture. The exploration of the new media and idioms o photography, film, video, installations, performance pieces and even found objects, for example o has also experienced massive expansion is connection with the context of issues, even covering critical stances concerning all of the various problems encountered in life and living, for example: social injustice, politics, or gender. These critical and political stances, both of which are directed toward modern perceptions and conditions that are perceived as inadequate, constitute the main aspects existing within the practice and development of contemporary art.

As is the case with the influence of the conventions and perceptions of modern art and modern life, the influence of the practice of contemporary art also spreads a 'la capitalism along with the latest fashions and production models. Outside of the West, in any number of the new metropolises of Asia, South America, or Australia, contemporary art is not only a model for criticism, but also for the development of the characteristics of a global society. In all actuality, the art being created outside the perimeters of the West is experiencing the influence of contemporary art through two distinct channels, one being the internal dynamics of the inner development of "modernism" in the various areas outside of the West, the other being the manner and the media that have become a part of the imagined global society. Even so, Rasheed Araeen's observations, as set out above, still give the impression that the practice and development of contemporary art can only achieve validation in relation to the model of the "demise of modernism". Viewed in this way, it can be seen that contemporary art outside of the West cold well come under the threat of the criticism that it is nothing but "a copy" of the western model within the continuing process of the globalization of the world. In this way, non-western contemporary art is threatened with the loss of its critical and political edges that serve its interests.

Even within the criticism "only as a fashion", the practice of contemporary art outside of the West continues to develop and expand in order to better seek out and discover its own model of critical articulation. The exploration of the medium and idiom of art o that is continuously influenced by technological advances o is being done consistently by artists in order to point out the changes in the paradigm that emphasizes continuity and discontinuity of the influence of the West, not only for the artists themselves, but also for the sake of the idea of a global society itself.

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