Globalisation has forced us to stop thinking that art only exists in the West. The very notion of art was invented by the West and refers to the learned version of its material culture. It was then projected onto other civilisations, particularly Asian ones, and finally onto the preliterate societies of Africa and Oceania. Whether or not these cultures possess the concept of art is of little importance, because when they honour their gods, they inevitably address what they consider to be the acme of beauty. For a long time, this openness to other aesthetics was based on the arts of the...