Today, more than at any other point in history, we are aware of thecultural impact of global processes. This has created newpossibilities for the development of a cosmopolitan culture but, atthe same time, it has created new risks and anxieties linked toimmigration and the accommodation of strangers.This book examines how the images of the terrorist and the refugee,by being dispersed across almost all aspects of social life, haveresulted in the production of 'ambient fears', and itexplores the role of artists in reclaiming the conditions ofhospitality. Since 9/11 contemporary artists have confronted theissues of globalization by creating situations in which strangerscan enter into dialogue with each other, collaborating with diversenetworks to forms new platforms for global knowledge. Suchknowledge does not depend upon the old model of establishing asupposedly objective and therefore universal framework, but on thecapacity to recognize, and mutually negotiate, situateddifferences. From artworks that incorporate new media techniques tocollective activism Papastergiadis claims that there is a newcosmopolitan imaginary that challenges the conventional dividebetween art and politics. Through the analysis of artisticpractices across the globe this book extends the debates on cultureand cosmopolitanism from the ethics of living with strangers to theaesthetics of imagining alternative visions of the world.Timely and wide-ranging, this book will be essential reading forstudents and scholars in sociology and cultural studies and will beof interest to anyone concerned with the changing forms of art andculture in our contemporary global age.