Patrick offered his observations here , I will add a few points of my own. I very often think in terms of regions and geographic places.  Currently, artistic movements (of most sorts, not just “New Aesthetics”) seem to lack a centrality of place.  New York City is no longer the center of the art world, high rents being one reason for that but not the only one.  It is simply no longer the city’s essence.  The rebellious spirit is largely gone.  Los Angeles has good galleries and plenty of creativity, but never quite stepped up as a number one city for the visual arts.  The Bay Area, in spite of all of its money, remains quite behind.  Berlin in some ways feels like it could be an art center, but it is not one.  Germany is too complacent.  Central Europe more generally has the heritage and still the potential, but I do not see “the engine of growth” there.  Paris and London are for certain high-end artistic activities, but they too are not centers of creative…