Friday, 3 August 2012

POST-MODERNISM


     
1.       Define Post-Modernism using 8-10 bullet points that include short quotes.

·         Post modernism refers to a art movement which marked the end of modernism “the term postmodernism is used in a variety of confusing ways. For some it means anti-modern; for others it means it means a revision of modernist premises (Witcombe, C 2000)

·         The difference between pop culture and sophisticated culture was blurred during this era, "Many artists turned with visible distress to the present and focused their attention on contemporary popular culture". (Witcombe, C 2000)

·         During this era people were kind of rejecting the notion of absolute truth “postmodernism is associated with relativism. Relativism is the idea that “anything goes”” ( Saugstad, A. 2001)

·         Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the certainity of efforts to explain reality  "Reality is created by social reality. But the main idea is that there is no objective knowledge or absolute representation of reality. Many of our concepts and catigories are based on the social reality, and not because we can represent physical reality". (Saugstad, A. 2001 )

·         Postmodernism is a wide-ranging term that is applied to many areas including literature, art, economics, philosophy, architecture, fiction etc. “ different postmodern thinkers have different opinions, and people from different fields may have somewhat different definitions of postmodernism” (Saugstad, A. 2001)

·         Postmodernism is quite difficult to pin point "Postmodernism is not easy to define. The term is used in philosophy, literature, social sciences and architecture" (Saugstad, A. 2001)

·         "Nature does actually precede culture,not the other way around". (Saugstad, A. 2001) postmodernists also explore that we don’t control nature, which was also believed before this era.

·         There was however a negative side to the postmodernist way of thinking. "Some postmodernists do not seem to take logical reasoning seriously, and instead of listening to reason and arguments, they may tend to focus on relativism and constructivism " (Saugstad, A. 2001)





2.       Use a quote by Witcombe (2000) to define the Post-Modern artist.(page 24)

The post-modern artist is "reflexive" in that he/she is self-aware and consciously involved in a process of thinking him/herself and society in a deconstructive manner, "demasking" pretensions, becoming aware of his/her cultural self in history and accelerating the process of self-consciousness.  

3.       Use the table on pages 47 and 48 in your ALVC handbook to summarize the list of the features of Post-Modernity.

Through postmodernity people started substituting reality for reality television shows and simulation. The dominance of high culture has been replaced by pop culture. Art was used as a way of recycling culture authenticated by audience and validated in subcultures sharing identity with the artist.



Use this summary to answer the next two questions.
4. Research Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's 'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994)
in order to say what features of the work could be considered Post-Modern.

Popular culture is shown in the Ai Weiwei’s Han Dynasty urn with Coca-Cola logo piece. Weiwei put a Coca-Cola logo on a very valuable urn so that his work could relate to a wide audience, since coke is very popular around the globe. Something as common and materialistic as the coke logo put on a valuable Chinese urn turning it into contemporary art. This piece was a universal metaphor for the collision between the preservation of historical artefacts and consumer driven progress

6. Research British artist Banksy's street art, and analyze the following two works by the artist
to discuss how each work can be defined at Post-Modern.(Use your list from question 3.)

Banksy has taken an image from a violent riot and twisted it... Instead of the rioter typically throwing an explosive, he is instead holding a pretty bouquet of flowers. Banksy makes his audience stop and this about what the world and what is happening in it by using current affairs, controversial issues and altering them. This is Banksy’s post-modern approach and it is quite effective too.

In another piece he played with the idea of evolution and fast food. Trying to make u notice the major difference between how life is nowadays and how it used to be long ago, the way he marries common images  and issues like these makes his work post-modern.

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