The Death of Post Modernism

[Ghetta Life]

>From: "Otto" <ottosell at yahoo.de>
>
>What comes after post-modernism? As long as it hasn't been understood by 
>more people than it has I think it still has something to tell. As long as 
>the majority of the people haven't realised at all that there has been a 
>philosophical movement of that name (at least until 1989/90) and that we're 
>indeed living in times very different from the first half of the 20th 
>century I don't think that a real development can take place.

I don't think the "majority of the people" have much to do with new 
movements in art.  But I do believe in a prevailing mood which usually first 
manifests itself in the works of artists across the spectrum of media 
(Zeitgeist).  Your comments seem to link these kinds of developments with 
some kind of political awareness, which isn't my view either.  But I can see 
your point in that post-modernism reflects a large amount of cynicism 
resulting from a disillusionment in an "ideal" belief, whether political or 
otherwise.  But at a certain point - and I think we have reached that point 
- cynicism becomes tiring and counter-productive, and reveals itself to be 
empty.

But where do we go from here?  THAT'S the big question.  Clearly a yearning 
exists for a return to a more idealistic view of technology and a visionary 
future.  But not with the naiveté of the early moderns.  As I said earlier 
"Neo-Modernism" seems to be taking hold at least in architecture.  It may 
just be another form of retro-nostalgia, but I don't think so.   I'm not 
sure how that translates into the other arts.  I think one manifestation 
will be the decline of Andy Warhol's POPism (virtually dripping in cynicism) 
  in the visual arts, and maybe the resurgence of "painting."

Oh well, just musing...

_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail