Following on from my post of the 18/01/09 Post-Post-Modernism I was drawn to the title of the Tate Britain Triennial exhibition Alter-Modern which has just started. The exhibition claims Post-Modernism is dead! Does this mean we will not have to study it any more? Unfortunately they do not seem to be sure what has replaced it! The curator Nicholas Bourriard described as a French cultural theorist, coined the name "Alter-Modern" (see below) apparently it is written as Altermodern but I think it looks much more important with a hyphen! The curator an admirer of Baudrillard and Foucault defines the new "ism as follows:-
- "Altermodernism can be defined as that moment when it became possible for us to produce something that made sense starting from an assumed heterochrony (Def: a developmental change in the timing of events), that is, from a vision of human history as constituted of multiple temporalities, disdaining the nostalgia for the avant-garde and indeed for any kind of era - a positive vision of chaos and complexity".
The Curator suggests that Post-Modernism endeavoured to answer the question "Where am I from?" "Altermodernism, thanks to the Internet, means we need no longer define ourselves within traditional boundaries. The artist is a wanderer, drifting about in space and time, drawing from a vast, fluid fund of collective ideas. And his or her work is far less about a single finished object than about continuing processes of development and connection in which one thing always seems to be leading to the next.
Nicholas Bourriard claims he invented the term Alter-Modern, I think not!
Alter-Modernism is a neologism (new word) attributed to Croatian writer Filip Erceg. It is apparently an analogy to the term Alterglobalism (a social movement that supports global cooperation and interaction) and is supposed to be an alternative to Post-Modernist nihilism (nothingness).
The critics appear to be unconvinced that this is the replacement for Post-Modernism. The Times are not even sure were the exhibition is being held, Tate Modern or Tate Britain, it is the later, from 3 Feb 09 to 26 April 09.
If the critics are not in favour that probably means it is worth seeing!
5 comments:
Postmodernity is a colourful spectral floodgate of infinate possibilities; it embraces multiplicity, hybridization, and creolisation of language, symbols, archetypes, objects, belief-systems and so fourth; It is a floodgate of new and exciting ideas, discourse and creative actualisation, brought on by our current and increasing global interconnectivity & hyperreality, which followed the black & white prison of Modernism. Postmodernity is neverending in it's possibilities and potentially its creative force can only be slowed, destroyed or controlled by martial law, be it visible (e.g. Copyright laws) or even invisible (e.g. China's net policing). So it seems that Bourriaud, with his psuedo-movement "Alter Modernity" simply coined the term as a reaction to feeling somewhat 'lost' in this aforementioned flood; a fear of the unknown; desiring a more concrete structure with which to regard other artists, himself and his concept of the world. Postmodernity, when given freedom to grow & evolve, is, afterall, neverending & often plays out in ambigious form, in spacial dimentions & locations that move and are difficult to monitor; And this scares people. No wonder the government wish to introduce ID cards. We are everywhere all at once.
" The Curator suggests that Post-Modernism endeavoured to answer the question "Where am I from?" "Altermodernism, thanks to the Internet, means we need no longer define ourselves within traditional boundaries. The artist is a wanderer, drifting about in space and time, drawing from a vast, fluid fund of collective ideas. And his or her work is far less about a single finished object than about continuing processes of development and connection in which one thing always seems to be leading to the next. "
If Postmodernism is founded on Modernism, and still holds dear its reverence for innovation, albeit with more vision & infinate routes to potentially take - many of them seemingly back into a past time with nostalgia - then Altermodernism is a realisation that we need no longer be pushed forward by a floodgate bandwagon towards specific socio-political-cultural intergration with specific sites admist the reality available to us (e.g. facebook, myspace, deviantart) but instead hold the power to pave our *own* unique path in this Postmodern chaos. Altermodernism, therfore, is an attempt at standing our own flags wherever we wish to place them. Effectively, Altermodernism is the equivalent of growing (but not quite having) wings. Transhumanism - potentially net hardwired into our brains ie. cyborg, a new model of human - it wold seem, is our ultimate future.
http://www.jotta.com/jotta/article?no=2714
Re: Altermodernism exhibition, Tate Britain Triennial -
"Bob & Roberta Smith. First thing in the show" ... "it was a very informative description of an innovative concept. An ongoing installation, constantly reinventing itself and moulding itself to its environment and the people around it". Jane Trustram.
Surely a true expression of Altermodernism would be a more permanent and ongoing exhibition - perhaps installed in Tate Britain - whoes individual pieces & installations evolve overtime, and can be visited intermittently by the public? This would best express the temporal disposition of the artist at any one time. Arguably, holding an artist hostage, as it were, in a single location - however diverse their inspirations drawn from a globally interconnected lifestyle - would give their work a site-specic context, therfore altering and limiting a possibly richer multiplicity of interpretations & meanings. Paradoxically, this would imply that the purest expression of Altermodernism - which would be an evolving, and also constantly moving, art piece/installation, at unpredictable & varying speeds - would be almost impossible to track, follow and absorb; members of the public limited by time, money and energy. A pure Altermodernism piece is truly an enigma of space and time.
http://www.freebase.com/view/en/alter-modernism
"Alter-Modernism is a neologism used by Filip Erceg. It is an analogy to the term Alterglobalism and is supposed to be an alternative to Post-Modernist nihilism. Many are hailing Alter-Modernism as the succeeding heir of Post-Modernism".
Postmoderism asserts with it's love of subjective viewpoints, the notion that true universal 'objectivity' can never be created; for reality is but a fragmented jigsaw, and history is but a collection of stories to reflect upon with notalgia ie. there is no such thing as 'fact'. The fluid foundations of Postmodernism can often be interpreted as pulling a carpet from underneath us; we might slip and fall deep into the chaos. Living in a Postmodern age is much a balancing act, with little that's solid to hold on to; terrifying grasping climbing rungs that evolve into shapes we can't grip; we learn to be selective, and to be changeable; we adapt. Those that don't learn to adapt, or simply 'give up' trying, are left behind, slip, and are carried in forward by a current that changes direction & speed; Nihilism is a possible outcome of Postmodernity, but not necessarily. I look to Altermodernity to give us hope and example that we can not only singularly paddle or surf our own path in this complex hyppereal chaos, but can collectively jump aboard Noah's armada of speedboats, wear an honest, neo-sincere smile and have some fun.
It would have been so "nice" to know who had been kind enough to post these comments. I am flattered that my post should have prompted such an out pouring!
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