Postmodernism Lecture Notes

What is Postmodernism? - Hnadout of lecture notes:

J-F Lyotard: ‘The Postmodern Condition’ 1979 (Trans. Manchester 1984)

‘incredulity towards metanarratives’ p.xxiii

·      Fragmentation, loss of belief, confusion regarding legitimation – especially criteria of judgement.

QUOTE 1

Robert Venturi: ‘Complexity and Contradiction in Modern Architecture’ 1962 (published 1966)

‘I like elements which are hybrid rather than ‘pure’, compromising rather than ‘clean’, distorted rather than ‘straight-forward’, ambiguous rather than ‘articulated’, perverse as well as impersonal…’

from Jencks, C & Kropf, K (1997 Ed) Theories and Manifestoes of Contemporary architecture, Chichester UK

·       1972 Learning from Las Vegas: Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown & Steven Izenour

·       In 1977 book ‘The language of Post-Modern Architecture’ Charles Jencks ironically states that ‘Modern Architecture died in St. Louis, Missouri on July 15, 1972 at 3.32pm’ when the Pruit-Igoe housing development was blown up.

QUOTE 2

‘Generally post-modern artists like to mix the highbrow and the populist, the alienating and the accessible, and to ‘sample’ elements from different styles and eras….

..now you can reinvent yourself endlessly, gaily pick ‘n’ mixing your way through the gaudy fragmnets of a shattered culture’.

Simon Reynolds – The Guardian 1990

QUOTE 3  Lyotard (1982)

1)    ‘This is a period of slackening – I refer to the colour of the times.  From every direction we are being urged to put an end to experimentation, in the arts and elsewhere.’

2)    ‘…..I have read that under the name of Postmodernism, architects are getting rid of the Bauhaus project, throwing out the baby of experimentation with the bathwater of functionalism.’

Lyotard, J-F (1984) What is Postmodernism? Appendix to English translation of  ‘The postmodern Condition’, Manchester. pp 71-82 Reprinted in Harrison & Wood (1992) (eds) op cit. pp 1008 – 1015

Artists / Designers mentioned

Robert Rauschenberg / Robert Venturi / Frank Gehry & Claus Oldenberg / Andy Warhol

Ettore Sottsass and Memphis – Masanori Umeda, / Ron Arad / David Carson / Peter Blake / Roy Lichtenstein / Adbusters / Jenny Holzer.

Further Reading

Heartney, E, Postmodernism, Tate;    Appagnanesi,R, Introducing Postmodernism , Icon

Conor, S, Postmodern Culture, Blackwells;    Woods,T, Beginning Postmodernism, Manchester;  Foster,H (ed) Postmodern Culture (for theory)…plus many others in section 306 

Important Sections of the Powerpoint that i found interesting and easy to gain knowledge on:

SIDENOTES OF PRESENTATION:

"Just what is it that makes todays homes so different, so appealing?" is a small (26cm square) 1956 collage by Richard Hamilton that is an early example of Pop Art and is the first recognised artwork to feature the word 'Pop' in this context. The piece was intended as a poster and catalogue illustration for the exhibition "This is Tomorrow". The work shows an interior with a Charles Atlas type bodybuilder holding an outsized lollipop with the word 'Pop' on its wrapper. He is paired by an almost nude female figure who is posed on a sofa. Other elements are a tin of ham placed on a coffee table, a reel to reel tape recorder and a framed page from a romance comic strip predicting the work of Roy Lichtenstein. The interior also uses a high altitude photo of the Earth as the ceiling, an image of sunbathers on a beach as a rug, an advertisement for Hoover vacume cleaners and windows that look on to a view of a Warner Brothers cinema advertising "The Jazz Singer".In preparation for the piece Hamilton had written down all the elements that defined his interest "Man, Woman, Food, History, Newspapers, Space, Cinema, Domestic, Appliances, Cars, Space, Comics, TV, Telephone, Information". Hamilton himself had not been to America yet but other members of the Independent Group had and John McHale provided Hamilton with the magazines that were the sources of the piece. The title came from another magazine article.Interpretations of the work are various. Hamilton was interested in the new ideas of communication promoted by Marshall McLuhan and Cybernetics and the piece has all the human senses cast in various modes. The work is comparable to the "Arnolfini Wedding" in having a young couple surrounded by their worldly goods.

Aesthetic & Commodity production have become indistinguishable. Technologies of reproduction have replaced technologies of production. Art was increasingly sponsored by commercial companies = interdependnce of art & advertising. Social levelling causes shifts in class values.

Many Christians believe that human existence is innately sinful but offered redemption and eternal peace in heaven - thus representing a belief in a universal rule and a telos for humankind. See also Universal History.▪The Enlightenment theorists believed that rational thought, allied to scientific reasoning, would lead inevitably toward moral, social and ethical progress.▪Marxists believe that human existence is alienated from its species being, although capable of realising its full potential through collective, democratic organisation.▪Freudian theory holds that human history is a narrative of the repression of libidinal desires.▪An uncritical belief in the free market is a belief that through humanity's aquisition of wealth all who work hard and are afforded the right opportunities will succeed materially.

IMAGES FROM GOOGLE.COM/IMAGES/POSTMODERNISM 

I HAVE SELECTED IMAGES FROM GOOGLE THAT LINK TO POSTMODERNISM:

BUILDING:

ART:

( Barbra Kruger)