The aim of this project is to define such concepts as “art” and “the avant- garde”. Having outlined the rise of Liberalism and explained its position as having influenced the beginnings of avant- garde, I will look at key avant- garde movements, namely Abstract Expressionism, Dada and the Situationists, linking society in each time period to the reasons behind each movement, as well as the concepts and issues raised by key artists and philosophers. I will explain the meaning of “the avant- garde” in each case, as well as the impact each had on it’s culture. I will then investigate modern avant- garde art, including some of the new media used. I will briefly consider the controversial concept of the death of the avant- garde, issues raised by modern artists and whether the shock factor of art has gone. I will conclude by looking at what can actually be considered “art”, as all the movements studied have had doubts and criticisms thrust upon them due to supposed lack of context, meaning or skill. Key artists and philosophers I will be looking at include Immanuel Kant, Jean- Francois Lyotard, Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell among others. As well as visiting art galleries and travelling exhibitions, I have been volunteering at the Hatton Art Gallery in Newcastle, which is an excellent source for information, including public opinions on various different exhibitions.
Tag: avant-garde
Introduction. The 20th century has arguably brought about the evolution, or rather devolution into, commodity and the spectacle. Life has become an experience not in itself, but through proxy. ‘Dead the sublime, evermore the ephemeral’ is an investigation into why the ephemeral seems more relevant than the sublime, and how a modern society reacts to such a notion. I will conduct this investigation with regards to travel, why people take on such an activity and how it has possibly changed the way we think. Instilled in travel is the quest for change, experience and rebellion, hence inherent in the concept of travel are other movements searching for the same ends. Punk is one of these movements, which I shall encounter in this project. Aims. In this project I aim to evoke the change in Avant-garde movements over the latter half of the 20th century. Focusing on the work of Ballard and Debord I will suggest why such Avant-garde movements arose and what they stood for, hence ultimately what they aimed to achieve through the movement. I will approach travel as a possible Avant-garde movement itself, in the dying age of rebellion, I will convey the issues travel raises when considered as a movement itself. I will ask questions such as will travel, like punk and other radical movements, be a movement itself; will it achieve its aims and will it ultimately become what it stands to reject? Concepts. I will be focusing on two philosophical thinkers, Guy Debord and J.G Ballard. They will provide my argument from three similar, yet different and individual perspectives. The concepts these thinkers evoke are the “Society of the Spectacle”, and the ‘Death of Affect’. I will investigate their ideas and explore whether they evoke meaning in relation to why we travel, the effect it has on us and other people.