Surpassing modernity : ambivalence in art, politics and society / Andrew McNamara.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McNamara, Andrew, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Modernism (Aesthetics).

Modernism (Art).

Art, Modern--20th century.

Art, Modern.

Art, Modern--21st century.

Civilization, Modern.

20.06 philosophy of art.

Local Subjects:

20.06 philosophy of art.

Physical Description:

x, 249 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York, NY, USA : Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.

Summary:

For the past thirty to forty years, cultural analysis has focused on developing terms to explain the surpassing of modernity. Discussion is stranded in an impasse between those who view the term modernity with automatic disdain-as deterministic, Eurocentric or imperialistic-and a booming interest that is renewing the study of modernism. Another dilemma is that the urge to move away from, or beyond, modernity arises because it is viewed as difficult, even unsavoury. Yet, there has always been a view of modernity as somehow difficult to live with, and that has been said by figures we regard today as typical modernists. McNamara argues in this book that it is time to forget the quest to surpass modernity. Instead, we should re-examine a legacy that continues to inform our artistic conceptions, our political debates, our critical justifications, even if that legacy is baffling and contradictory. We may find it difficult to live with, but without recourse to this legacy, our critical-cultural ambitions would remain seriously diminished. How do we explain the culture we live in today? And how do we, as citizens, make sense of it? This book suggests these questions have become increasingly difficult to answer.

Contents:

Introduction: the Surpassing urge

Chapter One: What Are We Talking About? Narratives of modernity and beyond

Chapter Two: We petty-bourgeois radicals: Reflections on Polke's Wir Kleinbürger! (We Petty Bourgeois!)

Chapter Three: What is Art Supposed to Do? The modernist legacy, the Arab Spring, a censorship case in Sharjah, and artist arrests in the Year of the Protestor

Chapter Four: Inversions and aberrations: Visual acuity and the erratic chemistry of art-historical exchange in a transcultural situation

Conclusion

Bibliography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 234-245) and index.

ISBN:

9781350008342

1350008346

1350008338

9781350008335

OCLC:

1031419383