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When I was in graduate school -- oh let's say about 15 years ago -- I would wander around with eyes glazed asking anyone who would stop long enough to listen: "What is postmodernism?" In all my years of asking, I never got any answer that made enough of an impression that I could even remember it once I had staggered away. The more knowledgeable would mumble something reverent and point east, in the general direction of Duke University, where the nearest guru of postmodernism, Stanley Fish, took up residence.

In time I stopped asking, because I had settled in my mind (1) that postmodernism was so idiosyncratically used as to defy common definition and (2) that it was a transition term for an age that had not named itself.

I’m not sure where usage of the term stands in the aesthetic world, and even less so in the field of dance. Artistically, the most I can gather is that postmodernism represents the final coup d'état over what I have called "the tyranny of virtuosity." The problem is that postmodernism replaces virtuosity with nothing — or, worse, with the tyranny of self-esteem. But, as noted, these are personal conclusions, and I’m certain the term is more canonized in general artistic use. Still, I would guess nonetheless that even in this context its staying power will be very short indeed.

Finally, I can report that at least in the field of social theory "postmodernism" is very rarely used anymore, for the post-modern age has found an identity: Globalism.

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Artistically, the most I can gather is that postmodernism represents the final coup d'état over what I have called "the tyranny of virtuosity."  The problem is that postmodernism replaces virtuosity with nothing — or, worse, with the tyranny of self-esteem.

That's sort of what I think. "I have been over into the future, and it don't do squat!" :)

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that it was a transition term for an age that had not named itself.

Wow! I agree. Not that transition terms can't be useful, but....

In dance it's usually applied to the experiments of the Judson Church era, I think because people looked at what was happening and realized that it wasn't Graham any more, it wasn't Modern Dance so it had to be something else. I was blissfully unaware that other disciplines used "postmodernism" for years :)

When I encountered it in architecture, I was puzzled, because, while "eclecticism" might be a characteristic of the Judson movement, "whimsy" sure wasn't.

I went to dear old Google and put in postmodernism and this site came up. Looks pretty definitive, for those who want to dive in:

http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_dat...postmodern.html

I hope Drew sees this thread, because she'll be able to give a more complete definition -- and a more sympathetic one!

drval01, thank you for that -- I didn't know of "globalism" except in the political sense, but I can see how it applies to what's being programmed today in dance.

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Moe, the Homer Simpson's bartender has defined it as Weird for the sake of weird. Currently in graduate school, and a question irritably asked on many an occasion; in the field of classics it seems to mean, Someone who does not have a firm grasp of philology, history or philosophy and yet is required to write things.

As an old school philologist both of these definitions suit me just fine. :rolleyes:

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The modern age started with the Enlightement. The basic idea is that things are knowable, ordered. Knowledge can be broken down, reduced, each part studied separately, and reassembled. There IS a truth, and we will set out to find it. Modernist philosophy is reductionist, plodding, careful, linear. Modernism seeks to resolve tension. It's what gave us science, and we have seen great benefit from that. Clearly, modernist thinking has a lot going for it.

In ballet, you might call the classical narrative ballet modernist. This happens, then that, then that, then she dies and that's the end of the story. A linear plot line can be traced through it all.

Postmodern thinking came about with greater awareness of other cultures. Suddenly you had two people, one saying "A is true" and the other saying "A is false". We see this all the time when you bring any two religions together, for example.

Postmodernism lives in constant tension. You don't live with "either A or B" but "both A and B". It questions the idea of one absolute truth --- replacing it with a truth that is relative to the observer. The postmodernist doesn't seek to resolve tension in his life --- but rather to get the right amount of tension between conflicting goals so life can be lived inbetween. Kind of like winding up a violin on each end until it sounds the right note.

The web is also postmodern. No longer do we sit down and read a whole document --- we jump from hyperlink to hyperlink. There is no longer a single linear narritive thread to it all.

My AD's dances are also postmodern in their narrative. Yes, they are narritive --- but only to a point. The narrative comes in bits and snatches that can be arranged --- or rearranged --- according to the viewer. You cannot sit down and write out a libretto to the action you see happening on stage.

Postmodern architecture shows a similar strand. It borrows from any and all styles it sees fit. You might get a modernist cube sticking out of a wall of classical columns, for example. I can point to several postmodern architectural elements around Boston, but it wouldn't mean much to someone who doesn't know Boston. But we should be glad for it. Postmodern architecture finally put an end to modern architecutre --- and its associated barren concrete walls and brutalist concepts.

We're entering a postmodern age. Generation X and Y are definitely postmodern, the web generation. If you're older than that and you don't have some sense of sympathy to postmodernism, you will lose your grandchildren.

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Just one quick amendation -- the modern age historically might be said to begin at several points in western history and the 18th century is one of them, but the Modernism that preceded post-modernism is a 20th century movement and alienation and fragmentation are two of its salient characteristics.

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Also, like "Classical", "romantic" and "modern" it's useful to note that dance's use of the term "post-modern" does not entirely overlap with that in other disciplines.

The safest definition in dance is the one Alexandra posted earlier; post-modern dance refers to dance beginning with that of the Judson Church group that comes after the practitioners of Modern Dance.

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We're entering a postmodern age.  Generation X and Y are definitely postmodern, the web generation.  If you're older than that and you don't have some sense of sympathy to postmodernism, you will lose your grandchildren.

Speaking as one who deals with time professionally, this statement is a tautology.

One is always entering the postmodern as the present advances. The problem is, you can't get ahead of the present unless you prove Einstein wrong. And any thing already done is already past. Next! Furthermore, Gen X and Gen Y are not postmodern, they're here now. A statement like this is nearly as irritating to me as "children are the future of the (whatever)". And? So? What have we done for them lately except lip service?

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I just had a lecture on postmodern dance this morning. Never really got a concrete definition on it though. Then again, assuming the nature of postmodern dance, that probably is the definition...

I would use the term "avant-garde" to describe postmodern dance. It involves the audience in the production prcess as much as, if not more so than, with the finished product. Personally, it doesn't do much for me. Give me a good story ballet any day.

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I posted this on the Other Arts forum a couple of weeks ago (where it drew absolutely no comment!!):

--------------------------

A very interesting article in today's ArtsJournal newsletter about a nostalgia for Modernism in the post-9/11 world. For those interested in Po-Mo (postmodernism) or curious about what the heck it is, this article in The Statesman explains a lot:

Ransom exhibit reminds us we are all moderns now

We are all moderns now.

The advent of 9/11 spelled not only the end of irony, but also of irony's close cousin, postmodernism.

That late 20th-century cultural movement, which bounced from the street to the college classroom with the ease of a hip-hop lyric, mixed high art with popular culture, radical politics with rarefied theory, fragments from the known past with a suggestion that there could be no definitive human expression.

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Basic features of postmodernism are:

- pluralism

- ambivalence

- antifundamentalism in philosophy (protest against classic rules; fundamentalism is the main feature of Cartesius’ philosophy)

The most visible feature of postmodernism is – I think – a pluralism: there are a lot of different thoughts, trends, ideas, that are existing together, even if there are discrepant. Pluralism also means that many different styles can be mixed, making a new thing.

In post-modern art there is no cult of everything what’s new, like it was in the Avant-garde (trend in art from years about 20” and 30’), there is no functionality (especially in architecture).

That art was the most popular in years about 70’ and 80’, then appeared such ideas and conceptions like neoclassicism, neoromanticism, neobaroque, trans avant-garde, etc.

Generally, in postmodernism developed a lot of different trends in arts, the most important are: pop art (A. Warhol, R. Lichtenstein), assemblage (Jean Dubuffet), conceptualism, happening (A. Kaprow), body art, fluxus, minimal art, land art, hiperrealism, video art, and many, many more.

I don’t know, how is it exactly in dance, but you may compare it to the “spirit of the epoque” ;)

(Well, I hope the post is quite clear)

Edited by Joanna
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Joanna, thanks for that. I was especially taken (aback :) ) by your comment that "there is no functionality (especially in architecture)". This is my instinctive reaction when I see a 'postmodern' building, but I didn't know it was a principled discision.

How is this justified - as architecture is the most functional of arts?

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Kate, I think part of the "fun" of postmodern is that you can have any opinion -- nothing matters, everything is relative, murder? self-defense? accidental death? Hey, it's all in how you look at it. (Ayn Rand never gets enough credit for relativism.) Who says a building has to be functional? Or have doors and windows? :)

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I like shades of gray, but I like them in the context of being between two poles (the balck and the white).

I think it was relativism that sent Moses up the Mount, but I can't prove it :) But relativism is an off-shoot or corollary to post-modern.

And I think Joanna's description is quite fine and I'm glad to have the view of someone who's sympathetic to PoMo.

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The auction market uses the terms "Modern" and "Contemporary," with modern meaning Matisse and Picasso and contemporary being the New York School and what came afterwards. As Mel indicates, the line keeps moving -- It is quite an oxymoron today to call Rothko and Pollack contemporary.

Note one thing, that the terms vary not merely with respect to the art being described, but also with respect to new generations of critics coming onto the scene. To make sense out of this you need not just a history of the art, but a history of its critics.

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I recall hurrying into place one day in modern class by walking quickly in a semi circle with my entire body leaning into the direction I was walking. It was just a natural way to cover the distance in the quickest way, but the teacher stopped, grinned, and said, "That was so post modern!" Who knew?!

It appears that this term can apply to most anything, from poetry to anthropology to medicine.

Here is one definition from a sociological viewpoint:

"......is the belief that direction, evolution and progression have ended in social history, and society is based instead upon the decline of absolute truths, and the rise of relativity......"

For those inclined to delve deeper, a variety of sites:

http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Kl...lages/pomo.html

http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/curric/so...MODE/post11.htm

http://www.poetry-portal.com/styles5.html

http://www.holistichealthtopics.com/HMG/postmod.html

http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/436/pomo.htm

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Joanna, thanks for that. I was especially taken (aback :) ) by your comment that "there is no functionality (especially in architecture)". This is my instinctive reaction when I see a 'postmodern' building, but I didn't know it was a principled discision.

How is this justified - as architecture is the most functional of arts?

Well, it's not a principle, rather the feature of posmodernism. Also in postmodernism there were a lof of manifestations of mistrust in the main meaning of art; there were a lot of styles in art, which came into being beacuse of mistrust in a work of art as something different than commonness. (good example is conceptualism, which reduced to art to only concept, idea, that you can write down and post or put in a gallery).

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