Jean Baudrillard, 1986 devrimi ertesinde düşünce dünyasında yaşanan Paris merkezli radikal dönüşümün avangardıdır. Onun geliştirdiği "simülasyon", "hiper gerçeklik" gibi kavramlar bugün kültürel eleştirinin anahtarlarını oluşturur. Baudrillard'ın sanathayat dizisinden yayınlamaya devam edeceğimiz çağdaş sanat ve estetik üzerine incelemeleri, çağdaş sanat üzerine düşünenlerin temel referansları sayılır.
Jean Baudrillard was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet, with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as well as his formulation of concepts such as hyperreality. Baudrillard wrote about diverse subjects, including consumerism, critique of economy, social history, aesthetics, Western foreign policy, and popular culture. Among his most well-known works are Seduction (1978), Simulacra and Simulation (1981), America (1986), and The Gulf War Did Not Take Place (1991). His work is frequently associated with postmodernism and specifically post-structuralism. Nevertheless, Baudrillard had also opposed post-structuralism, and had distanced himself from postmodernism.