Postmodernism: A Virtual Discussion

by Maxwell Anderson, Jennifer Gonzalez, Michael Leja

What is Postmodernism, and is it a useful concept for understanding American art and visual culture of the past 40 years? When and to what extent did Modernism wane as a phenomenon in American art? How have the various liberation movements, from civil rights to feminism, influenced American art and culture and contributed to the rejections of the Modernist ethos? How has globalism changed American art and culture? How have the new technologies of the past 50 years--television, personal computers, the Internet--altered the nature of progressive art in the United States? Are any of these changes intrinsically Postmodern? These issues and more were debated during the two-week online conference The Modern/Postmodern American Art and Culture, 1965-2000 , held on the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum website during Octobert 2001. A Virtual Discussion gathers the edited proceedings, with contributions from an international group of scholars, artists and curators, including Dan Cameron, Donna DeSalvo, Wendy Ewald, Chrissie Iles, Catherine Lord, Olu Oguibe, Yvonne Rainer and Robert Rosenblum.

150 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2002

About the author

Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright, poet, and journalist. He won a Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1933, for Both Your Houses, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for both Winterset and High Tor.

Several of his plays were adapted into successful movies, including Anne of the Thousand Days and Key Largo.

Reviews

[Melisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great online discussion made into a book that includes 28 artists, curators, critics and professors insight on the term postmodern, it's usefulness, it's meaning or lack of. The discussion is unique as it takes place weeks after September Eleventh, 2001. The recent event weights the conversation- emotion is strong, clarity is strived for, and inspiring community is found through technology. The definition of Postmodern is never found. The undefinable? is embraced by some and seem ineffective by others. The view points given are enlightening; they lead us to the same page and ask us to agree or disagree or to make our own definition.

Did modernism began with Duchamp? Did Postmodernism begin with the challenges to hierarchy that began in the 60's- feminism, civil rights movements, inclusion of nonwhite males-blacks and natives oppressed by white washed American imperialism- into art's historical narrative? Is Postmodernism a continuation of Modernism? Are we living too close to the moments we are trying to define? What is the artists role in a post September Eleventh world?
This book helped me answer some of these questions among others. As an artist, I think this is a must read.

[Mr. Pe Mr. Pe]

this is a great book and i recommend it to everyone