Traversing a Postmodern Landscape (there’s no going back)
Lecturer: Dr Sue Tate
Many commentators have observed a cultural shift occurring in the 20th century from Modernism (capital M) to ‘postmodernism’. This lecture attempts to map that journey and explore some key features of the postmodern terrain. Some argue that ‘postmodernism’ is already a thing of the past but this lecture will argue that there have been significant shifts in culture and the way ‘culture’ is understood, that indelibly mark the contemporary world and provide the context for the strands that you will be studying this semester.
The first part of the lecture will identify some key aspects of Modernism and then plot the reaction to it in the emergence of ‘postmodernism’ as a practice and a concept. This shift is most clearly seen in architecture in the 1970s, but we will also look at Pop Art (sometime seen as the first postmodern movement), fashion, film, fine art and graphics
The term postmodernism is very fluid and contested but the lecture will attempt to identify key concepts, approaches and issues that shape the terrain and give context to both your practice and your lived experience. Through examples from all areas of visual culture, we will explore, among other things
- a postmodern lexicon: appropriation, parody, pastiche, intertextuality, eclecticism, irony, simulacra, hyper-reality
- issues of representation and identity (the de-centred subject).
- The collapse of hi/low cultural boundaries
- Media saturation, consumerism, a ‘society of signs’ and the knowing consumer
- The end of metanarratives – considering both problems and potential
Finally the lecture will signpost the ways in which the issues and concerns that have been raised inform and provide the context for the ‘strands’ that we are offering for your study this semester (Image & Identity, Taste and Values, Things, and The Creative Workplace).
Digitised readings:
STRINATI, (1995 ) ‘Postmodernism’ from An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture Routledge
WHEALE, NIGEL (1995 ) ‘Postmodernism: from Elite to Mass Culture?’ in Nigel Wheale (ed) 1995 Postmodern arts: an introductory reader Routledge.
Suggested further reading:
BERTENS, Hans (1995) The idea of the Postmodern : A History Routledge
BROWN, Stephen (1995) Postmodern Marketing Routledge
See Chapter 3 ‘What have you got in there, King Kong’ p.64
BUTLER, Judith (1990) Gender Trouble : Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge
CONNOR, Steven (1997) Postmodernist Culture : An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary (second edition) Blackwell
FEATHERSTONE M (1991) Consumer Culture & Postmodernism, Sage
HARAWAY, Donna J.(1991) Simians, Cyborgs, and Women : The Reinvention of Nature Free Association Books
HUYSSEN, Andreas (1990) ‘Mapping the Postmodern’ in Feminism/Postmodernism
Linda NICHOLSON ed. Routledge 1990
JAMESON, Frederick (1991) Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism Verso
JENCKS, Charles (1981) The Language of Postmodern Architecture. Academy Editions
KLEIN, Naomi (2000) No Logo Flamingo
NAVA M. et al (eds) (1997) Buy This Book : Studies in Advertising and Consumption Routledge. see Part V ‘Readers as producers of meaning’ and Part VI ‘Consumption and Identity’
OWENS, Craig (1983) ‘The Discourse of Others : Feminists and Postmodernism’ in Postmodern Culture ed Hal FOSTER Pluto Press p.57
POLHEMUS, Ted (1994) ‘The Supermarket of Style’ in Street Style p. 130 Thames and Hudson
POSTER, Mark (ed) (1988) Jean Baudrillard : Selected Writings Polity Press
VENTURI and
SCOTT-BROWN (1993) Learning from Las Vegas MIT Press (revised edition) (original version 1972)
WILSON and ASH (1992) ‘Fashion and the Postmodern Body’ in Chic Thrills, Pandora.
p.3
WHEALE, Nigel (1995) Postmodern Arts Routledge
