The Anti-Aesthetic of Postmodernism: New Literary Definition or Just Critique - Term Paper Example

The anti-aesthetic of postmodernism: new literary definition or just critique? “The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture” was an influential postmodernist compilation edited by Hal Foster (1983) with contributing authors Jean Baudrillard, Douglas Crimp, Kenneth Frampton, Jurgen Hambermas, Frederic Jameson, Rosalind Kraus, Craig Owens, Edward W. Said and Gregory L. Ulmer. In his introduction to the book, Foster specifically argued that “anti-aesthetic” does not mean a reemphasis of modernism’s principle of aesthetic repudiation, or an anti-art stance, but rather is a critique of the very notion of the aesthetic in its modern manifestations with pseudo trans-historical and determinate meanings. It is the purpose of this paper to compare the theory and practice of the anti-aesthetic in postmodern culture through its affect on literature and art, as well as its influence on society, referencing Foster’s compilation together with Linda Hutcheon’s (1989) work, “The Politics of Postmodernism.” This essay will discuss the similarities between the authors’ definitions of postmodernism and the manner in which their definition of an anti-aesthetic acts as a critique of the both the modern and classical views of art and society. Postmodernism seeks to establish new fundamentals for a subjective rather than objective theory of art, philosophy, and literature that goes authentically beyond the biases inherent in modernism. Foster’s definition of postmodernism, as noted in his preface to “The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays in Postmodern Culture” (1983), is based fundamentally in a “conflict of new and old modes – cultural and economic.” (Foster, 1983, p.xi) This conflict can be traced directly to the dialectical materialism of Marxism, though postmodernism is decidedly a post-Marxist philosophy defined, as Jameson wrote, by the logic of late capitalism. Baudrillard’s writing relates equally to the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, which sought to reinterpret Marxist fundamentals in light of the changing cultural logic of Western society, as it does to the Situationist movement led by Guy Debord and the writing of Michel Foucault in France. The failure of Marxism in the West in achieving its social justice goals or soteriological function was not yet fully evident in 1983 when the Foster compilation was published. Similarly, the vast societal changes of the internet and globalization had not developed at that time in the West either on a historical basis. Because of this, Foster’s introduction of postmodern theorists to America at this time had an important influence on the development of art and literature in the 1980’s that developed through the new media in the 1990’s. Foster’s aim in this compilation is to allow the reader to contemplate the various views of the different postmodernist authors, including their distinctive mediums of art and literature, in order to show the separate, yet similar way of thinking about the anti-aesthetic that joins this movement. Drawing upon the themes of post-Marxist criticism of consumer society and the commoditization of “the real”, postmodernism expresses a rejection of middle class values and lifestyle, critically transforming the imperialistic aspects of consumerism with a new anti-aesthetic of art. Fredric Jameson’s work firmly established the post-Marxist critique at the center of postmodernism when he emphasized the logic of late capitalism in its definition, and his work was even more influential than Foster’s in America in disseminating the theory of postmodernism to a larger audience. Jameson notes that he “laments the lack of critical capacities to which postmodern subjects have access, and analyses present capitalist cultural production in terms of a dehistoricized spatial pastiche.” (Foster, 1983, p.xx) Jameson states in his essay ‘Postmodernism and Consumer Society’ (Foster, 1983, p.111), that most forms of postmodernisms have, “emerge[d] as specific reactions against the established forms of high modernism, against this or that dominant high modernism which conquered the university, the museum, the art gallery network and the foundations.” (Foster, 1983, p.111) Originally presented as a lecture, his essay discusses a number of aspects of modernism that were subversive – the music of Stravinsky, Abstract Expressionism, and modernist poetry – and in the 1960s, the peace movement and anti-war groups of social resistance who acted globally in solidarity with other activists as part of a movement for greater social change, or Marxist inspired people’s movements that rebelled against the old establishment. Jameson further contends that postmodern theory tends to blur the distinctions between high art and popular art, but that it does so as methodology, in order to resist the totalitarian aspects of consumer capitalism on Being in the West and the hegemony of Western political force through imperialism on the world stage. Academics and politicians find this disquieting as they prefer to retain elitism as their own domain, but these methodologies can be seen in the transition of advertising to viral media that are exchanged on the internet, with deeper roots in the art of Andy Warhol and the writings of Marshall McLuhan. The changes brought about by new media are continually reflected in a revised understanding or definition of postmodernism itself by its theoretical adherents, as seen in the way Hutcheon has continually updated her own work, “The politics of postmodernism”. (1989-2002) Foster cites two authors in the collection whose work relates to the theory of the anti-aesthetic personally, writing, “Some critics, like Rosalind Krauss and Douglas Crimp, define postmodernism as a break with the aesthetic field of modernism.” (Foster, 1983, p.111) Rosalind Krauss’ essay is titled “Sculpture in an Abandoned Field” (Foster, 1983, p.31), and in this work she discusses the art of Mary Miss and Alice Aycock in the 1970’s in contrast to modern and classical theories of art. Krauss’ theory is also highly influenced by the tenets of situationism where she argues for an expanded sense of the environment as canvas, merging aspects of theatre and art in a manner that leads to recognition of performance. How is the anti-aesthetical representation of the postmodern theorists differ in this regard that the modernist schools of dada and surrealism, which also argued against method and in critical ways for the expansion of artistic identity? Krauss answers this by writing, “I have been insisting that the expanded field of postmodernism occurs at a specific moment in the recent history of art. It is a historical event with a determinant structure.” (Foster, 1983, p.41) This focus on the influence of history inherently represents the way personal identity is conditioned by the State or parodies its values in the official aesthetic, in the same manner that authority conditions truth in value systems in society. In returning to the primal inspiration of Stonehenge or pre-historic art, the feminist artists cited by Krauss take the earth and environment as a medium to re-interpret and express motherhood and creativity in peaceful contrast to the consumer systems that inform war. In a historical perspective, elements of the criticism of postmodernism were visionary and saw trends developing in late capitalism in the West related to over-industrialized and increasingly corrupt societies ruled by power-structures operating with hegemony in contrast to principles of social justice. Barbara Krueger’s art from this period is perhaps among the most well known and respected, but it is exemplified by the use of advertising techniques to espouse the rage or repressed anger against the systematic repression of the capitalist society on the woman post-Feminism, with its ideal images of the housewife, model woman, good citizen and consumer, etc. that dominated mainstream media. The postmodern methodology is represented further as being post-Freudian and post-Stucturalist via the work of Deleuze, Guattari, Lacan, and Foucault. In combining these theoretical elements with critical post-Marxism, the anti-aesthetic of postmodernism is seen in the birth of the punk rock movement in the late 70’s with the culture surrounding bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Ramones, the Damned, X, the Germs, and other underground groups in big cities like L.A., New York, London, Berlin, and Paris. The punk methodology is anarchic and socially nihilistic like the street graffiti of the era, representing its politics via situationism, representative of a rejection of the commoditization of lifestyle through the use of irony and parody. (Hutcheon, 1989) Douglas Crimp’s essay, “At the Museum’s Ruins” (1980) locates one of the first usages of the term postmodernism in art to a review of Robert Rauschenberg’s work in 1968. (Foster, 1983, p.44) The usage of the term referenced a transformation of traditional painting to operate according to the logic of the printing press. Crimp wrote, "Steinberg's essay suggests important parallels with the 'archaeological' enterprise of Michel Foucault. Not only does the very term postmodernism imply the foreclosure of what Foucault would call the episteme, or archive, of modernism, but even more specifically, by insisting upon the radically different kinds of picture surfaces upon which different kinds of data can be accumulated and organized, Steinberg selects the very figure that Foucault employs to represent the incompatibility of historical periods... Foucault’s project involves the replacement of those unities of humanist historical thought such as tradition, influence, development, evolution, source, and origin with concepts like discontinuity, rupture, threshold, limit and transformation." (Foster, 1983, p.45) This passage can be seen as capturing the important elements of the anti-aesthetic as it is based in postmodern theory. In opposing the authoritative and controlling aspects of tradition, influence, evolution, etc. conceptually in methodologies found in literature, philosophy, art, and music, the theory could lead to new forms of expression that liberated both individuals and groups from the limitations of the past. The focus on history is represented in the inordinate influence the historical narrative has on self-identity, despite the fact that this is an artificial construct related more to propaganda or fiction than truth as validated by science and fact. The new concepts seek to represent the political through art, and as such are a radical introduction of new values upon the modality of the anti-aesthetic. Hutcheon has coined the term historiographic metafiction as related to the schizophrenic processes of self-identity in late capitalism, and her theory as explained in her book “The Politics of Postmodernism” (1989) broadens the debate about personal reactions to political hegemony through art and literature. As noted in her biography at the University of Toronto, her work in postmodernism “explore(s) the overlapping of different forms of postmodern discourse: historical, philosophical, psychoanalytic, feminist, Marxist, literary theoretical – in addition to those of the literary, visual, musical, cinematic and architectural art forms themselves”. (University of Toronto Online, 2011) This combination of diverse elements of influence in an era of increasing globalization, cultural relativity, and pluralism in society is representative of the postmodern movement as it seeks activist goals related to political change through academia, art, music, literature, film, etc. but consistently fails in changing the power hierarchies related to hegemony. Minority identities fragment and reform in an age of information overload, or hyperreality as Baudrillard called it, to re-crystallize the self according to a historiographic metafiction that functions as personal identity. Resistance to consumer capitalism is expressed continually in art in postmodernism all the while being subsumed by the dominance of capitalist relations in publishing, art galleries, music labels, television and newspaper editorial management, etc. that seek to control the accepted limits of social discourse. Therefore, when conceiving the anti-aesthetic of postmodernism, the political means of change is cut off by hegemony, represented in Reaganism, Thatcherism, the New World Order, and the demise of the effectiveness of critical resistance groups such as those represented in the old Left and counter-culture movements. The resistance of postmodernism is expressed through historiographic metafiction in the form of art, music, literature, etc. as individuality, personality, or assertion of identity against the totalitarian aspects of capitalism controlling the narrative of human discourse and possibility through media channels which repeat endless images of desire related to advertising and marketing goals. What joins all of these theories of postmodernism into a shared movement relating to an anti-aesthetic is the focus on the primacy of individual interpretation even over classical and modernist authorities that are rooted in knowledge systems. Deconstruction seeks to expose the biases inherent in both modern and classical systems of knowledge, including those of Marx, Freud, Structuralism, Feminism, etc., by showing the relationship of authority to truth rather than inherent universals. Politically this can be seen in ever more conformity and lack of choice in elections or between parties while the abundance of entertainment options, consumer products, and conspicuous consumption increases. The anti-aesthetic needs to challenge political authority as it is sublimated in social values and expressed in art, advertising, literature, and this is given a conceptual foundation in postmodernism. Thus, postmodernism, when put into practice as an artistic methodology in deconstructing the experience of the real through conceptual identities and reforming them in personal identity, liberates aesthetic expression by introducing new fundamentals of organization for information. The remarkable diversity and creativity displayed by artists in all disciplines through the ability of continually creating new forms, images and ways of combining ideas is an apparently natural function of information exchange, but entirely artificial. One cannot come away from Foster’s or Hutcheon’s books without an increased awareness and sensitivity to the influence of postmodern theory and criticism in all of the arts since these essays were first published in America in the early 1980’s. What is fascinating is the constant movement of ideas that postmodernism presents to subjectivity for interpretation without accepting the biases of old systems of authority that are found in modernism. The postmodern theory and methodologies destroy the biases inherent in knowledge systems themselves, and through this open up a new creative space for expression based on the anti-aesthetic which seeks to reform notions of beauty after deconstruction. The historical element is a central theme of the postmodern theory of art through the anti-aesthetic, and the primary goal of this is to establish the subjectivity or relative basis of what hegemonic forces relate as objectively real, true, or beautiful. The premise of this critique of capitalism suggests that the images, idealized in advertisements and marketing material but also in mainstream films, television, and music, of the political authority are represented in a totalitarian manner in the West through the commoditization of all aspects of identity into lifestyles governed by conspicuous consumption. The political authority is an inherent aspect of knowledge system, and this is used to create truth in a de facto manner in society, without that truth having an objective basis outside of the coercive aspects of power. This can be seen in academic authority in all of the disciplines of science, in governance, in capitalism, socialism, and other political organizations. Through education, conditioning, and non-critical acceptance of social values, the individual’s range of identity, operation, and functionality is increasingly limited, as Marcuse wrote in “One Dimensional Man”. The resistance or activist element of the postmodern methodology is to oppose the subliminal aspects of imperial power that are represented not only in academic knowledge systems, science, and politics, but also the aesthetic or art and culture itself when taken collectively as the episteme. In this manner, the anti-aesthetic is post-structural and based on the deconstruction of knowledge systems to expose the controlling bias of power, especially when it relates to a corrupting element like capitalist economic inequality or preservation of corporate imperialism in the status quo rather than an actual and inherent component of truth. Postmodernism is highly influenced by the minority politics or identity and activism related to change in society after the failure of Marxism. Foucault’s work is considered seminal in this regard to the deconstructing of controlling biases on the personality through the construction of objectivity, but the same theme is seen across postmodern writing in Jameson, Hutcheon, Foster, Krauss, and others. The anti-aesthetic is based on a post-structural identification of the ruling bias in knowledge systems, and the deconstruction of that in the aesthetic of modern art itself. For example, the bias of the ego in centralization may be seen in the over-glorification of personality through celebrity in modern art, and this may be rejected through anonymous forms of social communication or expression such as graffiti. Street art is an excellent example of the postmodern anti-aesthetic as is punk, house, techno, or other types of underground music. The relation of art and identity in youth culture in the West is commoditized and operates on the values of the corporate record labels, generating a tension that is seen similarly in the art galleries of fine art or the publishing houses of literature. With the demise of hegemony, the increase of totalitarianism in social interpretation or political choices declined collectively in the West, with a subsequent decrease or marginalization of radical identity. This then becomes sublimated further in viral art, literature, and music in the postmodern. The graffiti is an omnipresent aspect of postmodern urban environments, and the anti-aesthetic seeks to liberate art from the bias or limitations inherent in the model of canvas and frame, museum, gallery, or theatre. This leads to developments in performance art, environmental art, street art, multimedia art, etc. that seek to transcend the logic of late capitalism by representing methodological and conceptual innovations on different fundamental grounds of interpretation. The museum operates on the model of history, and the valuation of art within it reflect the principle of capitalism in the millions of dollars each Picasso or Rembrandt painting is sold for and then horded for its beauty, protected by armed guards. In this model there are deeper patterns of cultural expression that may be unconscious to people today participating in the social rituals that fuel and operate the system. In viewing the structural elements of the wider system in a critical or analytical methodology, postmodernism seeks to deconstruct the aesthetic of the museum, the art gallery, and the State on a common basis and show the interrelation of politics and authority with the construction of truth in social systems. As beauty is represented as truth through aesthetics, a postmodern approach to art, literature, philosophy, music, etc. is methodological and conceptually involved with referencing the historical tradition as it permeates education, governance, influence, and other forces in the canonical aspects of the social unconscious. This involves a fundamental questioning of the accepted aspects of reality, what is commonly accepted as fact, as true, as valuable, and beautiful in reference to the claimed universals of modernism and classicism, in order to determine if these objects of expression are truly universals or if they are representing only a shared-subjective cultural bias of late capitalism and its political corruption of personal identity through politics. In this manner the anti-aesthetic represents an approach to the unconscious aspects of social control rooted in deep cultural assumptions and conditioned values that appear universal but are in fact relative and reflective of the particular biases of a segment of society. When the interpretation of the real becomes overly restrictive or limiting to identity through hegemony, the postmodern artist must act against the established cultural aesthetic through an assertion of personal identity that references the historical tradition through activism or resistance in expression, communication, or interpretation. Works Cited Foster, H. The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture. Seattle, Washington: Bay Press, 1983. Print. Hutcheon, L. The Politics of Postmodernism. London & New York: Routledge, 1989. Print. Sim, S. The Routledege Companion to Postmodernism. Oxon & New York: Routledge, 1998. Print. University of Toronto Online. Linda Hutcheon biography. Web, 2011. Read More