OUGD501 - Study Task 4 - Triangulation

‘Brooker, P. (1992) Modernism/Postmodernism, London: Longmans Publishing Group’

‘Hutcheon, L. (1989) The Politics of Postmodernism: Parody and history, London & New York: Routledge’

‘Jameson, F. (1991) Postmodernism: Or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, United States: Duke University Press’

‘Jencks, C. (1988) What is Postmodernism?, London: St Martins Press.’

‘McLuhan, M. (1964) Understanding media: The extensions of man. New York: McGraw-Hill’

‘Pegrum, M. (2000) Challenging Modernity: Dada between Modern and Postmodern, New York: Berghahn Books’

‘Poynor, R. (2003) No more rules: Graphic design and Postmodernism. LONDON: Laurence King Publishing.’

‘Tschichold, J. (1995) The new typography: The First English translation of the revolutionary 1928 document. Berkeley: University of California Press.’

500 Word Triangulation Exercise

Brooker (1992) explores some of the issues of cultural modernity and social modernisation which hindered the development of modernism. The author states that:

‘The mood which feeds neoconservatism today in no way originates from discontent about the antinomian consequences of a culture breaking from the museums into the stream of ordinary life.’ (Brooker 1992, p.130).

Although modernist values strive to progress technology, in this case, the advancement of technology encouraged a tangential transition from artwork once exclusive to the capitalist elite, hidden away in the sanctity of museums, to later be available for the mainstream population. The explosion of the internet and the advancement of an industrial urbanisation within the printing press allowed postmodernist values to spread and mock contemporary commercial artwork using forms of parody and pastiche.

This form of parody and pastiche can be seen expanded upon by Hutcheon (1989), the author states that postmodernism has in fact arisen from the conjunction of modernism and is directed, innovative and revolutionary rather than a regurgitated art form. This is referred to within the following quote:

‘Postmodernist ironic recall of history is neither nostalgia nor aesthetic “cannibalization” Nor can it be reduced to the gibly decorative. It is true, however, that it does not offer what Jameson desires – “genuine historicity”’ (Hutcheon, 1989, p.).

She believes that even though postmodernism cannot hold true historical authenticity, this does not mean that the movement cannibalizes historical aesthetics. The author concludes that postmodernism is a new and modified art form which gives its aesthetics new life and meaning. This is a direct challenge towards the work of Jameson (1991), where the author suggests, ‘Which randomly and without principle but with gusto cannibalizes all the architectural styles of the past and combines them in over stimulating ensembles’ (Jameson, 1991 p.). His philosophy dictates that postmodernism holds no personal style and has a distinct absence of originality. Throughout the writing, this definition of pastiche states that all postmodernist work is being regurgitated from past styles and is now creating unoriginal art and culture. He believes that giving classical work new meaning removes its context within history and proposes that postmodernism as a movement is the reabsorption of past methods which decontextulises historical styles.