Pre and Post Post-Modern: Art in a Globalized World

Rather than explain the differences between Modernism, Postmodernism, and "the contemporary", I would like to highlight a shift in art seen after/near the end of Postmodernism.

I have noticed that much art after postmodernism attempts to create an experience, and typically one not purely visual.

This is not to be confused with the art experience or aura, Benjamin speaks of in "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", but rather the evocation of a feeling with a viewer. Much art after postmodernism's sole purpose is to be an experience.

Take artist Richard Serra as a perfect example of this shift.

 Here are two of Serra's sculptures, the first from 1967, the second from 1969. This work is clearly purely visual.

Here is one of Serra's sculptures from 2006 titled sequence. This sculpture operates on a different level than his works from the 1960s. as you enter the work the sloping walls play with your perception of space, perhaps evoking a fear of being trapped in this transforming space.

Watch the full episode. See more ART:21.

This is a PBS ART:21 video in which Serra talks about his recent work, and it's intention to play with the senses and evoke an experience.

There are other artists following this trend as well, such as Susan Philipsz in one of her "sound installations"

Susan Philipsz' "Lowlands" is an experience which can be represented but not reproduced.

This is a clip from the Dream House in New York, created by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, and is, yet, another example of a site specific artist created experience.

Alexander Alberro comments on another change in contemporary art

"...technological art objects have increasingly come to replace tangible ones in art galleries and museums, which have seen an upsurge of high-tech hybrids of all kinds, from digital
photography, to film and video installations, to computer and other “new media” art." - Alexander Alberro (MIT Press - October Magazine, Fall 2009)

Since the invention of the computer and the World Wide Web, information has been shared, this spread of information has caused a spread of understanding, and caused a unification of cultures that transcends place. In a way we are forced to experience other cultures other points of view through a digital reality. This is phenomena is globalization. A world separated by socio-economic and geological no longer exists. The world is now more than ever a unified place without multiple separate histories, but one all encompassing history. How has this phenomenon affected art?

One example is how it has affected the way in which art is used to inspire. During the 1960's some art found itself being used for cultural commentary. Particularly performance art, and groups of artists. Such as the Guerrilla Art Action Group, who used their art performances to spread their message. The topics and issues raised by these groups were typically specific to a location or group of people. Art acts such as those performed by GAAG are still carried about by artists and activists today.

An example of guerrilla art activism in the methods created by 1960's artists

An act such as the Guerrilla Bike Lane is reminiscent of art activism as seen in the 1960s. This form of action is a direct response to a specific problem in a specific part of the world.

In the 90s, however Globalization and the "One World" brings a rise of art activism that speaks on the Global level. Although carried out in a different manner. Allan Sekula's Fish Story (1995) is a series of photographs that depict multiple industrial ports all around the world, raising awareness to the issue of a globalized world. However Sekula's work was hung on gallery walls, rather than taken to the streets. This is obviously a much different method of raising awareness than the way groups like GAAG did.

An Image from Allan Sekula's Fish Story

In 2011 a show at the Museum of Contemporary photography titled "u-n-f-o-l-d" showed the work of 25 artists who participated in the Cape Farewell expeditions in 2007 and 2008 which brought the artists to the High Arctic and in 2009 to the Andes. At these locations the artists experienced first hand the result of climate change. These artists collaborated with scientists to study and raise awareness about global warming.

Sunand Prasad, Greenhouse Gas, 2008, Digital Print on Perspex, Aluminium mounted photo by Nathan Gallagher (from MoCP's u-n-f-o-l-d exhibition)

1960s: Art used alongside activist methods brought to a personal level, calling for immediate change

1990s: Activism through art in an attempt to raise awareness of an issue by calling a viewers attention and allowing them to consider the issues and choose to change for themselves.

Now (2011): Artists working with scientists to directly change something, while also raising awareness through artistic methods such as those by Sekula, and also creating a platform for the audience to support their efforts/cause change.

Put more simply

1960s: Artists are activists requesting others to follow their lead.

1990s: Artists raise awareness in hopes of inciting change.

Now (2011): Artists do both, while offering an outlet for the audience to also cause change.

The Big Idea:

Art after post-modernism more than any other art period relies on the audience to become engaged with the work. whether that means literally having an experience as created by the artist, or inciting the viewer to cause change.

Perhaps this is a result of globalization. globalization gives us the ability to act as one, contemporary art asks us what we can do with our unity, and also challenges us to share something more than information via experiencing art such as Richard Serra, or Susan Philipsz.