Modernism and Postmodernism; An Historical and Contextual Perspective - Lecture Response

Postmodernism is a broad cultural trend which involves skeptical interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction and literary criticism. With no limits, it is often associated with deconstruction due to its utility, gaining popularity in relation to 20th Century post-structural thought.

Modernism on the other hand is a philosophical movement that arose in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. The main factor of this movement was the rapid development and growth within cities, buildings and general imagination.

This lecture was hosted by Sean Odell, who went on to refer the book 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions' by Thomas S. Kuhn. Sean stated that Post modernism is manifested purely from digression and irony but also highly absent in the late 19th Century.

Postmodernism is disobedient. The philosophy itself ask more questions than answers. Late last year I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where I viewed one Exhibition relevant to this weeks lecture, called Disobedient Objects (which I mentioned in this previous blog post). When visiting the exhibition I wasn't aware nor had any clue to what it was about which left me extremely confused afterwards. It wasn't until receiving the information in this weeks lecture that I fully understood and viewed the artwork displayed in a whole other light. I believe it is important to ask ourselves how artists explore new alternatives by breaking the typical and kitsch postmodern boundaries within technique, as I feel it is essential to challenge traditional horizons in order to distinguish and support this ever changing and technologically advancing world we live in.