According to Lyotard, “a work can become modern only if it is first postmodern. Postmodernism thus understood is not modernism at its end but in the nascent state, and this state is constant.” This passage confused me at first because most of the other scholars seemed to refer to postmodernism as the end and death of modernism. In Visual Communications class, postmodernism was defined and inspired by what is considered modern. It was experimentation and striving for something new while also accepting that nothing is truly original, and everything has already been done. Referencing other work can’t be avoided and some forms of media, such as parodies, are based on intentionally referencing other work and rely on knowing/understanding the reference to enjoy and understand the media. How could something be postmodern before its modern if postmodern is supposed to come from/after modernism?
Then I re-read this passage: “A postmodern artist or writer is in the position of a philosopher: the text he writes, the work he produces are not in principle governed by pre-established rules, and they cannot be judged according to a determining Judgment, by applying familiar categories to the text or to the work. Those rules and categories are what the work of art is looking for. The artist and the writer, then, are working without rules in order to formulate the rules of what will have been done.” This helped me grasp what Lyotard is saying. Postmodernism is about experimenting and creating without following any rules or boundaries. The creation will then lead to new rules/ideas that will potentially inspire future works. The new/innovative work of art then becomes a modern work that becomes part of tradition and a reference point. If this is the case, then whether we’re in a modern or postmodern time doesn’t seem to be relevant. Is it more that we’re both at the same time and that it varies by work/theory? Based on Lyotard’s definition, it doesn’t seem to be that everything became postmodern at some point. It’s a process/transition of things from postmodern to modern.
Another aspect that confuses me is if a works intent has to be based in experimenting and trying something new to be considered postmodern. Then again, it’s impossible to fully know a creator’s intent so maybe it’s more important to look at the final product and impact it has on the viewer.
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