Posted on 06/09/2003 6:36:34 AM PDT by jriemer
Caption this Photo:
Al Gore is still looking...
"No matter how hard you work composing a picture, there's always at least one arse who just has to look at the camera."
Spunky:EEEEUWWWW! That looks like the tortolini shells I had for dinner last night.
To read more about postmodern "performing art" from a Christian perspective read the excellent book:
Postmodern Times: a Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture by Gene Veith. Some excerpts from the book are below.
Postmodernists, however, reject moral and religious absolutes just as they reject aesthetic absolutes. They seek to tie the work of art to life, but the way they do so is shaped by their view of life...stressing bleak and shocking images rather than the beauty of nature or intimations of divine order. Because postmodernists believe that reality is socially constructed, their art will tend to be political rather than moral or philosophical.
Some contemporary artists relate their art to the outside world by making the work's surroundings part of the art. They seek to bring art out of the museums into the streets or into the natural environment.
Since "there are no absolutes," meaning is subjective and relative...Since there are no absolutes, there are no aesthetic standard. "Postmodernism can judge the spectacle," says one critic, "only in terms of how spectacular it is."
"The unifying mode of the post-modern, "says Michel Benamon, is performance.Whereas the modernists saw the work of art as transcending time, postmodernists see the work of art as existing only in time.
Perhaps the most characteristic expression of postmodernism in the art world is the development of "performance art." The pioneer of this art form was the German artist Joseph Beuys. Here a critic solemnly describes one of Beuys's typical works:
--In of Beuy's rituals, known as Fat Corner, a lump of fat, usually margarine, is packed in the shape of an inverted cone in a corner. The ritual involves simply leaving the fat to spread and stink over the course of days. The piece consists of the fat, its slow spreading, and the viewer's response.--
Notice that part of the work of art is the viewer's response. Any reaction of outrage, disgust, or puzzlement becomes part of the work if art!
Postmodernists tend on principle to rebel against authority. This includes not only objective authorities (such as God, parents, the state)...
Art that surrenders its meaning; artists that surrender their creativity---such is the artistic self-abnegation of postmodernist culture. At its root is a profound repudiation of the human.
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