Metamodernism

Metamodernism is a set of developments in philosophy, culture of relativism, irony, and pastiche” is over, having aesthetics, and culture which are emerging from and re- been replaced by a post-ideological condition that stresses acting to postmodernism. One definition characterizes engagement, affect, and storytelling.[8] metamodernism as mediations between aspects of both The prefix “meta-" here referred not to a reflective stance modernism and postmodernism. Metamodernism is sim- or repeated rumination, but to Plato’s metaxy, which de- ilar to post-postmodernism. notes a movement between opposite poles as well as be- yond them.[6] Vermeulen and van den Akker described metamodernism as a “structure of feeling” that oscillates 1 Historical development of the between modernism and postmodernism like “a pendu- term lum swinging between…innumerable poles”.[9] Accord- ing to Kim Levin, writing in ARTnews, this oscillation “must embrace doubt, as well as hope and melancholy, The term metamodernist appeared as early as 1975, where sincerity and irony, affect and apathy, the personal and Zavarzadeh used it to describe a cluster of aesthetics or the political, and technology and techne.”[8] For the meta- attitudes which had been emerging in American literature modern generation, according to Vermeulen, "grand nar- since the mid-1950s.[1] ratives are as necessary as they are problematic, hope By 1999, metamodernism was being described as an “ex- is not simply something to distrust, love not necessarily tension of and challenge to modernism and postmod- something to be ridiculed.”[10] ernism” with the aim to “transcend, fracture, subvert, cir- Vermeulen asserts that “metamodernism is not so much a cumvent, interrogate and disrupt, hijack and appropri- philosophy—which implies a closed ontology—as it is an ate modernity and postmodernity”.[2] In 2002, metamod- attempt at a vernacular, or…a sort of open source doc- ernism in literature was described as an aesthetic that is ument, that might contextualise and explain what is go- "after yet by means of modernism…. a departure as well ing on around us, in political economy as much as in the as a perpetuation.”[3][4] The metamodernists’ relationship arts.”[10] The return of a Romantic sensibility has been with modernism was seen as going “far beyond homage, posited as a key characteristic of metamodernism, ob- toward a reengagement with modernist method in order served by Vermeulen and van den Akker in the archi- to address subject matter well outside the range or interest tecture of Herzog & de Meuron, and the work of artists of the modernists themselves.”[3] such as Bas Jan Ader, Peter Doig, Olafur Eliasson, Kaye In 2007 metamodernism was described as partly a con- Donachie, Charles Avery, and Ragnar Kjartansson.[6] currence with, partly an emergence from, and partly a re- action to, postmodernism, “champion[ing] the idea that only in their interconnection and continuous revision lie the possibility of grasping the nature of contemporary 2 Cultural acceptance cultural and literary phenomena.”[5] In November 2011, the Museum of Arts and Design in 1.1 Vermeulen and van den Akker New York acknowledged the influence of Vermeulen and van den Akker when it staged an exhibition entitled No In 2010, cultural theorists Timotheus Vermeulen and More Modern: Notes on Metamodernism, featuring the work of Pilvi Takala, Guido van der Werve, Benjamin Robin van den Akker proposed metamodernism as an in- [11] tervention in the post-postmodernism debate.[6][7] In their Martin, and Mariechen Danz. essay Notes on Metamodernism, they asserted that the In March 2012, Galerie Tanja Wagner in Berlin cu- 2000s were characterized by the return of typically mod- rated Discussing Metamodernism in collaboration with ern positions that did not forfeit the postmodern mindsets Vermeulen and van den Akker, billed as the first ex- of the 1980s and 1990s. According to them, the meta- hibition in Europe to be staged around the concept of modern sensibility “can be conceived of as a kind of in- metamodernism.[12][13][14] The show featured the work of formed naivety, a pragmatic idealism”, characteristic of Ulf Aminde, Yael Bartana, Monica Bonvicini, Mariechen cultural responses to recent global events such as climate Danz, Annabel Daou, Paula Doepfner, Olafur Eliasson, change, the financial crisis, political instability, and the Mona Hatoum, Andy Holden, Sejla Kameric, Ragnar digital revolution.[6] They asserted that “the postmodern Kjartansson, Kris Lemsalu, Issa Sant, David Thorpe, An-

1 2 4 REFERENCES

gelika J. Trojnarski, Luke Turner, and Nastja Rönkkö.[14] with Turner and Nastja Säde Rönkkö, described by Dazed In his formulation of the “quirky” cinematic sensibility, as “a multi-platform meditation on celebrity and vulnera- bility,” and referred to by the collaborators as metamod- film scholar James MacDowell described the works of [27] Wes Anderson, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Miranda ernist performance art. This included a performance July, and Charlie Kaufman as building upon the "New in a Los Angeles gallery entitled #IAMSORRY, in which Sincerity", and embodying the metamodern structure of LaBeouf sat for six days silently crying in front of visitors, wearing a tuxedo and a brown paper bag over his head em- feeling in their balancing of “ironic detachment with sin- [28] cere engagement”.[9] blazoned with the words “I am not famous anymore”. The 2013 issue of the American Book Review was dedi- cated to metamodernism and included a series of essay 3 See also identifying authors such as Roberto Bolaño, Dave Eg- gers, Jonathan Franzen, Haruki Murakami, Zadie Smith, and David Foster Wallace as metamodernists.[15][16] In 4 References a 2014 article in PMLA, literary scholars David James and Urmila Seshagiri argued that “metamodernist writing [1] Zavarzadeh, Mas’ud. “The Apocalyptic Fact and the incorporates and adapts, reactivates and complicates the Eclipse of Fiction in Recent American Prose Narratives”. aesthetic prerogatives of an earlier cultural moment”, in Journal of American Studies, Vol. 9, no. 1 (Apr. 1975). discussing twenty-first century writers such as Tom Mc- Retrieved July 4, 2014. Carthy.[17] [2] Okediji, Moyo (1999). Harris, Michael, ed. Transatlantic Professor Stephen Knudsen, writing in ArtPulse, noted Dialogue: Contemporary Art In and Out of Africa. Ack- that metamodernism “allows the possibility of staying land Museum, University of North Carolina. pp. 32–51. sympathetic to the poststructuralist deconstruction of Retrieved July 26, 2014. subjectivity and the self—Lyotard’s teasing of everything into intertextual fragments—and yet it still encourages [3] Furlani, Andre (Winter 2002). “Guy Davenport: Post- genuine protagonists and creators and the recouping of modern and After”. Contemporary Literature, Vol. 43, some of modernism’s virtues.”[18] No. 4. p. 713. In May 2014, country music artist Sturgill Simpson told [4] Furlani, Andre (2007). Guy Davenport: Postmodernism CMT that his album Metamodern Sounds in Country Mu- and After. Northwestern University Press. sic had been inspired in part by an essay by Seth Abram- son, who writes about metamodernism on his Huffington [5] Dumitrescu, Alexandra. “Interconnections in Blakean and Post blog.[19][20] Simpson stated that “Abramson homes Metamodern Space”. On Space. Deakin University. Re- trieved September 15, 2011. in on the way everybody is obsessed with nostalgia, [19] even though technology is moving faster than ever.” [6] Vermeulen, Timotheus; van den Akker, Robin. “Notes on According to J.T. Welsch, “Abramson sees the 'meta- Metamodernism”. Journal of Aesthetics and Culture, Vol. ' prefix as a means to transcend the burden of mod- 2 (2010): 1–14. Retrieved 28 July 2014. ernism and postmodernism’s allegedly polarised intellec- tual heritage.”[21] [7] Eve, Martin Paul. “Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wal- lace and the Problems of Metamodernism”. Journal of 21st-century Writings, Vol. 1, no. 1 (2012). Retrieved 28 July 2014. 2.1 The Metamodernist Manifesto [8] Levin, K. (15 October 2012). “How PoMo Can You In 2011, Luke Turner published a Metamodernist Mani- Go?". ARTnews. Retrieved 14 July 2014. [21] festo. The manifesto recognised “oscillation to be the [9] Kunze, Peter, ed. (2014). The Films of Wes Anderson: natural order of the world” and called for an end to “the Critical Essays on an Indiewood Icon. Palgrave Macmil- inertia resulting from a century of modernist ideological lan. naivety and the cynical insincerity of its antonymous bas- tard child.”[21][22] Instead, it proposed metamodernism as [10] Potter, Cher (Spring 2012). “Timotheus Vermeulen talks “the mercurial condition between and beyond irony and to Cher Potter”. Tank: 215. sincerity, naivety and knowingness, relativism and truth, [11] 'No More Modern: Notes on Metamodernism' Museum of optimism and doubt, in pursuit of a plurality of disparate Arts and Design, Retrieved June 19, 2014. and elusive horizons.”[23] The text cited the work of Ver- meulen and van den Akker, and concluded “we must go [12] 'The Metamodern Mindset' Berlin Art Journal, Retrieved forth and oscillate!”[24][10] Turner later credited his mani- June 26, 2014. festo to the actor Shia LaBeouf as part of the pair’s wider artistic collaboration.[25][26] [13] 'Discussing Metamodernism with Tanja Wagner and Tim- otheus Vermeulen' Blouin ARTINFO, Retrieved June 19, In early 2014, Shia LaBeouf embarked on a collaboration 2014. 3

[14] 'Discussing Metamodernism' Galerie Tanja Wagner, Re- trieved June 19, 2014.

[15] Moraru et al”", “American Book Review” 34:4 (2013)

[16] Gheorghe, C. “Metamodernismul sau despre amurgul postmodernismului”. Observator Cultural. Retrieved 16 July 2014.

[17] James, David and Urmila Seshagiri. "Metamodernism: Narratives of Continuity and Revolution, Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 129: 1 (Jan- uary 2014): 87–100.

[18] Knudsen, S. (March 2013). “Beyond Postmodernism. Putting a Face on Metamodernism Without the Easy Clichés”. ArtPulse. Retrieved 14 July 2014.

[19] Hight, Jewly. “Sturgill Simpson’s New Set is a Mind- expanding Take on Country Traditionalism”. Country Music Television (May 8, 2014). Retrieved July 6, 2014.

[20] Pritchard, Daniel Evans. “Weekly Poetry Links”. Boston Review (July 24, 2013). Retrieved July 5, 2014.

[21] Welsch, J.T. John Beer’s The Waste Land and the Possibil- ity of Metamodernism. British Association for Modernist Studies (June 26, 2014). Retrieved July 5, 2014.

[22] Lambert, M. (12 February 2014). “We Went There: ‘#IAMSORRY,’ Shia LaBeouf’s Apology Performance Art Installation”. Grantland. Retrieved 25 August 2014.

[23] Cliff, A. (8 August 2014). “Popping Off: How Weird Al, Drake, PC Music and You Are All Caught up in the Same Feedback Loop”. The Fader. Retrieved 25 August 2014.

[24] McCahill, M. (12 February 2014). “Shia LaBeouf: Is there genius in his madness?". The Daily Telegraph (UK). Retrieved 19 June 2014.

[25] Swift, T. (19 May 2014). “An Interview with Luke Turner & Nastja Sade Ronkko”. aqnb. Retrieved 8 June 2014.

[26] “Shia LaBeouf plagiarizes every article about his plagia- rism by claiming it was all just performance art”. AV Club. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.

[27] Tsjeng, Z. (March 2014). “Meet the two artists behind Shia LaBeouf’s #IAMSORRY”. Dazed. Retrieved 14 July 2014.

[28] Eordogh, F. (14 February 2014). “I don't know if Shia LaBeouf is sorry, but he’s a master image transformer”. The Guardian. Retrieved 14 July 2014.

5 External links

• The Metamodernist Manifesto • Notes on Metamodernism – webzine founded by Ver- meulen and van den Akker 4 6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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