POST MODERNITY & VISUAL CULTURE

Returning to art history after the Easter break, we looked at post-modernity and visual culture. It's quite a difficult concept to get our heads round really, as it's just the time after the modernism era - one quote which stood out to me was: "We have lost the ability to locate ourselves historically" - Madan Sarup. We discussed the key themes of Post-Modernism and how it differs from Modernism. I will include a brief glossary of some key terms and my I will upload my notes at the bottom of the post. 

GLOSSARY:
Post-Modernism: a late 20th century era in the arts, which departs from the previous era of modernism, characterised by the use of earlier conventions, mixing various artistic styles, and a general distrust of theories.
Modernism: a style/movement of the arts which aims to withdraw from previous classical and traditional forms. 
Meta-narrative: an account/narrative of a series of events that provide a pattern/structure for people's beliefs/theories and gives meaning to their experiences.
Micro-narrative: a 'standalone item' - literally anything, that helps people understand their relationship with the world (individual/personal narratives).
Rationalism: basing opinions and actions on reason and knowledge - rejecting religious beliefs.
Iconoclastic: the attack of settled beliefs or institutions, opposing religious images.
Post-fordian economics: a change in industrial production - moving towards the use of small flexible manufacturing systems rather than the large-scale mass production methods.
Post-internet: Post-Internet is a 21st century art movement involving works that are derived from the Internet or its effects on aesthetics, culture and society.
Cyber culture: social attitudes and practices, closely linked to the advanced progress of the technological world - rise of computer systems for business, entertainment and communication. 
Hyper-real: presentation of images without reality or meaning, exaggerated in comparison to reality. The real is 'produced' the hyper-real is 'reproduced'.

I read an extract from Madan Sarup's introductory to Post-structuralism and Post-modernity. I find his discussion of the topic really interesting, and there is a section on feminism and post-modernism which I found fascinating. The pages above are the sections of the extract I found most interesting.