Paper by Lars Hallnäs, The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, available at Reserach Outlet.
Abstract
Post modernism as a philosophical, ideological foundation of artistic practice lives by contextualizing, relativizing; the ubiquitous context, the wandering eye, this is what it is, but on the other hand also that… What is the context? We must be critical, look ourselves in the mirror of post-modern dogmas and ask questions about the situation that define who we really are, what it is that we actually do. Lived experience is the context that makes thinking and saying meaningful, the context where truth has its roots. We must accept the shaky foundations, watch out and be careful. This is where post modernism turns into a sort of sectarian religion and open up for terror, i.e. a readiness to instil insecurity and fear. What is this as a foundation for artistic practice? If every choice is a possible mistake, creativity turns into something dangerous and art practice will be reduced to a meaningless exercise in, what we can only hope is, righteous thinking. What then is modernism all about and what would it mean to try revisiting these ideas in search for a way out of the contextual prison of post modernism?