Postmodernism - Part One - The Genealogy of Postmodern Art

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Skyler

A structured exploration of postmodernism through three linked genealogies: postmodern art, postmodern theory, and postmodern history. The text interrogates how “postmodern” relates to modernism, using sequences of concepts such as representation crisis, the end of originality, and the shifting role of the artist. It then traces theoretical tools including structuralism, poststructuralism, deconstruction, and power/knowledge, before extending into historical themes like simulated reality, hypermodernism, and the politics of media-visible conflict.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages278

Reading Time7 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Part One: The Genealogy of Postmodern Art

Part Two: The Genealogy of Postmodern Theory

Part Three: The Genealogy of Postmodern History

Published by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N 7 9DP email: [info@iconbooks.com](info@iconbooks.com) [www.introducingbooks.com](www.introducingbooks.com) [ISBN: 978-184831-760-4](ISBN: 978-184831-760-4)[ ](ISBN: 978-184831-760-4)Text and illustrations copyright © 2013 Icon Books Ltd The author and artist have asserted their moral rights. Originating editor: Richard Appignanesi No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Contents Cover Title Page Copyright First, let’s consider the WORD PART ONE: THE GENEALOGY OF POSTMODERN ART What’s Modern? The Shock of the Old Dialectical Antagonism What’s MODERNISM? Picasso’s Big Bang The Crisis of Representation Cézanne: the View Contains the Viewer The “Science” of Cubism The End of Original Art? Modern is Postmodern The Sublime Genealogy of a Modernist tree Machine-Aesthetic Optimism Constructivism Stalinist Totalitarianism The Tragic Failure of Abstract Expressionism DADA! Marcel Duchamp and the Readymades The Aura of the Artist The Event Installations The Supreme Master of Po Mo Art? Was Duchamp to Blame? ENDGAME We’re keeping pace with modernity… Expiry Date False Postmodernisms Eclectic Postmodernism A “Real” Postmodernism? What you see is what you get… Legitimation The Simulacrum PART TWO: THE GENEALOGY OF POSTMODERN THEORY Structuralism Meanings and Signs Signification The Binary Model Figures of Speech: Metaphor and Metonymy Semiology Structural Anthropology Brief Critique of Structuralism Poststructuralism The Death of the Author Writing: Degree Zero …Poststructuralist Blues…No Exit from Language Deconstruction J’ACCUSE! “Différance” The Accuser Accused The Structures of Power/Knowledge Art and Power/Knowledge Eugenics: measuring the excluded inferior Some possible conclusions What is Power? The Fiction of the Self The Imaginary or “Mirror Phase”The Symbolic Order Not entirely silenced… No Place in History What is Postmodern Feminism? The end of the story… Scientific Legitimation Knowledge is a post-industrial force of production Theories of Everything The Anthropic Principle A Retraction Genetics PART THREE: THE GENEALOGY OF POSTMODERN HISTORY Po Mo Vernacular Computerizing Difference Simulated Reality and Disneyland Welcome to the Holocaust Theme Park The Installation of Memory Loss Hypermodernism: the Memory Loss of Reality Hyperreal Finance Welcome to Cyberia! A Walk on the Wild Side The War as NOT seen on TV The first Cyberwar? Only (re)Produce CYBERIAN STREETSCENES“I wannabe a wigger” Karaoke …and Serial Killings X-rated Cybersex Games Cyborgs and Schwarzenegger Madonna, Cybergirl Zapping or Zero-Consciousness Endlessly Contemporary Amnesia Zapped-out Hypermodernism Icons of the Respectable Right The Satanic Verses and Postmodern Panic Third World Postmodernism The End of History Teleology Eschatology and the last Men Virtual Reality A Post-Marxist Repentance Endgame… Return of the “Grand Narrative” Philosophers? Bug-eyed into the 21st Century Did you wish for “9/11” too? The Fourth World War War on Terrorism as seen on TV The Clone in the Scrap-yard Virus or Blowback? The New Bolsheviks The Liberal Consensus The Last Grand Narrative The Future is Tomorrow’s Past The Art of Terrorism What is Postmodern Now? Cold Comfort in Science The End of Culture Beyond our Conscious Perception Neither God, the Cosmos nor Consciousness Further Reading Acknowledgements Biographies Index Charles Jencks, an authority on postomodern architecture and art, provides a useful scanning of the term postmodern. But what does it mean in practice? Does “postmodern” accurately aum up the story of what we are present? Or is it just a fashionable term that leaves us unenlightened about our true historical condition? First, let’s consider the WORD…

FAQs

What does the book ask about the word “postmodern”?

It examines how “postmodern” is defined by the meanings suggested by the “post-” prefix—such as the aftermath, denial, or rejection of modernism—while showing that the term mixes multiple senses.

How does the text structure its argument on postmodernism?

It organizes the discussion into three parts: postmodern art, postmodern theory, and postmodern history, linking changes across art, theory, and economic/historical contexts.

Which theoretical areas are introduced in the section on postmodern theory?

It covers structuralism and signs, poststructuralism and the “death of the author,” deconstruction (including “différance”), and power/knowledge, as well as related topics such as postmodern feminism and scientific legitimation.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Skyler