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Re: Altermodern - At the Tate early this year a mostly male pheno...

From:     Vastly Panting
Category: Art
Date:     30 July 2009
Time:     01:02 PM

Review:

Altermodernism seems quite old hat now, the Nicholas Bourriad publications were competant but they
became eulogized as Philosophical works by lazy lecturers which they patently are not, the main
thrust of critical views were that altermodernism was positing itself as a replacement for
postmodernism, a theoreretical ouevre with hardly any defining characteristics other than being spun
in a particularly ill-defined span.  Altermodernism is, to put it bluntly Curatorism nothing less,
it is Nicholas Bouriad (?)'s own take on the contemporary idea of democratizing art making,
collaboration, cross-disciplinary actions and dialogue which embraces spurious theories like
multiculturalism inasmuch as an embrace could be categorized along with "air-kisses" as in mwah
mwah. Yes it is a flawed theory, like all systems destined to fail, this one has yet to have grown
any wings. The gender content is a further pronouncement of its lack of omnipotential. For a start
the democratization evaporates once the autonomy of one curator (N.B.) casts their authority over
the assembled works, if he were to appoint a commitee - even then - his influence would still be
evident, perhaps as Bourriadism a woman curator, a black curator, a white woman curator, a black man
curator, a machine curator etc etc then these Bourriadeers could wander the globe on a missionary
quest spreading the idea of Bourriadism, altermodernism could catch on but I think its destined for
the box of vynil 12' in Oxfam, file under Jazz-Rock. The qualities that define contemporary art do
not appear to have arisen from "schools" or "salon", you can point at the recent past, Goldsmiths,
Britart and YBA but since their castration, their beatification by the assembled Grotowskian Clowns
there is scant evidence of a naturally unimposed theorem, a school or a trend except that there are
massive collectives and locum networks running every which way, many with an online presence which
would appear to be resisting embrace of the market place, a market place which is actually more a
place than a market. Most of the works coming out of these is very firmly anti-market. The concept
of Corporate Art is something less than it was in its former inception - something other than when
it was used as a purgorative term indicating a shallow decorative token, a little similar to the
name "punk rock" which was used as a derogatory musical term during one of the Eagles lead guitar
solo's until adopted by L.Bangs as trading stock. The issue of gender is interesting but as has been
pointed out, not the most immedietly damming flaw in this wayside development.


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