pomo post

Modernism causes an interesting struggle with its title and its cause. Much of my understanding of modernism lies in its desire to be essential, to be pure, and to be exactly what the word modern is not. Modern is the now, and the now is new, idiosyncratic, and ultimately, mortal. The religious nature of Modernism is well covered in the Protestant Crusade article, crafting a sort of pious aura around the architects of the time, an inquisitor-like purposefulness. If Modernists disregard history and nature in favor of a fundamental truth that is timeless, then Postmodernists embrace the mortality of the present, celebrating the trash as truth, or, the death of truth.

[actually, a quick google search of "death of truth" reveals mostly christian or postmodern pages, but also strange combinations:
"The new onslaught against truth is coming under the general heading of "postmodernism." ... As with Darwinism, postmodernism has its origin in intellectual and academic circles. This is why average Christians are unaware, or at least unclear, about what postmodernism is."]

When the sacred or pure or truth is no longer the desired, what happens? Modernism sets up a series of rigid qualities to create essentialized pieces of work, but in a postmodern world disgusted by high-culture, where does the avant-garde exist? In an essay in Emigre on postmodernism and graphic design [most Emigre issues], Keedy writes, "Perhaps the Internet will simply co-opt graphic design, incorporating it into its operating system. Maybe graphic design will cease to exist as a discreet practice and just become another set of options on the menu." Postmodernism, as much a movement as a nonmovement, generates a series of nondesigners or nondesigns. We can see the use of the rejection of the 'pure' in things like Bush's terrible signage or myspace pages. Ze Frank, on his nondesigned video blog, comments on myspace, remarking that "as consumer-created media engulfs the other kind, it's possible that completely new norms develop around the notions of talent and artistic ability."

Anyways.

[off topic and late, but here are the links]

death of truth
Emigre
Typography
Ugly Myspace

sha