Post-Modernism?

Subject: Post-Modernism? Sat Nov 03, 2007 9:27 am

Post-Modernism is a word that's used an awful lot but it's not a word that's easy to pin down to any one definition.

I was wondering what you think the main defining feature of Post-Modernism is and do you feel that it has been of any use to society?
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"Enjoy every sandwich" ~ Warren Zevon

Subject: Re: Post-Modernism? Sat Nov 03, 2007 11:31 am

I would say the main defining feature of Post-Modernism is its skeptical regard of, and general lack of confidence in, all the social institutions - read: memes - of Western Culture.

I would also say that it has been extremely useful, in fact I think the disillusionment at the base of Post-Modernity is what allowed the counter cultures of the 60's to flourish, it burgeoned the Civil Rights movement, and even though it produced some ugly design, in the realm or architecture it allowed for people like Buckminster Fuller to come tot eh fore, it also paved the way for Green, Environmentally friendly, design concepts.

I think the Environmentalist movement as whole is perhaps Post-Modernism's clearest offspring.
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“It’s time, we gave something back to the natural systems of order that have supported us, some care and tenderness, which is the most operative notion, I think – tenderness. Our isolations are gone, in the West and everywhere. We need to give some time to the arts of cherishing things we adore, before they simply vanish. Maybe it will be like learning a skill: how to live in paradise” ~ William Kittredge

Subject: Re: Post-Modernism? Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:11 pm

Good answer and I pretty much agree although I do like some Post-Modernist architects like Philip Johnson (ATT Headquarters, NY), Robert Venturi, and Michael Graves. I was never much of a fan of Brutalism or Deconstructivism however.
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"Enjoy every sandwich" ~ Warren Zevon