METAMODERNISM
Historical development of the term
The term metamodernist metamodernist appeared as early as 1975, where a!ar"adeh a!ar"adeh #sed it to des$ri des$ri%e %e a $l#ste $l#sterr o& aesthet aestheti$s i$s or attit# attit#des des whi$h whi$h had %een %een emer' emer'in' in' in Ameri Ameri$an $an literat#re sin$e the mid(195)s*+1 -y 1999, metamodernism was %ein' des$ri%ed as an .e/tension o& and $hallen'e to modern modernism ism and postmo postmoder dernis nism. m. with with the aim to .trans .trans$en $end, d, &ra$t# &ra$t#re, re, s#%!er s#%!ert, t, $ir$ $ir$#m #m!e !ent nt,, inte interr rro' o'at atee and and disr disr#p #pt, t, hi0a hi0a$ $ and and appr approp opri riat atee mode modern rnit ity y and and postmodernity.*+2 In 2))2, metamodernism in literat#re was des$ri%ed as an aestheti$ that is .a&ter yet %y means o& modernism3* a depart#re as well as a perpet#ation*.+4+ The metamo metamoder dernis nists6 ts6 relati relations onship hip with with modern modernism ism was seen seen as 'oin' 'oin' .&ar .&ar %eyond %eyond homa'e, toward a reen'a'ement with modernist method in order to address s#%0e$t matter well o#tside the ran'e or interest o& the modernists themsel!es*.+4 In 2))7 metamodernism was des$ri%ed as partly a $on$#rren$e with, partly an emer'en$e &rom, and partly a rea$tion to, postmodernism, .$hampion+in' the idea that only in their inter$onne$tion and $ontin#o#s re!ision lie the possi%ility o& 'raspin' the nat#re o& $ontemporary $#lt#ral and literary phenomena*.+5
Vermeulen Vermeulen and van den Akker
In 2)1), 2)1), $#lt#r $#lt#ral al theori theorist stss Timot Timothe#s he#s erme#le rme#len n and Ro%in Ro%in !an den Aer Aer proposed metamodernism as an inter!ention in the post(postmodernism de%ate*+8+7 In their essay Notes on Metamodernism, they asserted that the 2)))s were $hara$teri"ed %y the ret#rn o& typi$ally modern positions that did not &or&eit the postmodern mindsets o& the 19)s and 199)s* A$$ordin' A$$ordin' to them, the metamodern metamodern sensi%ilit sensi%ility y .$an %e $on$ei!ed $on$ei!ed o& as a ind ind o& in&orm in&ormed ed nai!ety nai!ety,, a pra'ma pra'mati$ ti$ ideali idealism. sm.,, $hara$ $hara$ter terist isti$ i$ o& $#lt#r $#lt#ral al responses to re$ent 'lo%al e!ents s#$h as $limate $han'e, the &inan$ial $risis, politi$al insta%ility, and the di'ital re!ol#tion*+8 They asserted that :the postmodern $#lt#re o& relati relati!is !ism, m, irony irony,, and pasti$ pasti$he. he. is o!er, o!er, ha!in' ha!in' %een %een repla$ repla$ed ed %y a post(i post(ideo deolo'i lo'i$al $al $ondition that stresses en'a'ement, a&&e$t, and storytellin'*+ The pre&i/ .meta(. here re&erred not to a re&le$ti!e stan$e or repeated r#mination, %#t to ;lato6s meta/y, whi$h denotes a mo!ement %etween opposite poles as well as %eyond them*+8 erme#len erme#len and !an den Aer des$ri%ed metamodernism as a .str#$t#re o& &eelin'. that os$illates %etween modernism and postmodernism lie .a pend#l#m swin swin'i 'in' n' %etw %etwee een3 n3in inn#m n#mer era%l a%lee poles poles.* .*+9 +9 A$$o A$$ord rdin in' ' to
ARTnews, this os$illation .m#st em%ra$e do#%t, as well as hope and melan$holy, sin$erity and irony, a&&e$t and apathy, the personal and the politi$al, and te$hnolo'y and te$hne*.+ >or the metamodern 'eneration, a$$ordin' to erme#len, .'rand narrati!es are as ne$essary as they are pro%lemati$, hope is not simply somethin' to distr#st, lo!e not ne$essarily somethin' to %e ridi$#led*.+1) erme#len asserts that .metamodernism is not so m#$h a philosophy?whi$h implies a $losed ontolo'y?as it is an attempt at a !erna$#lar, or3a sort o& open so#r$e do$#ment, that mi'ht $onte/t#alise and e/plain what is 'oin' on aro#nd #s, in politi$al e$onomy as m#$h as in the arts*.+1) The ret#rn o& a Romanti$ sensi%ility has %een posited as a ey $hara$teristi$ o& metamodernism, o%ser!ed %y erme#len and !an den Aer in the ar$hite$t#re o& @er"o' de Me#ron, and the wor o& artists s#$h as -as Ban Ader, ;eter Doi', Ola&#r Eliasson,
Cultural acceptance
In No!em%er 2)11, the M#se#m o& Arts and Desi'n in New or a$nowled'ed the in&l#en$e o& erme#len and !an den Aer when it sta'ed an e/hi%ition entitled No More Modern Notes on Metamodernism, &eat#rin' the wor o& ;il!i Taala, F#ido !an der Ger!e, -en0amin Martin, and Marie$hen Dan"*+11 In Mar$h 2)12, Falerie Tan0a Ga'ner in -erlin $#rated Dis$#ssin' Metamodernism in $olla%oration with erme#len and !an den Aer, %illed as the &irst e/hi%ition in E#rope to %e sta'ed aro#nd the $on$ept o& metamodernism*+12+14+1 The show &eat#red the wor o& Hl& Aminde, ael -artana, Moni$a -on!i$ini, Marie$hen Dan", Anna%el Dao#, ;a#la Doep&ner, Ola&#r Eliasson, Mona @ato#m, Andy @olden, Se0la ran"en, @ar#i M#raami, adie Smith, and Da!id >oster Galla$e as metamodernists*+15+18 In a 2)1 arti$le in ;M=A, literary s$holars Da!id Bames and Hrmila Sesha'iri ar'#ed that .metamodernist writin' in$orporates and adapts, rea$ti!ates
and $ompli$ates the aestheti$ prero'ati!es o& an earlier $#lt#ral moment., in dis$#ssin' twenty(&irst $ent#ry writers s#$h as Tom M$Carthy*+17 ;ro&essor Stephen
The Metamodernist Manifesto
In 2)11, =#e T#rner p#%lished a Metamodernist Mani&esto*+21 The mani&esto re$o'nised .os$illation to %e the nat#ral order o& the world. and $alled &or an end to .the inertia res#ltin' &rom a $ent#ry o& modernist ideolo'i$al nai!ety and the $yni$al insin$erity o& its antonymo#s %astard $hild*.+21+22 Instead, it proposed metamodernism as .the mer$#rial $ondition %etween and %eyond irony and sin$erity, nai!ety and nowin'ness, relati!ism and tr#th, optimism and do#%t, in p#rs#it o& a pl#rality o& disparate and el#si!e hori"ons*.+24 The te/t $ited the wor o& erme#len and !an den Aer, and $on$l#ded :we m#st 'o &orth and os$illate+2+1) T#rner later $redited his mani&esto to the a$tor Shia =a-eo#& as part o& the pair6s wider artisti$ $olla%oration* In early 2)1, Shia =a-eo#& em%ared on a $olla%oration with T#rner and Nast0a Sde Rn, des$ri%ed %y Da"ed as :a m#lti(plat&orm meditation on $ele%rity and !#lnera%ility, and re&erred to %y the $olla%orators as metamodernist per&orman$e art*+27 This in$l#ded a per&orman$e in a =os An'eles 'allery entitled PIAMSORR, in whi$h =a-eo#& sat &or si/ days silently $ryin' in &ront o& !isitors, wearin' a t#/edo and a %rown paper %a' o!er his head em%la"oned with the words .I am not &amo#s anymore.
