The Breakdown of The Contemporary

Through three readings, "Questionnaire on The Contemporary, October from Fall 2009" with Alexander Alberro's response, Terry Smith's "Contemporary Art and Contemporaneity", and Leesham & Wright's "Review of Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before and The Civil Contract of Photography", the contemporary as a word, as a movement, and as an idea was broken down and analyzed piece by piece in the attempt to create some form of solidarity within its meaning. As seen in the above mind map, the success of this quest for a true definition is still somewhat questionable.

Starting right off with Alberro's response, there are contrasts of meaning and ideas behind what the contemporary is. On one hand, Alberro implies that the contemporary we have found ourselves in at the present moment was brought upon by a seamless pass from the past into the present, or from the modern, through the postmodern, and into the contemporary, with little weight on the bordering lines between these three movements. On the other hand, there is an implication that the break to contemporary was just that: a radical break into the 1990's to present day. Though these two polar opposite ideas of movement are both valid in their own right, it is unclear as to which, if either, can take the top spot in helping to form a definition of the contemporary. Because of this, and I believe as with most major movements, both will have to do for the time being. Continuing forward, Alberro brings up a major point of debate in the discussions of what the contemporary entails. He states that the contemporary is a period in which you can place changes in concepts, movements, and, most importantly globalization. Globalization here is the integration of global ideas, economy, and movements, often coming together under hegemony. In considering that the contemporary would be globalized, there will also be the accompaniment of followers and oppositionists, each attempting to make their influences known. This constant clash of ideas and theories directly parallels the clash of ideas that attempt to define the contemporary, and this tension is part of what makes up the movement.

In Terry Smith's "Contemporary Art and Contemporaneity", the differences between the modern, postmodern, and contemporary are brought to light, weighing more heavily on what the contemporary is and how it differs from the two former. Possibly seen more clearly through contradictions in the mind map, contemporary is:

• global
• an integration of technology
• a reinvention of concepts
• imagined (vs. the stable and tangible of the modern and postmodern)
• aesthetic
• a participation of the people
• unsettled
• a period
• ambiguous/mobility of meaning
• closure/openness
• nonuniversal
• alive
• the new modern
• non-literal
• timeless
• revealing
• contaminated
• confrontational

Specifically with the contemporary's break from postmodernism, Smith comments on what contemporaneity is: the inclusion of modernity and post modernity, but encompassing a broader meaning into the present, near future, and future. Though, keeping with the contradictions, it is also said that the modern is the futuristic mindset, whereas the contemporary is the present, and the present alone. I personally cannot say that either are wrong, but mainly that it would depend on the events, ideas, or art being analyzed. One problem with "period movements" is that many would like them to be set in stone and the products of these movements be black and white: either part of the movement or not. But because the contemporary has influences like no other movement has had, what with technology, globalization, and the integration of the world's knowledge all accessible through the internet, shades of gray are exponentially increasing between the seams of the contemporary, pulling it to its limits, its breaking point, and its ultimate success as an individual movement.

However, in getting to this point, the contemporary has faced the same challenges in the past 3 decades as all other period movements have faced (namely the modern and postmodern), with low acceptance rates at first, and a slow incline of the collection of ideas, theories, and art into an ultimate acceptance that has spread worldwide, hand in hand with the globalization of the turn of the century. Though the words "modern" and "contemporary" are still paired, as Smith shows us, they have broken off from each other (though they will never be completely separate, as the contemporary has grown from the basis of the modern, and this cornerstone cannot be removed.) As the contemporary has taken shape, Smith talks about the "Passage Between Cultures", which proves that the globalization of the movement has fully taken hold. The contemporary does not discriminate between borders or world classification, as contemporary art, events, and ideas have been born in first, second, third, and fourth world countries, and even parts of the world that may seem to have settled comfortable in the modern, have put forth contemporary work. This forward movement of the entire globe has created this outcome of the changes that have occurred in the past 30 years from which art has been based upon these events and not a mold of formalism like the previous modern and postmodern were based. It is truly a free flowing, open ended movement.

The third reading, from Leesham & Wright's "Review of Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before and The Civil Contract of Photography" breaks away from analyzing what the contemporary is, and focuses more on how we perceive it. Fried relies more on the view that the contemporary art has an aesthetic to it that will encompass the viewer as they are viewing it, and will draw them to the edges of the piece, but that the interaction will stop there. That there is nothing more than the object as its art, and that it should not be considered more than that. However, Azoulay (again adding to the contrasting ideas within contemporaneity) says that while there can be an aesthetic portion to any art piece, that the main reason of the existence of the works is to make a meaningful statement that draws the viewer in and demands a participation and understanding into what the art piece shows. Azoulay believes that the observer should walk away even feeling a sense of responsibility for things that they just viewed, and want to do something about it, not feel satisfied with the aesthetics of the piece and quickly forget about it.

Although there may never be a solid definition of the contemporary movement and what it fully entails, there are many branches of what the contemporary currently is and how these current trends have shaped the period and differentiated it from the modern and postmodern periods before it. The clashing of ideas and theories that weave themselves through the contemporary are what strengthen its fibers and give it the backbone to keep growing and changing.