Focussing on specific examples of 'Media Arts' practice, explore how the concept of originality has been problematised by Postmodernist ideas?

Essay by cambackwardUniversity, Bachelor'sA, January 2009

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Focussing on specific examples of 'Media Arts' practice, explore how the concept of originality has been problematised by Postmodernist ideas?

Firstly to explore the problems of originality in postmodernism, there has to be an understanding of postmodernism, it is in fact a complicated term or even a set of ideas. The idea of postmodernism has only really been studied as an academic form since the 1980's. (Klages M, 2007) to define postmodernism is hard as it appears in many different areas of disciplines and study, for instance: Art, Architecture, Music, Film, literature, Sociology, Communications, Fashion and technology. On further research it's hard to see when postmodernism exactly begins, temporally or historically. The only evidence found of its existence seems to be in philosophical reviews and criticisms. Around the 1870's John Watkins Chapman confessed "a postmodern style of painting" to get beyond the French era of impressionism. In 1914 the article in 'The Hibbert journal' written by J.M

Thompson used the idea of postmodernism to describe changes in attitudes and beliefs in the analysis and assessment religion "The raison d'etre of Post-Modernism is to escape from the double-mindedness of Modernism by being thorough in its criticism by extending it to religion as well as theology, to Catholic feeling as well as to Catholic tradition" (Thompson J, 1914) other examples include, Rudolf Pannwitz where he uses the term to describe a philosophically orientated culture. His idea came from Nietzsche's analysis of modernity and the end of its decadence and the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.

As it's understood postmodernism means 'after the modern' it is used in critical theory to refer to a point of departure, this would suggest that postmodernism tends to refer to a cultural, intellectual or artistic state...