Notes of November 14^th, 2011 

Postmodernism and art.

Postmodernism could ne considered the age we live into. It is different from Modernism, which is a cultural movement regarding the first three decades of XX century.

Postmodern art is essentially conceptual and abstract.

There is no distinction between high and law art which come together in artistic production.

Postmodern movement discusses the concept of authority, which is put into doubt.

It privileges the position of the reader, not the author’s one because it is the reader who makes sense to what he sees, reads and listens.

This also implies putting into doubt the concept of stable truth of a defined though.

The postulate is that there is no truth and all contemporary studies are based on this assertion.

The only truth is that everything always changes.

There is no a stable meaning because everything ever transforms; so there will be always many different meanings according to what, where and when the reader is.

Words provide an example of the variety of meaning. The signifier related to a particular word is common to everyone but its signified changes always depending on the situation and the context the word is used into.

The ability of giving different signified depends on the own stable encyclopedia, which is the baggage of knowledge that everyone creates during his life.

Coming to the arts, the ability of giving different meaning is strictly connected in particular to the abstract art which calls the viewer to give a meaning to what he sees.

Postmodern art is very demanded because it asks a lot to its viewers.