School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape 2018-2019 Student No.:
170374127
Module :
ARC2020
Exercise :
ARC2020 Re-sit
Due :
12:00:00 Wednesday, 14th Aug 2019
Plagiarism Statement I am aware of the University's policy on Plagiarism as described in my Degree Programme Handbook. Where this submitted work is not completely my own, it makes a clear acknowledgment of the work of others, in accordance with advice given by the Module Leader or other relevant members of staff. Where there is reasonable suspicion that I have fabricated research results or that I have made unacknowledged use of another person's idea, words or work, then I am aware that this will be dealt with under the University's Assessment Irregularities Procedure and I accept that I may also be subject to disciplinary action as determined by the Registrar in accordance with the University's Disciplinary Procedures. I acknowledge that all, or part of, my submissions may be used for marketing purposes within the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape and/or Newcastle University. If you would prefer your work to be excluded from use in such purposes please opt out by contacting APLTeaching@ncl.ac.uk.
17037412778155
When you submit a paper copy of the work at reception, you will receive a receipt via email within 24 hours. This refers to your paper copy ONLY. You must also submit an electronic copy via Blackboard by the deadline. Failure to submit both copies by the deadline will result in a late or non-submission being recorded and a mark penalty will be applied.
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ARC2020:Dissertation Studies & Research Methods
The Success in Failure Of the Avant-Garde Dissertation Proposal by Jordon Anderton Student: B7037412 Newcastle University 2019 Tutor: Nathaniel Coleman
The Success in Failure
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape 2018-2019 Student No.:
170374127
Module :
ARC2020
Exercise :
ARC2020 Re-sit
Due :
12:00:00 Wednesday, 14th Aug 2019
Plagiarism Statement I am aware of the University's policy on Plagiarism as described in my Degree Programme Handbook. Where this submitted work is not completely my own, it makes a clear acknowledgment of the work of others, in accordance with advice given by the Module Leader or other relevant members of staff. Where there is reasonable suspicion that I have fabricated research results or that I have made unacknowledged use of another person's idea, words or work, then I am aware that this will be dealt with under the University's Assessment Irregularities Procedure and I accept that I may also be subject to disciplinary action as determined by the Registrar in accordance with the University's Disciplinary Procedures. I acknowledge that all, or part of, my submissions may be used for marketing purposes within the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape and/or Newcastle University. If you would prefer your work to be excluded from use in such purposes please opt out by contacting APLTeaching@ncl.ac.uk.
17037412778155
When you submit a paper copy of the work at reception, you will receive a receipt via email within 24 hours. This refers to your paper copy ONLY. You must also submit an electronic copy via Blackboard by the deadline. Failure to submit both copies by the deadline will result in a late or non-submission being recorded and a mark penalty will be applied.
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Introduction The simple goal of the avant-garde is to explore new territory, to be brave, bold, and divergent, however it has long been proclaimed that the avant-garde and its successor (neo wave of the sixties) had failed with their aspirations of integrating art into life praxis, which to some extent I agree with, french professor and sociologist Peter Burger believed that the historical avant-garde was the self-critique of art in bourgeois society, and that the distinction between avant-garde art and art that is not avant-garde, was through its relation to both social freedom and artistic autonomy. 1 In his writing ‘Theory of the avant-garde’ Burger quotes that “Art allows at least an imagined satisfaction of individual needs that are repressed in daily praxis. Through the enjoyment of art, the atrophied bourgeois individual can experience the self as personality. But because art is detached from daily life, this experience remains without tangible effect”2 It is my understanding that Burger sees this form of imagined satisfaction as a downfall of art, the lack of correspondence to the consumer's real-life praxis creates an almost pointlessness to the effect that the art has. Whereas I would like to encourage that although it cannot integrate into life praxis, art can create a ‘beyond reality’ (Surrealism). In my opinion just because avant-garde can’t have a tangible effect on real life praxis, doesn't make the movement a failure, it needs not to have an impact on it. Unfortunately for Theodor Adorno, who had hoped that art could help to bring equality to bourgeois society, I believe that art simply does not have the exposure necessary to change real social problems and issues, therefore I can relate to what Burger is saying when he suggests that the art and life praxis cannot combine with tangible effect, but I see this as a positive, because the best thing about art, for example in Surrealism, is that it can take you out of the stress and strain of daily life, into a ‘beyond reality’. Burger recites how “The historical avant-garde movements negate those determinations that are essential in autonomous art” as a failure 3 But I can't help but think that this is obvious, because the avant-garde strictly goes against what autonomous art stands for, instead of conforming to the moral duty of art, it aims full speed ahead at being unconventional and ungovernable. It may seem hard to reconcile between the Avant-Garde and failure, but I would be keen to express that failure is intrinsic to avant-garde practices and more than that, that failure within avant-garde has helped to create its most prominent successes. A quote I can relate to this is from French Marxist-Theorist and philosopher Guy Debord, who in speaking of the Paris Commune of 1871 quotes that “The apparent successes of this movement are actually its fundamental failures…while its failures…are its most promising successes so far, for us and for the future.”
The Success in Failure
Aims and Objectives for my dissertation As quoted by German artist Hans-Peter Feldmann in his own work, "Art Must Have the Right to Risk Being Bad!" if art wants to be bad, then this is not the same as failed art because if it is bad, it's simply achieving the goal that it set out to achieve. Therefore, it is important to highlight the stance that the art world has, in which failure may not always be an impossible obstacle, but instead can offer an alternative reality for open experimentation and raising constant questions. 4 For my dissertation I want to convey my belief that there are and were no true failures to the avant-garde, and how any aspect of failure within the movement should only be acknowledged as the necessary catalyst for future success. Relating to Debord’s quote above, I think the success that comes from the avant-garde, is how much is unknown, and therefore open to new beliefs and theories. I don't believe failure is a word that is in the dictionary of the avant-garde, it is rebellious, and its main aim is to be ungovernable, a never-ending experiment with no right or wrong. Like everything, there are aspects to learn from, to not repeat, but if avant-garde artists of today and/or the future can learn from the experimentation of the historical movements, then surely that is the most monumental success of them all? Successful avant-garde movements will always see the appropriation that it so desperately does not want, this appropriation from consumer society will take away everything that makes the avant-garde great (in my opinion) it will no longer be innovative, it won't be experimental because the experiment has worked. But this is not at fault of avant-garde itself, but the fault of a bourgeois society which only attaches itself to things that have become successful. But the flip-side to this, is as Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko states in his 2014 manifest ‘The Transformative Avant-Garde’ “So be it, let us dismantle our own projects ourselves, just before each coming moment of appropriation” “Let us be as clever as the smartest powers and most flexible capitalist forces that surround us” therefore the avant-garde must know its temporality, as soon as it receives inevitable and unwanted appropriation, it's time for a change. 5 I think the most important thing to take away from this, for myself is that ‘failure’ implies a form of non-accomplishment, I don't think this applies to the avant-garde in any way shape or form, and for future practices, I would argue that there have been no true failures to the avant-garde. I think that it is intrinsic that we learn from certain aspects of the historical avant-garde, but it’s even more important to view these not as failures but as learning curves, because as Wodiczko states, “we must risk these new kinds of projects and new kinds of ‘failures” because the Avant-Garde is after all “A risk worth taking”. I think my dissertation question is important to highlight, whether or not the avant-garde or its predecessor should be considered as failed projects, of course for my writing I will be trying to express how I don't believe so. Reading through the thoughts and feelings of some of the most influential writers on the subject, I feel confident in what I
The Success in Failure
want to express through my 8000 words worth of pages. I believe the best way for me to approach my dissertation is to keep looking at different reading materials, my approach to the topic will mainly be archival research from an array of mediums including books, articles, and informative and innovative films and documentaries.
The Success in Failure
Current Source List -
Theodor Adorno - Aesthetic Theory William K Tabb / Larry Sawyers ‘Marxism and the Metropolis’ New Perspectives in urban political economy Rem Koolhaas - Delirious New York Clement Greenberg ‘Avant Garde & Klitsch Hal Foster What's Neo about the Neo-Avant-Garde? Krzysztof Wodiczko - The Transformative Avant-Garde
Bibliography and links
0- Cover Image - Salvador Dalí, Metamorphosis of Narcissus 1937 - Tate © Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation/DACS, London 2019 1- Peter Burger (1974). Theory of The Avant-Garde. United Kingdom: Manchester University Press.. p.22 2- Peter Burger (1974). Theory of The Avant-Garde. United Kingdom: Manchester University Press.. p.12 3- Peter Burger (1974). Theory of The Avant-Garde. United Kingdom: Manchester University Press.. P.53 4-Link: http://thirdtext.org/Failure-As-Art 5- Krzysztof Wodiczko (2014). The Transformative Avant-Garde: A Manifest of the Present. 3rd ed. United Kingdom: Routledge. 119.
The Success in Failure
The Success in Failure
The Success in Failure
The Success in Failure