The Intermediality of the Avant-Garde or the Avant-Garde of the Intermediality? (original) (raw)

2017, Art Inquiry. Recherches Sur Les Arts, Vol. XIX (XXVIII): Avant-Garde and Avant-Gardes, eds. Grzegorz Sztabiński and Paulina Sztabińska, Łódź: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Władysława Strzemińskiego w Łodzi, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, p. 221–242, (pp. 22)

https://doi.org/10.26485/ai/2017/19

Abstract: The article is an attempt to answer the question " Is the avant-garde intermedial? " Inter-mediality is not a new concept in the field of art and media theory; it has a long history, going back to 1965, when Dick Higgins published his essay Intermedia. The artist then tried to put his ideas into words as an intermedial manifesto of the avant-garde. This paper characterizes its assumptions, defines the notion of " intermedium " , and determines the basis of intermedial strategies. In the subsequent section of the paper the author starts a discussion about media theory and mediality in avant-garde art, looking at intermedial relationships in many artworks, and drawing attention to the objectification of art, which has led to the development of intermedial ready-mades and poème-objets. An important aspect of the intermedial activity of the avant-garde artists seems to be also the tension between the opposing poles of " gesture aesthetics " and " discourse strategy ". In the subsequent sections of his discussion of intermedial practices of the avant-garde artists, the author refers to the allegorical strategy described in Peter Bürger's Theory of the Avant-Garde, whose aim is to work out the notion of a non-organic avant-garde work. It is characterized by montage, which can be compared to the process of integrating heterogeneous elements into a " new " whole, similar to the intermedium, which is a combination of different media. In this context montage may be understood as an intermedial process. The answer to the question " is the avant-garde intermedial? " is not obvious. The intermedial theories presented here seem to be anachronistic or even erroneous, because nobody understands intermediality currently like the avant-garde in the 1960s.