The Thousands

It’s awesome (and distressing) how little we seem to have progressed from ye olde 70s culture of parody, pastiche, stylistic cannibalisation and blah-di-blah-di-blah – otherwise known as postmodernism. Because, although I know we’ve all heard about it, there aren’t many of us out there who can really define it – in the same way that Alanis Morrisette never quite got a handle on ‘irony‘.

The curators behind the exhibition Postmodernism: Style & Subversion, 1970-1990 at London’s V & A tried to offer a way to close that particular chapter in art and design history by physically giving us a book to do it with. I can’t say whether they’ve actually succeeded, but I will say it goes a long way in explaining the connection between the likes of the Memphis design school and Grace Jones’ zany style, or performance pansexual Leigh Bowery and Andy Warhol.

Meanwhile, you can marvel at the brutal architectural endeavours in kitsch that are actually awesome and see the turntablism of Grandmaster Flash mentioned in the same breath as Devo. All the while coming out greatly fascinated but more confused by postmodernism and what it actually is. Isn’t it ironic? ‘the hell should I know.