Lyotard: Pre-class Blog

What I gathered from reading Lyotard's "What is Postmodernism?" was that he was very critical about other theorists' views on the topics of modernity and postmodernity, as well as realism. The section that really spoke to me was the one about how capitalism shapes our culture's view of what is acceptable in the world of art. Lyotard said, "Artists, gallery owners, critics, and public wallow together in the 'anything goes,' and the epoch is one of slackening. But this realism of the 'anything goes' is in fact that of money; in the absence of aesthetic criteria, it remains possible and useful to assess the value of works of art according to the profits they yield" (Lyotard 42). I think this quote is trying to say that in this day and age, the aesthetics and craftsmanship of a work of art come secondary to its purchasing power. In other words, it doesn't really matter if a work of art conforms to the "established rules of the beautiful" (Lyotard 41), as long as it sells.

This idea relates closely with the date over Duchamp's "ready-made" art. Is placing a urinal on its side, signing it, and putting it on display really considered art? This is an example of modern art that definitely does not conform to the rules of traditional art, and asks as a critique of the age of mechanical reproduction.


Lyotard also comments on how we as consumers develop taste. He says, "Taste, therefore, testifies that between the capacity to conceive and the capacity to present an object corresponding to the concept, an undermined agreement, without rules, giving rise to a judgement with Kant calls reflective, maybe experienced as pleasure" (Lyotard 43). I could be very wrong, but I think this quote is saying that taste is based on being able to recognize what fads culture tells us are popular, rather than what we as individuals actually prefer. I look forward to talking about this reading in class so that I can better understand what I attempted to unpack on my own!