Avant-garde theory

Author: Berger
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-07-01
Features: The author first explains the concept of critical science, demonstrating that critical science must reflect on science itself and clarifying the social conditions under which scientific knowledge is produced. This then transitions to a discussion of avant-garde theory, pointing out that the aesthetic category is not eternal but rather a product of a specific stage of social development, with the avant-garde serving as a critique of these categories. The book also dedicates a section to the issue of artistic autonomy. Autonomy separates art from real life, whereas avant-garde art brings art back to reality. Finally, the author discusses intervention—or what we commonly refer to as the political, life, and art interaction issue—as well as the related question of art institutions. This book is one of the most influential monographs on avant-garde theory in the West. "In terms of its accurate and historically grounded definition of the avant-garde, the value of Berger's Avant-Garde Theory is inestimable."