Chapter 96 Chapter 17 The Avant-Garde Is Dead—Art After 1950 1

1 Historians have always preferred to treat the development of the arts and humanities in isolation from their contexts—including the authors themselves—regardless of how solidly and deeply socially connected the actual roots were.We always regard art and humanities as a human activity with its own specific rules, so it can also be evaluated under this isolated condition.However, in an era when revolutions have brought about major changes in the face of human life, this old method of independent research on a certain level of history, although readily available and convenient, is becoming more and more impractical.For one thing, it's not just that the distinction between "artistic creation" and "artificial craftsmanship" is blurring—sometimes disappearing altogether; Experts believe that it is not only impossible but also meaningless to insist on deciding whether Shakespeare's "Macbeth" (Macbeth) or "Batman" is better, and it is also suspected of being anti-democratic.Second, at the same time, due to the various forces that determine the production of artistic events, they also increasingly originate outside art itself.In this era of highly developed technological revolution, many factors are more technological.

One of the most obvious revolutions technology has brought about in art is making art ubiquitous.Radio broadcasting has carried sound waves—music and words—to every household in the developed world, and is continuing to penetrate the less developed parts of the world.But it was the invention of the transistor and the long-lasting battery that really brought radio broadcasting to the world.The former not only reduces the size of the radio, but also makes it more portable; while the latter frees the radio from the restrictions of the official power grid (that is, the restrictions that are mainly urban).As for the phonograph and record player, they are old inventions. Although they have been improved technically, they are still cumbersome and inconvenient to use. Invented in 1948, the long-Playing record LP was quickly welcomed by the market in the 1950s (Guiness, 1984, p. 193).It's a lot of fun for lovers of classical music, because the lengths of such pieces tend to be long—unlike popular pieces—and rarely end within the 35-minute limit of old-style 78-rpm.But the invention that really allows people to enjoy their favorite music wherever they go is the cassette tape, which can be played in a VCR that is increasingly smaller in size, portable everywhere, and powered by electricity.Cassette tapes became popular all over the world in the 1970s, with the added benefit of easy duplication.By the 1980s, music could be heard everywhere.Regardless of the activity, everyone can strap on headphones, connect to a device the size of a pocket, and enjoy a thing first invented (and often done) by the Japanese in quiet privacy.Or on the contrary, from ghetto blasters with powerful speakers—because manufacturers have not yet succeeded in designing small speakers—forcing transmissions to everyone's ears.This technological revolution has both political and cultural implications. In 1961, President Charles de Gaulle successfully called on French soldiers to rise up against a coup d'état staged by their commander.In the 1970s, the speeches of Khomeini, the future leader of the Iranian revolution in exile, were also introduced into Iran, and the events were copied and widely circulated.

Televisions never developed as portable as radios—perhaps because televisions lose far more than sound when reduced in size—but televisions brought animated video into the home.What's more, although TV is far more expensive and cumbersome than radio, it has quickly become a necessary home appliance that can be watched at any time without borders. Even the poor in some backward countries, as long as there is this equipment in the city, they can't afford it. can enjoy. In the 1980s, 80% of the population in Brazil could watch TV.This phenomenon is far more astonishing than the situation in the United States in the 1950s and the United Kingdom in the 1960s when the new media of television replaced movies and radio as the standard form of mass entertainment.The mass demand for television is simply overwhelming.In advanced countries (through still relatively expensive VCRs), televisions began to bring full movie viewing into the home.Images made for the big screen are compromised a bit on the small screen at home; but VCRs have the advantage that the viewer has an almost endless choice (at least in theory) of what to include and what to watch. When to watch.With the increasing popularity of home computers, this small screen seems to have become a visual connection point between individuals and the outside world.

However, technology not only makes art ubiquitous, but also changes people's impression of art.This is the age of electronically synthesized music produced by the standard production methods of pop music; this is the age of any child who can press the button to freeze and rewind (and the only things that can be reread backwards are the words in books) ; This is also an era when technology is superb, and a vivid story can be told in 30 seconds of TV commercial time. Compared with the traditional stage effect, it is nothing.For the modern audio-visual public who grew up in such an era, modern high-tech can allow him to go through all the channels in a few seconds, how can he be asked to capture the step-by-step, linear style before the emergence of such high-tech How do you feel?Technology has completely changed the art world, but the most affected and the earliest, the pop art and entertainment world, is far superior to "high art", especially some of the more traditional art forms.