Introductory note about "From Modernity to After-Modernity"

This series is becoming so long by now that new readers might easily get lost... So let me start with an introductory note about its context.


My thinking adventure started in the nineteen-sixties and seventies. As an aspiring painter I was bewildered by the confusion reigning supreme in the art world and so I felt compelled to engage in a process of thinking about the arts and the function of the arts in society that later expanded to societal evolution and how the function of the arts adapts to the realities of changing historical times. This series tells what I learnt along the way.


What I write about is the perspective of a thinking artist and my conclusions go something like this:

• the form of artistic productions must necessarily reflect the Zeitgeist of their times and must also be aesthetically pleasing in order to attract eyeballs

• the only artistically worthwhile productions are the ones that succeed to give a peek on the emergence of the future to the viewer. In that sense the content of the artwork is paramount. It opens the minds to the emergent future and encourages us to adapt our present ideas and behaviors in consequence. Those works that succeed to catch the spirit of the future are the ones that will be remembered in the future... the rest will be forgotten.

The articles in this series are a first draft about the transition from Modernity to After-Modernity which is the historical leap of humanity out of Late-Modernity or out of our present historical era... What comes our way compares to what humanity experienced during its past 3 major societal transitions:

1. from small bands to tribes sharing a worldview called animism
2. from tribes to empires and kingdoms that launched civilizations whose societies shared a worldview called religion or philosophy 
3. from empires and kingdoms to nation-states that share a quasi-worldview called Modernity.
   

The emerging transition from Modernity to After-Modernity promises to be as earth shattering for humanity as were the 2 first of these transitions and so it is my contention that the real artists today are those who are sensitive enough to capture the spirit, of what comes after Modernity, that is starting to emerge in the present. Being the active agents of the commodification of the arts, it goes without saying that, the operators of the art market are totally blind to such considerations... My hope is to touch those whose minds are still open to knowledge and beauty...


The articles in this series will be formatted in book form and edited for publication. Book 1 (2 volumes) written during the winter 2014-2015 is about history, Book 2 (5 volumes) written during the winter 2015-2016 is about theory, and this Book 3 (1 volume) written during the winter 2016-2017 is about what the future has in store for humanity ...and so its title "Divination". 

Since writing this some years have passed. Today I published the first volume of this series under the title "The Continuum of the Cultural Field"


This collection of articles is available here. (see articles 199 to 237)