IJASOS- International E-journal of Advances in Social Sciences

Abstract

Art as a human
activity has always been part of human activity. It has developed together with
humanity and its interest in expressing spiritual needs in multitudes of forms.
From a historical point of view, these spiritually originated objects largely
pleased the senses and evoked different responses in the consumer. They are, to
a large extent, a reflection of development and ideas of beauty as well as
human emotions.  However, quite likely as
a response to the devastation of two world wars that caused enormous suffering
and destruction as well as the rise of entirely opposite social systems
separated by ideologies, the second half of the XX century witnessed the birth
of a new art-making concept. Avant-garde, as it was called, gave and is still
giving a signal for a counter-run defying well-established theory and practice.
For instance, Dadaism with the variety and ambiguity observed in the different
procedural means to achieve artwork, as well as the directions they signal,
pose quite a difficult problem for their inclusion within a specific art
paradigm if philosophers constraint their ideas to what is conceived as art as
a historical category. Much the same could be said about the conceptual
framework advanced by J. Cage, M. Kagel, and K. Stockhausen, just three of the
many representatives of the movement, that see art far from what was widely
accepted as such. Many, from the consumers’ point of view, as well as not few
in the art world, do not seem to understand this new paradigm, its ideas,
theory, and practice. The present paper systematizes some of the main
manifestations, characteristics as well as the essence of the avant-garde as a
well-established movement and advocates for its recognition as different from
mainstream art concepts.