Grayson Perry: En Garde
Seriously...22 Elo 2017

Grayson Perry: En Garde

Grayson Perry goes backwards in the archive in search of the moment the avant-garde died.

It's a century since Marcel Duchamp submitted his artwork called Fountain to an exhibition staged by the Society of Independent Artists in New York. Fountain was a urinal -- not a painting of a urinal or a sculpture, just a urinal, bought from a Manhattan hardware store and signed R.Mutt.

The Society of Independent Artists rejected Duchamp's provocation and the original object was lost.

Nowadays Duchamp's urinal is canonised as the fountainhead of conceptual art and the high water (closet) mark of the avant garde. Replicas of the Fountain grace museums around the world - emblems of the avant-garde spirit of experimentation and confrontation.

Somewhere in the intervening years though, something changed - contemporary art lost its ability to shock and critique. We're still hopelessly drawn to the idea of art that's 'cutting edge', 'ground-breaking', 'revolutionary'. But is that possible at this point -- haven't we seen it all before?

Maybe the death knell was sounded when the Saatchi Gallery opened on the South Bank? Or with the advent of protest and radical chic in the 1960s? Maybe it was when the CIA funded the abstract expressionists? Or when the post-war art market began to reign supreme? Or when the Museum of Modern Art opened its doors in 1927?

Or maybe it was all a matter of style the very moment Duchamp's Fountain was conceived?

Featuring Brian Eno, Kenneth Goldsmith, Nnenna Okore, Cornelia Parker, and Sarah Thornton.

Producer: Martin Williams.

Jaksot(484)

Return to Subtopia

Return to Subtopia

The distinguished architectural writer Gillian Darley retraces the story of "Subtopia", one of the most significant architectural debacles of the post-war era, and considers its long shadow.Her story ...

13 Touko 201656min

The Force of Google

The Force of Google

Google dominates internet searching across most parts of the globe. The algorithm which produces its search results is highly secret and always changing, but is crucial in influencing the information ...

10 Touko 201635min

For Better or Worse

For Better or Worse

Writer and activist Peter McGraith married his long-term partner David in March 2014, the first gay wedding registered in the UK.Two years on he meets gay and lesbian couples and speaks with them abou...

6 Touko 201628min

How to Turn Your Life Around

How to Turn Your Life Around

What does it take to succeed if you are born into poverty and neglect? Two people who have done just that explore whether it was down to personality, circumstances or plain luck. Why do so few people ...

5 Huhti 201637min

Suck It and See

Suck It and See

Grammy Award-Winning songwriter Amy Wadge fell in love with the harmonica after winning one in a fancy dress competition (she was dressed in a bin liner!). Now she investigates the history and potenti...

1 Huhti 201629min

The Women Who Wrote Rock

The Women Who Wrote Rock

Kate Mossman tells the story of the long-overlooked female pop and rock writers of the 1960s.As a music journalist herself, when Kate entered the profession she found herself surrounded by men - men w...

29 Maalis 201628min

The Returnees

The Returnees

On an August bank holiday in 2014, Shiraz Maher at the International Centre for Study of Radicalisation at Kings College London received an email sent by a disillusioned British jihadist from Syria."W...

25 Maalis 201637min

The Actors' Gang & The Actors' Gang on the Outside

The Actors' Gang & The Actors' Gang on the Outside

A two part Seriously following actor Tim Robbins and Rajesh Mirchandani and the theatre programme the Actors' Gang in Norco prison.Part 1: The Actors' GangJust outside of LA in the Californian desert,...

22 Maalis 201656min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
i-dont-like-mondays
sita
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
kaksi-aitia
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
kolme-kaannekohtaa
joku-tietaa-jotain-2
mamma-mia
aikalisa
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
rss-murhan-anatomia
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
rss-nikotellen
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-haudattu
loukussa